My Overhaul Got Derailed!

 

RCB-TN-57-B, West of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee.

Warning to first-time visitors: If you haven't visited my blog before, I suggest you read some of my older posts first to get a true sense of what the blog is about. Because today's post is a downer. Here's a good place to start.

If you're still with me, and you don't have delicate sensibilities, let me bring you up to date. My last post was on August 10. On August 12, I lost my balance in our bedroom, my foot got caught in the carpet, and I fell heavily. A trip to the emergency room confirmed the bad news — I had a compression fracture of a vertebrae. T-11, to be specific. 

The pain was not much fun, so I began wearing a back brace and taking pain medication (tramidol), and in seven or eight days found myself with an impacted intestine. As in blocked. As in I had to drink a gallon of that vile bowel prep solution to get myself unplugged.

So, I switched to oxycodone. and in about a week found myself plugged again. I hadn't realized that all narcotics have that effect. So, back to the vile bowel prep. Nowadays I'm making do with Tylenol and Ibuprofen and gradually getting better. I should also mention that in the midst of the fun and games with bowel obstruction, I developed a hernia.

Healing is a slow process. I haven't been writing because I can't sit at my computer for more than a few minutes at a time, and also because I've been having some general brain fog. But I'm slowly trying to work myself back into the groove. 

Still ahead are an aortic valve replacement sometime this fall, and an angioplasty to open up the arteries in my left leg. Also, possible surgery to repair the hernia. And many, many hours of physical therapy.

So that's the story. Unless something else happens.

About the photo: The building behind the old truck is Rock City barn TN-57. The old farmer who owned the place told me that he pulled out of his driveway onto the highway one day and was promptly smacked by a passing car. He reversed back into his driveway, parked the truck, threw away the keys, and never drove again. Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    Rock City Barn photography     Canon EOS A2 film camera     Fujichrome 100D film    old/abandoned cars     senior health issues

I'm Getting Overhauled!

Abandoned Corvair, Sunbury, Georgia.

I've been blessed with pretty robust health for most of my life. In fact, I was doing okay at age 87 until I had a bad fall while going down into a canyon to photograph Potter's Falls near Wartburg, Tennessee. (You can read about it here.) That cost me some walking mobility, and things have been moving slowly downhill since then.

I haven't been writing much lately because, frankly, I haven't been feeling great. I've been lethargic and unmotivated. I think what I need is an overhaul!

Around the end of World War II, while I was still a child, my father owned a 1937 Chevrolet which he drove to work every day -- a 75-mile round trip. After about 60,000 miles the car would need new valves and  piston rings, and maybe some bearings -- what we called an overhaul. Dad, a man of boundless energy and many abilities, would  park the car in my grandmother's garage and do the work himself.

Fortunately, I have somewhat more than 60,000 miles on my odometer, but the time has finally come for an overhaul.

About five weeks ago, I had an angioplasty in my right leg to clear out the arteries and improve circulation. The left leg will get its turn in a few weeks. Two weeks ago I had surgery to remove parts of the large and third toes on my right foot. They had become infected and the infection had reached the bone.

Today I am having a heart catheterization as a prelude to an aortic valve replacement. And Friday, I am having a small skin cancer removed from my chest. Who knows what may be next?

So I'm getting overhauled. I hope the doctors are as skilled as my father. Maybe I can get another ten years out of this overhaul! 

Of course, if I were still a kid and Dad were still around, he would take off his belt and solve my motivation problems very quickly.

The Picture: Abandoned Chevrolet Corvair at Sunbury, on the Georgia coast. Photographed with a Canon EOS 20D digital camera.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital photography    travel photography     Canon EOS 20D digital camera    Georgia    Sunbury     Georgia coast     old/abandoned cars     Chevrolet Corvair

Bruges: The City of Canals

Birds on the canal, Bruges, Belgium.

Blog Note: This post was originally written in 2022, but for some reason not posted at that time. I discovered it a few days ago while looking through my blog archives.

1990 was our big year for touring Europe. In February and March, Louise and I visited nine countries, mostly in Eastern Europe, just as they were emerging from 70 years of Communist domination, and in November we visited England, Belgium, France, Spain, and Morocco. All these travels were  commissioned by the Church of God for the purpose of making still photographs and video and gathering information to produce documentaries about the missions work of the church in Europe.

One of the most beautiful places we visited on our tour was Bruges, Belgium. Bruges is very old, very European, and appears to have as many canals as streets. The photo at the top of this post is one of my favorite pictures from Europe.

Our visit was brief but enjoyable. We attended and photographed a worship service in the evening, then the next morning took a boat ride on the canals which thread their way through the city and visited shops on the square. Louise bought a few pieces of the fine lace for which Bruges is famous, then, after lunch we moved on toward Paris.

