What A Difference A Day Makes

Yesterday, we got our first taste of real Fall weather. Welcome back, old friend! I decided to chuck a roll of the new Lomography 92 film into my R9 and just snap away. The dog days are gone, for a time, for a time. And the Fall light sure is sweet. After lunch, I mixed up a fresh batch of C41 chemistry and processed the film myself. It is definitely a grainy film with a coolish color response. Something a bit different, though, just what I was looking for. Just what the doctor ordered. These are our wild crepe myrtles looking like a forest.

Reflections ATL

Near the end of his life, Harry Callahan lived in and photographed around the city of Atlanta. I don't think this body of work is particularly well known, but the time frame coincides with my own relocation to the area. I'm interested in it for that reason. I suppose the lesson is, if you see something interesting, shoot it. Decades on, this work will be interesting in its own right. To someone.

Gravity, Is It Really The Law?

According to Physics, plants grow in a gravitational field. Sounds simple enough, right? In practice, though, it apparently ain't that simple; otherwise I would not have had so much trouble getting the orientation of this photograph to look natural. Anyway, these trees all survived Katrina and it was a pleasure to stand beneath them and enjoy the shade provided.

Good light and stable gravity to you this weekend, fellow traveler.

Light In August?

Back in Faulkner's time, there'd be a couple days in the middle of August when the quality of the light would suddenly change, becoming more luminous and giving the first hint that Fall was about to arrive. Hence the title of the novel. If the book were written today, the title might have to be 'Light In September' because in August, 2023 the light in Mississippi is just plain harsh.

Mysterioso

Funny how you can go through life never knowing that certain things even exist. Like a museum designed by Frank Gehry in the State of Mississippi. But there you go, you learn something new every day. Still, and all, I'd never move to Biloxi, even though it is a place romanticized in my memory by a novel I read as a child, Walker Percy's 'The Moviegoer'. How I ever learned about that book as a kid growing up in Los Angeles, I can no longer remember. Not to mention how I ended up living down here in the Deep South for most of my adult life. Mysterioso.

The Joys Of Home Ownership

I'd never rent a place unless I really had to, if I hit a dry spell money wise, or needed a hip replacement. You see, I like having all my crap near by. That's how I keep my projects organized. I'm a visual person. I look out the window and see all my shit right there. Different projects are different piles under different trees. Keep it simple sir.

Ninety Five Degrees In The Shade

Sometimes your best option is to seek out some shade and try to stay as cool as you can. It was eleven o'clock in the morning and already in the mid-nineties. Even so, I wanted to walk a bit further to photograph an old barn, but a mean looking dog stepped out of the shadows and stared me down and I'm afraid I blinked first. 

Never Been To Dusseldorf

Although I spent a couple of years in Berlin, I never made it to Dusseldorf. Still, I do enjoy casually documenting the industrial decay around me. There aren't any major typological studies of grain hoppers in my future, though it was enjoyable to process this monochrome image. I'm slowly learning the behavior of a monochrome digital camera. I think the results are uniquely different from film and from conventional digital (color) photography.

Tasting notes: Pentax K-3 Mark III Monochrome, Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens.

Patchwork

We had a really good meal in this little town, at a genuinely nice restaurant, but the fact is, things are in pretty rough shape overall. That is what I was thinking about when I exposed this frame. We are probably looking at over a century's worth of additions and modifications, a patchwork of plans, dreams, and possibly a few regrets.

Here's to an enjoyable weekend, fellow traveler.

The Delicate Phase

In general, magnolias tend to be messy trees, but when the flowers are new, they have a different, quite delicate character. Once they are fully open, they turn brown and fall apart quickly. They are similar to gardenias in that way.

Plenty of Photons To Work With

 

I thought my old eyes were pretty well calibrated to light, but I guess there's always more to learn. The morning light appeared dull and boring to my partially caffeinated senses, and I almost didn't bring a camera along. In actual fact, I was shooting HP5+ at f/8 and 1/125 s, which, while not a bright sunny day by any means, was still plenty of photons to work with. The woods offered any number of interesting views, and I'm glad I had the little Contax T with me after all.

The Magnificent Magnolia

I find the magnolia a subject of endless fascination and I never tire of photographing them. I have dozens of photographs similar to this one, and fully intend to accumulate many, many more before I leave the scene. Magnolias are native to the Deep South, but it seems that many people cut down the ones in their yard, replacing them with non-native species. Ugh. Anyway, the first flowers are starting to appear now and they will continue into early June. 

Local Color

My wife and I both noticed this place as we were driving through town. We parked around the corner and I got out to make a few photographs. I'm so glad I did. I'm trying to get in the habit of not driving by. Cuz, if I'm lucky, I'm not likely to drive past this place again.

Something Seen

We took a wrong turn and came upon a narrow street with a series of primitive houses. Although most stood empty, it looked like some were still lived in.

Town and Gown

We made a short road trip to attend the opening of a friend's exhibition yesterday at a large university art gallery. About ten minutes away from the venue, just outside of the campus, I noticed this old house adorned with old school metal awnings. They just don't make them like that any longer. It is could use a little work, but the neatly trimmed landscaping shows that the home is still cared for.

Good light to you this weekend, fellow traveler. 

Horizons

Compared to Texas and California, other places I've lived before, clear views of the horizon here in the Deep South are less common, it seems to me anyway. It's too lush down here, too many trees and too much kudzu. That being the case, farm land can provide more wide open views of the landscape, and this is one vista point I return to from time to time across the seasons to photograph.  

A Path Never Before Taken

The other day we took a different path, a new route to us, and came across a small pond we did not know existed. It was quite surprising how a large body of water could hide in plane sight like that. It was a very blustery day and the water was brown owing to the heavy rains. I don't mind the monochrome version of this image. If I look with attention, I can tell that the water was turbid.

You're Not Going Back...

This is a photograph from about 20 years ago. Looks like it was taken near Salem, Ala., a small town on the way to somewhere else. Not sure quite why I framed it up this way, but I bet I had my reasons. What caught my attention when I saw this photograph in my archive of old images was the purple and blue tones in the shadows. A more modern camera would certainly do a better job, but you know what, Christenberry shot plenty of his work on Instamatics and old polaroids, and they're in museums. Plus, I'm not going back anytime soon.

Good Bones

When speaking of an older home, it is common to hear the phrase, 'it has good bones'. I guess this residence is well past that point in its decay. But the structure and construction of the fireplace is interesting in its own right I suppose. And there are no complaints about the location within the landscape. The tree may have been in the original front yard, or perhaps it is more recent. It is hard to be sure.

Good light to you this weekend, fellow traveler.