Archive for the ‘Georgia’ Category
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28
Oct
2009
Harvest Haul
Ah, time for a bit of a catch up post!
First off, my book Egyptian Dreams, which you may recall is available through Blurb, is entered in a contest at Blurb. I would MUCH appreciate if you could take a few moments to go and vote for it if you have not already done so!
For those who have already voted, thank you so much! For those who haven’t yet, there’s less than 2 weeks, what are you waiting for!?
As long as I’m shamelessly self promoting, I felt like I should point out that there’s currently a special running at Zazzle, another online Print on Demand shop where I host some of my work. It runs through 10/31 and is appropriately 10.31% off any purchase. So, a great time to start or finish your Christmas shopping and save some money on the way. To take advantage of this special, enter the code TRICKORTREAT
at checkout. Here’s all the lovely tiny print for the offer.
* 10.31% of the net sale price will be deducted when the coupon code TRICKORTREAT is applied at checkout. For most products, the net sale price is the price of the product (excluding shipping and taxes). For Zazzle Custom Stamps, the net sale price is the difference between the price of the Zazzle Custom Stamps (excluding shipping and taxes) and the face value of the postage. Offer is valid from October 19, 2009 at 12:01am PT through October 31, 2009 at 11:59pm PT. This promotional offer may not combine with any other Zazzle promotional or discount offers.
A little less self-promotion but partially so is reminding everyone that this weekend is Montezuma’s annual Fall Festival, known as the Beaver Creek Festival. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather because I’m told that the 15th annual festival should be a good one! And I will have a booth there – that’s all my self promotion for one post! Here’s a quote from one of the organizers about what to expect this year.
There will be GREAT children’s games, yummy food, cool art, excellent musicians, and worthwhile prizes! Don’t forget the Duck Doodle: $300 would come in handy for Christmas Shopping!
Okay, now for a few photos! I completed editing and uploading photos from my brief stop in Savannah last month. I still have to work on the NYC photos, but at least some progress. Savannah was beautiful and I hope you’ll all enjoy some photos!
Savannah River Sunrise
From my first morning in Savannah, Sunrise on the River near Battery Hamilton. It was a bit subdued by the clouds but pretty nonetheless!
Tybee Light at Dawn
Tybee light was beautiful in the morning and I love the cottage that the lighthouse keeper lived in back in the day. It’s been restored inside. All in all a very well kept monument to the history of the area.
East River Street
I didn’t get a lot of photos of the town itself. Spent so much time out on the coast or on the bus that I never really explored like I’d like to, but this photo from East River Street gives you a bit of a feel.
Cathedral of St. John The Baptist
Savannah’s lovely cathedral – simply gorgeous – be sure to check out the gallery for some interior shots as well!
Moon River
The natural beauty near Savannah actually inspired several Panorama shots. It’s hard to pick just one to show here, but this is Moon River near dusk and the colors were very special!
Angels of Bonaventure
In case you’re unaware the statue on the front of the book, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, was photographed in Bonaventure. Not the oldest cemetery in Savannah but a lovely one! The statue from the book had to be moved to protect it but there’s still some incredible statuary there!
Sunset Sea
My last evening in Savannah was back out to Tybee Island where I enjoyed strolling the beach. It was a subdued sky with a lot of clouds, but the colors and light was still pretty perfect. The above is a long exposure shot. I’ll pick one more, but I hope you’ll go check them all out. It’s hard for me to pick out my own favorites never mind yours!
Tybee Blue
One of the last from that evening on Tybee, the sun had sunk down and twilight was almost a solid cast of blue from the sky to the reflecting water on the beach.
For more of Savannah, check out the Savannah gallery.
22
Sep
2009
Atlanta Icons – Architecture of The City
This is the second in my series of Atlanta Icons, while the first focused on Restaurants, this one will be all the rest of the Atlanta area scenery that I captured while working on this body of work.