Canal Boatman, Bruges

Both photos were made with Olympus OM film cameras loaded with Fujichrome 100D film, my all-time favorite. Unfortunately, I did not keep very good notes on this trip, so I can't say for sure what lenses were used.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photographs and text copyright David B. Jenkins. I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    travel photography     Olympus OM film camera    Belgium    Bruges   Fujichrome 100D film    Europe     canals in Europe

Things I've Learned in a Life in Photography

Old Ford pickup in auto graveyard, U.S. 27, Troup County, Georgia.

 

 One: The Thing Is the Thing

The one essential thing without which no photograph can exist is the thing itself -- the subject. As the late, great Bill Jay  wrote: 

This immediate emotional or intellectual response to the subject matter is at the core of photography. Its periphery is the photographer's manipulation of framing, focus, exposure, lighting, and all the other variables, in order that a bland record is invested with depth through the production of an intriguing image.

The photographer is, first and foremost, a selector of subjects. The photographer makes a conscious choice from the myriad of possible subjects in the world and states: I find this interesting, significant, beautiful or of value. The photographer walks through life pointing at people and objects; the aimed camera shouts "look at that!" The photographer produces pictures in order that his or her interest in a subject can be communicated to others. Each time a viewer looks at a print, the photographer is slaying "I found this subject to be more interesting or significant than thousands of other objects I could have captured; I want you to appreciate it too. "

Jay's book On Being a Photographer should be in every photographer's library. It's cheap and it's available on Amazon. If you don't have a copy I highly recommend you get one.

The photo: Made in 1996 with a Canon EOS A2 camera and (probably) the Canon EF 28-105mm lens. The film, as always, was Fujichrome 100D slide film.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photograph copyright David B. Jenkins. Text copyright David B. Jenkins and the Estate of Bill Jay, 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography    Bill Jay     Canon EOS A2 camera    Canon EF 28-105mm lens   Fujichrome 100D film    art and photography

I Am an Amateur Photographer

 Louise in the "kitchen" of our first camper.

 I am an amateur photographer. The word "amateur" is derived from the Latin "amare" which means "to love." Since buying a cheap Instamatic camera in 1968 to make pictures of my newborn son, I have carried a camera with me most of the time and pointed it at what ever caught my interest. Including, of course, many pictures of my family. And although my career as a professional photographer spanned more than 50 years, I have always been an amateur. Photographing for the love of it.

I did my last paid gig in 2023 --- just three years ago yesterday. And although my mobility is limited these days I'm still looking for pictures.

One of the photographers I most admire is Elliott Erwitt, who  made a substantial living through his photography for magazines, advertising, and annual reports in the US and around the world. Wherever he went, he always carried a small camera with him -- usually a Leica, with a 50mm lens and loaded with black and white film. His "snaps," as he called them, have filled more than 25 books.

Sometimes Erwitt's wit is very subtle,

and sometimes it's like a slap in the face.

I have always sought to photograph in the same spirit as Erwitt, but he is the master. He could walk around a block -- almost any block -- and come back with more good pictures than I could make in a year. But I love what I do. I'm an amateur.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available for $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins and the Estate of Elliott Erwitt, 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     amateur  photography     Elliott Erwitt     Leica rangefinder camera    art and photography

Thoughts about AI and Art

 Horse laugh. Near Riceville, McMinn County, Tennessee.

 A few weeks ago I took on the issue of "photographs" created by AI. Are they photographs, or are they not?

My position is that they are not photographs. As I wrote before, the essence of photography is that it is photographic. It is a picture made by the action of light reflected from something that has objective reality onto a sensitized surface. Light rays bouncing off something that really exists go through a lens and are recorded onto film, a sensor of some kind, or something not yet invented, but whatever it is, it is "writing with light." The unique power of photography is derived from this direct connection to reality. 

My friend the graphic designer and artist Michael Largent creates beautiful work by extensively altering photographs in Photoshop. I haven't talked to him recently -- he may be working with AI by this time. His pictures are art, no question. But are they photographs? Just barely, if at all.

Could someone using AI create a picture like my Laughing Pony? Of course, if he could imagine such a thing. And that's the difference. The magic of photography is that life holds so many amazing and wonderful things that are entirely unanticipated, unexpected, even unimagined in the deepest sense; that is -- no one would ever have thought of such a thing. And then, suddenly, right out of the fabric of life, up gallops my pony.

(About the photo: This was made in McMinn County, Tennessee, as I was returning from a  barn-hunting trip in Kentucky and other points north. The camera was one of my first in the Canon EOS system, the EOS 10S. It was a really good camera for its time, although I eventually upgrades to the EOS A2. The lens was probably the Canon EF 24mm, and film, as always, was Fujichrome 100D.)

