An optician by profession, Ralph Eugene Meatyard was a largely self-taught photographer best known for creating images that disrupt the everyday by suggesting absurd narratives for ordinary occurrences. He did not pick up a camera until he became a father, and his children eventually became frequent subjects and collaborators in his work. Meatyard regularly staged scenes that show his children playing out open-ended fantasies in abandoned buildings and bucolic landscapes in the suburban environs of Lexington, Kentucky. Through his use of props and dilapidated settings, the common family snapshot unfolds with a sense of foreboding.