Checkmate
In my opinion, a couple of the most recognizable buildings in Atlanta will be familiar to any commuter on the north side of the City. These towers, officially Concourse Corporate Center V and VI, are known to the locals as the King and Queen towers due to the stylized decorations at the pinnacles of each building. These buildings are located in Sandy Springs just north of I-285 and east of Georgia 400. They were completed in 1988 and 1991 and have the distinction of being the tallest towers in a suburban setting in the USA. This photo captures them against a vibrant winter sky just before dusk.
Fabulous Fox
There’s a joke that every street in Atlanta has the word “Peachtree” in it. And it’s no joke that there are a lot of Peachtree courts, and avenues, and boulevards named for Georgia’s official fruit, but there’s only one Peachtree Street and only one Fabulous Fox. The Fox Theater was one of several old movie houses in the city and one of the last of the grand ones left. It opened in the 1920’s and came close to being destroyed in the 1970’s. But the local populace, having watched one movie palace after another razed, fought to save the Fox for future generations to enjoy.
Fox On Peachtree
One photo of this old dear on Peachtree was not enough! This one, taken with a fisheye lens, allows you to really take in the full street scene and almost feel as if you’re standing there right in front of the marquee for the Fabulous Fox. This was actually taken not long before I bid farewell to Altanta on a final walk through the city.
Atlanta Roxy
The Roxy Theater in the Buckhead neighborhood in Atlanta started life as the Buckhead Theater in 1930, so it’s a bit younger than the Fox, but in that same general age range. It, however, was built for movies with their own soundtracks rather than subtitles and organ music. It changed names a few times over the years and eventually settled into life in the Buckhead Bar district that grew up around it, becoming a venue for live music. The city eventually squashed the bar scene in Buckhead when the headlines around it became a bit too big. The last I heard the Roxy was being renovated and possibly redeveloped for other uses.
The Future Is Today
I’m not sure if everyone would put this into the icon category, but for me the title fits. This is the rooftop lounge at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency Hotel. It’s been diminished by the buildings surrounding it, but when it was built, this space age restaurant sat at the top of Atlanta’s skyline and its said that it was the place to gofor noon meetings. The building was designed by John Portman, and this modernist gem features the first use of a full atrium in a hotel – a now common feature of hotels all over. Much of Atlanta’s modernist architecture has met with the wrecking ball, but one hopes this one will stick around.
The High
Atlanta has a pretty long history of supporting the arts. What we know today as the High Museum began life in 1905 as The Atlanta Art Association. It came to be known as the High when the High family donated their home on Peachtree Street to house the growing collection in 1926. It’s changed a lot since and continues to evolve. The current modern buildings began in 1983 and were expanded upon in 2002. The High continues to be one of the leading museums of the Southeastern US having a diverse and growing collection as well as working with museums around the world to bring temporary exhibitions such as works from the Louvre and the Terracotta Army from China in recent years.
To see even more of Atlanta and prints from other cities around the USA, please check out my Urban America Prints. For part one of this series, please check out Atlanta Icons – Let’s Eat.
20
Sep
2009
Atlanta Icons – Let’s Eat
Once upon a time, I started a series of photographs of what I thought were Atlanta’s iconic places. I was inspired because I had been traveling and kept coming back with what I though (hoped) were icons of the cities I visited. And until the recent idea of staycations, it wasn’t so common that people took the time to visit the things in their own backyards. My energy for the series eventually waned and unless I move back to Atlanta one day, it may be done, but I’m still proud of the images I did for this series! There’s no doubt that there are iconic places absent, but I think I hit some of the highlights (some more than once).
What'll Ya Have?
Without a doubt, my most popular print from the series is this of the sign for Atlanta’s Varsity Restaurant. This striking sign is visible from the I-75/85 Connector that bisects Atlanta’s downtown. The original Varsity (it’s now a chain) was opened by Frank Gordy in 1928 to serve students at nearby Georgia Tech. It eventually became the world’s largest drive in restaurant at more than two acres in size! If you go inside ot order, the inside is a bit of a madhouse as the cashiers are all yelling “what’ll ya have, what’ll ya have?”
