Buddy Doyle has spent the last few years taking pictures of people reading.
It sounds fairly sedate, until you look at the photos and see that Doyle photographed one person in a bathtub, some people on seafaring boats, some in wooded reatreats and several with their cats and dogs busily vying for their attention.
“I think the photos show the joy of reading,” said children’s author and illustrator Chris Van Dusen, one of Doyle’s subjects. “You get to see people’s special places and see what they’re interested in. It makes you think about reading in different ways.”
In March, Islandport Press in Yarmouth published Doyle’s second book of reading nook photography, called “Maine’s Still Reading.” It features more than 50 photographs of people all over the state in their favorite cozy book corners, along with essays on what they are reading and why reading means so much to them.
His subjects range from well-known Mainers like retired TV newscaster Pat Callaghan, Maine Public radio reporter Patty Wight, Democratic candidate for governor Dr. Nirav Shah, and authors Tess Gerritsen, Gerry Boyle and Van Dusen. But there are also teachers, volunteers, a tattoo artist, kids and many others.
Doyle, a photographer who lives in Gardiner, first began documenting the personal spaces of readers in 2019, as part of the 125th anniversary celebration for the Lithgow Library in Augusta. The photos he took then were used in magazine ideas promoting the library.
The idea came to him while reading in bed, his own favorite spot. He was reading Stephen King’s “On Writing” and was struck by King’s observation that most people have a very favorite spot to read, and that King’s own was a blue chair in his study. After doing the promotional photos for the Lithgow Library, Doyle didn’t want to let the idea go. So in 2024 he put out his first book of reading photos, “Where Maine Reads.”
Doyle, 78, says he decided to do a second book because meeting interesting people and talking his way into their private reading sanctuaries was just too much fun, and he did not want it to end.
As a longtime substitute teacher, Doyle also wanted to continue to help promote reading and support local libraries, which are facing funding challenges right now. He’s pledged to donate a portion of every book sale to the Maine Library Association, with a goal of raising about $10,000.
Amy Wisehart, director of the Northeast Harbor Library and past president of the Maine Library Association, said the association will likely use money raised by Doyle’s book for advocacy in support of libraries. The association is volunteer-run, so the money could be used to pay for gas and expenses to send members to Augusta to lobby on libraries’ behalf, among other things. The money could also be used for professional development, to help send Maine town and city librarians to conferences or workshops, Wisehart said.
“For a volunteer-run organization like ours, this is a significant amount of money,” said Wisehart. “And I love that the book is a celebration of reading and the joys of books and literature.”
People who know a lot about books are featured prominently in “Maine’s Still Reading,” including authors, illustrators, teachers and librarians. But Doyle also went out of his way to find interesting people with their own favorite spots and reading material.
He saw a mention of tattoo artist Laura Cui in a newspaper, and photographed her doing a crossword puzzle on her couch in Brunswick. In her essay accompanying her photo, she writes that as a child she read so much that she missed the bus, skipped piano lessons and got caught reading after bedtime, with a flashlight. “I wouldn’t say it was a ‘problem’ necessarily …” she wrote.
Doyle took a photo of photographer Peter Ralston, known for his pictures of the Maine coast and islands, on his boat, Raven, in Rockport Harbor. Ralston is looking through a copy of “Naturalist at Large” by Bernd Henrich.
He captured Curt Dale Clark, artistic director of Maine State Music Theater in Brunswick, reading “Songs and Ballads of Robert Burns” with his feet up on his office desk, shoes off. In his essay, Clark said he likes to read at his desk because it helps make him relaxed and happy in a place that can sometimes be stressful.
Denise Reehl, founding director of Johnson Hall Opera House in Gardiner, was photographed in a pretty unconventional favorite reading spot, in front of her laptop computer. That’s because Reehl treasures the times she got to read to her grandchildren via FaceTime when they lived in Costa Rica.
Doyle often goes to libraries to find and photograph his subjects. He has a photo taken at the tiny, cottage-like Orr’s Island Library of Shannon Black, a mom reading to four “future readers,” one on her lap and three on the floor. He photographed retired journalist and Maine historian Bob Greene in a rocking chair in the stately Reading Room at the Auburn Public Library.
Michelle Dyer-Fagan, the 2024 Maine Librarian of the Year, is reading a picture book to her toddler nephew Jack on the floor of the Thompson Free Library in Dover-Foxcroft. Both sit comfy on a rug, wihout shoes or socks.
In her essay, Dyer-Fagan talks about how much she loves being a librarian working with children, and that she can’t imagine doing anything else. When Doyle asked her to participate, Dyer-Fagan was quick to say yes. She had seen his first book and liked the idea of showing so many different kinds of Mainers, from accomplished authors to third graders, who share a common love and appreciation of reading and it’s importance in society.
“He’s got authors, booksellers, kids, a lot of different people,” said Dyer-Fagan. “It’s nice because it shows we’re all in the same space, I guess you might say on the same page, when it comes to reading.”
