Fonville Winans

Theodore Fonville Winans (August 22, 1911 – September 13, 1992)[1] was an American photographer whose black-and-white images documented south Louisiana people and places.

He established a successful practice as a wedding and portrait photographer, but is best known for his images of south Louisiana's rugged outdoors, and its fishermen and swamp dwellers.

Fonville was born on in Mexico, Missouri[1] and spent part of his childhood in Fort Worth, Texas, where, as a senior in high school, he purchased his first camera, a Kodak 3A model.

Fonville began photographing the state's southern swamps and grassy coastal wetlands, as well as the people who inhabited them, most notably the Cajuns.

[W]hen Fonville appeared with his boat and camera the more remote strongholds of Cajun society could still give the impression of a private country at home in the midst of millennial swamp forests and endless river prairies, and only half-open to the modern world.

"[3] Anne Price has observed that Fonville's photographs from this period were a "human, cheerful record of a people who were self-sufficient enough to make their own way with dignity despite the times, .

Eventually he established a solid reputation as a wedding and studio portrait photographer, capturing images of local beauties and state politicians.

A portion of Fonville's work is stored in Hill Memorial Library, located on the campus of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.