This photo won an award for Best Use Of Color in the 2006 Atlanta Celebrates Photography’s annual competition – the theme for that year was “My Atlanta.” It was a perfect marriage of their theme and the series I had just started.
The Big Chicken
Next on the menu, one of the best known landmarks in Atlanta’s suburb of Marietta is The Big Chicken. Directions around Marietta tend to include the relative location of your destination as compared to the Big Chicken. For instance, turn right at the Big Chicken, or 1 mile north of the Big Chicken, etc. The Big Chicken came into being as the signage above Johnny Reb’s Chick, Chuck and Shake restaurant in 1963. It features a moving beak and rolling eyes. In 1974, it was bought out by KFC and despite one time thoughts of moving it, the public uproar quelled that idea and the Big Chicken seems to be there to stay. This photo was processed to appear like a vintage Polaroid image. I felt the vivid colors from the afternoon sun fit this take on Marietta’s Big Chicken.
Open Wide
Atlanta’s oldest bohemian neighborhood is Little Five Points where Moreland Avenue meets Euclid. When I moved to Atlanta, it was a place I had to see, and it’s a wonderful place for people watching. One of many colorful restaurants is the Vortex, which makes a mean hamburger and one of the few places I would rarely think of getting a plain jane burger. The main entrance to the Vortex in L5P is the mouth of a giant Skull. It’s truly one of the most unsforgettable sights on Moreland. This ismage captures the feeling of entering the skull.
For more of Atlanta’s Icons and images from around the states, please check out my Urban America Prints.
13
Sep
2009
Savannah and the Coast
This probably won’t be an especially long post since on phone. The hotel has two pcs in the lobby and I’ve yet to see them free even on a fairly empty Sunday night.
This is my third night here and I consider it little more than a taste but I understand why people have so often spoken kindly of Savannah when they heard I was from Georgia. The irony always was I’d only seen Georgia’s coast once and Savannah only from I-95 at night.
My trip has shown me I must come back! The funny thing is it’s not the city I’ve enjoyed so much as the coast. There’s something in the sea air that has always agreed with me. I think my brain protects itself when I get away from the ocean and blots it out, but it’s the same reason I have always enjoyed storms that blow inland from the sea. There’s something markedly different about the air.
I’ve been out to Tybee Island every day I’ve been here and out to Skidaway Island as well and saw Moon River of Johnny Mercer fame. I took some panoramas of Moon River – fingers crossed that they turn out as planned!
Got here late afternoon on Friday and after dinner took my first turn out on Tybee after a wander through downtown in my car. I saw the sun set behind me as I made my way out and dusk on the tidal marshes, my first moment of really getting the beauty of this place. I ended the night with a few night shots of Tybee Lighthouse.
The next morning I tried my best to make it to Tybee fir sunrise but missed by a bit, but I managed to get to a few spots in the marshes as people started to head out in their boats. Then on to Tybee and got a few early photos if the lighthouse and wandered on the beach until the opened the light.
I climbed the 170ish steps to the top. Think I may have been the first of the morning, but at least there was no one up there to see me spazzing at the height! I have never like bridges and apparently the little metal walk projecting out at the top is close enough! I clung to the wall and inched around for the view! At this point I was glad they had a sign up allowing no big bags as pulling out my point and shoot was more than enough for me. By the time others showed up I had chilled out a little but I still didn’t want too many people on it and headed down Toured the rest of the restored buildings and headed back to Savannah to finally see the city!
And I didn’t see a lot! If you’re planning to do a trolley tour my suggestion is to start first thing! I only got off at two stops of the dozen or so offerred and before I knew it, it was time to get on the last trolley back to the visitor center. I considered riding back in and wandering now that I had my bearings a little but decided instead for the ride to Skidaway Island.
There’s not a lot to say about the island from what I saw of it. It’s entirely possible that there’s something great out there, but all I found to take photos if was the view from a fishing pier at Moon River, but it was a great way to end the day.
Sunday was an incredibly lazy day. I had planned to check in and see if I could get on a ghost tour and walk around the city. The alarm went off and I decided not an early morning day which was probably just as well because it was a very overcast day – sunrise was probably disapointing. I finally got out and had lunch.
Over lunch I decided I’d go see Bonaventure cemetery and then back downtown to wander the historic district. Found Bonaventure fairly easily. At first I was disappointed. It was pretty but nothing super special. For those who don’t know Bonaventure is where the cover for Midnigt in The Garden of Good and Evil was photographed. I had wandered fir a good while before looping around to the much older part of the cemetery and it is quite beautiful in the way a lot of basically Victorian cemeteries are, massive monuments to death and egos but hauntingly lovely especially cloaked I. The canopies of live oaks. I wish I had found that area first, but maybe it’s good I was walked out! I started back fir the parking lot and sudenly realized it was a few minutes after 5pm! Not only was my car on the other side of a six foot fence, the gate was locked! Before I could panic and call the “emergency” number on the gate, I saw someone drive up to a gate about 25 feet away and made a mad dash to get there before she locked it! LOL. The fun thing was as I sat in the car, I could see people still driving around inside… I guess they have to let a lot of people out (there was a caretaker’s house).
At this point, it seemed too late to go downtown again so I decided that will wait for another visit. Instead, yes, I drove out to Tybee once more. I spent over two hours wandering the beach with my camera and soaking in the sea air and ocassionally wishing I had a beach towel with me but walking with the camera and just breathing the air was incredibly relaxing anyway!
Thus ends my first journey to the coast, not my last I trust! Tomorrow, bound for the airport for the next leg of this trip! Stay tuned!
12
Jun
2009
Meandering Through The Other Georgia
If it seems like I haven’t shared any news lately, it’s perhaps because there isn’t much to be had. I’ve been using a lot of my now spare time to do some handyman stuff at my parent’s house that I’d put off or only half done in the past. It’s hard when you’re only in town for a weekend to get a lot done. There’s still a lot to do (aren’t old houses fun?), but it’s looking like I’ll have some time as I wait for the house to sell. There’s also the chance that I might do a lttle meandering stateside or even take advantage of some last minute travel deals (harder to travel on the spur of the moment when you have a day job you know!).
I did finally take some me time realizing it had been more than a few days since I picked up my camera and did some wandering. I left late in the afternoon, and there are definitely worthwhile places I could have gone near by, but instead I wandered down Georgia 26 until I found myself in Hawkinsville, Georgia. I couldn’t tell you the last time I had been there – probably at least a decade. I saw a lot of rolling countryside on the way and had to make a couple of stops.
Framed By Clouds - Highway 26
There are actually several photos of this old house on that awesome hill (it’s for sale if you want a fixer upper, but I suspect the land is what’s really worth something). Definitely give the others a look in my new “Other Georgia” photo album. I had a hard time picking a favorite but don’t want to put them all in this post! If I didn’t pick your favorite, let me know which one was!
And for anyone wondering what the “other Georgia” is, it’s the part that’s not Atlanta. I’m by far not the first to reference it as such.
I wandered through Hawkinsville for a bit but only took a few photos – neat place and I’m sure I’ll wander back through again, but didn’t find anything too awesome photo op wise in the direction I chose to amble. I drove on a ways but decided it was too late in the day to keep wandering towards the coast unless I was prepared to spend the night in that direction somewhere. So I headed back to Macon County and got there in the best light of the day.
I took one stop in Oglethorpe for a photo I would only get on a quiet Sunday when no one would see me literally lying on the street next to the curb to get this perspective of the 100+ year old courthouse.
Macon County Courthouse
I was partially shielded from view by my car, but if anyone saw me lying there, my apologies! I wanted to get this view of that big blue sky.
After that, I stopped by Troy’s Snack Shack in downtown Montezuma and finally timed it for the light I’d hoped for on past stops. Now, a photo of Troy’s empty doesn’t tell the story of this Montezuma tradition. It’s been there for decades and it’s always busy!
Troy's Snack Shack - Montezuma, Georgia
Troy's Snack Shack Interior - Montezuma, Georgia
That second one is shot through the plate glass windows – I liked the result!