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     film photography     AI    Canon EOS 10s camera     Canon EF 24mm lens    art and photography   Rock City Barn photographs

Learning from My Photographs

 

Daffodils along West Cove Road, McLemore Cove, Walker County, Georgia.  

Do you look deeply at your photographs after you've made them to see what they are truly about? I'm not talking about things like composition, exposure, focus, and such, although those are necessary and important. I'm talking about meaning and message. Those elements are often not evident at first glance. We may have to live with a picture for a while to understand its full meaning. There may be much more there than we saw when we snapped the shutter. (Although sometimes we feel it without realizing what we're seeing.)

I have a number of photographs printed on canvas in 24 by 36-inch format which I hang  over my fireplace and switch  out according to the season. This one, as you were probably able to guess, is my spring picture.

When I made this photograph I was deliberately looking for something that said "Spring." I made quite a few photos on my farm and around the Cove, but this is the one I chose. I like the picture very much, obviously, but I had never looked at it deeply to understand what it was that I liked.

Until . . . a few weeks ago, I was sitting on my sofa, looking at the photograph with my mind in idle, when it began to come alive to me. There is incredible life and action in that still picture. Tiny golden trumpets looking to their creator, fairly dancing as they blow their hearts out in praise to the God of the universe.

Study your photographs. There may be a lot more "there" there than you realize. As the great New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a whole lot just by lookin'."

The photo: Olympus E-M5 digital with the Panasonic Lumis 14-140mm lens (probably the most useful combination I've ever owned. Should have kept it.)

Please Note: My granddaughter Jennifer set me up with my own domain for this blog so my web address is now alifeinphotography.com. The blogspot identifier is no longer needed.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital photography     McLemore Cove     Olympus E-M5 camera     Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm lens    flower photography

AI? Not I!

Dragons in the Backyard. Clarkesville, Georgia.

One pleasant early fall day as my son Rob and I were wandering around northeast Georgia to see (and photograph) whatever of interest we might find, we were driving along a street that ran by the backyards of some houses, when Rob suddenly exclaimed "Dad! Look at that!" It was  a cast metal dragon and an eagle in someone's backyard. So of course I stopped and made a few photographs.

Could this picture have been created by AI? Of course. But who would have thought of it?

The essence of photography is that it is photographic. It is a picture made by the action of light reflected from something that has objective reality onto a sensitized surface. Light rays bouncing off something that is really there go through a lens and are recorded onto film, a sensor of some kind, or something not yet invented, but whatever it is, it is "writing with light." The unique power of photography is derived from this direct connection to reality. When a photograph is altered, digitally or otherwise, it becomes no longer a photograph, but something else: perhaps a subset of painting or collage. Rauschenberg, for instance, creates work that I would categorize as collage. It may be artistic in itself, it may use photography as an element or a point of departure, but it is not photography.

The photographer Dorothea Lange kept a quotation by the English essayist Francis Bacon on her darkroom door: “The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention." As Fred Picker said in the March 1994 issue of Shutterbug, "This Koudelka (print by Czech photographer Joseph Koudelka) on the wall contains the most amazing combination of things that I know happened, because when he made that photograph there was no electronic imaging. Here are two horses, standing in a certain position, a boy sitting on a bicycle wearing an angel suit with angel wings, here's an old lady scolding him, all in magnificent light and beautifully composed. Today, that picture could be made by some guy sitting in front of a computer. Knowing that would take all the wonder out of it."

In actuality, it isn’t likely “some guy sitting in front of a computer” would make such a picture, because those who alter and/or combine photographs are limited by their imaginations. They can only do what they can conceive. But photography goes beyond human imagination. As novelist Tom Clancy has said, “The difference between fiction and non-fiction is that fiction has to make sense.” The magic of photography is that life holds so many amazing and wonderful things that are entirely unanticipated, unexpected, even unimagined in the deepest sense; that is -- no one would ever have thought of such a thing. And then, suddenly, right out of the fabric of life, there it is. "I can do a beautiful illustration, but it doesn't have that 'instant of wonder' that a photograph will have."  (Art Director Tony Anthony, quoted in "Photo District News," February, 1987.) Photography shows us things that lie beyond our imagination and compel our amazement because they really happened. It revels in the beauty, the mystery, and the strangeness of life. It is the most powerful purely visual medium ever created.

AI is great for things like commercial illustration and advertising (although it's putting some commercial photographers out of business). But not for the photography that matters to people like me. I want my photographs to be real. To show the world as it actually exists. People can use AI to alter and "improve" their photographs, but if their creations are presented as real photographs, I think that is destructive to the art of photography.

So. . .AI? Not I.

The photo: Olympus E-M5, Panasonic 14-140mm lens

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     AI     Olympus E-M5 camera     Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm lens    Clarkesville, Georgia

 W. L. Coker's New River General Store, TN Hwy. 116, Anderson County.

Blog note: I'm re-posting this blog entry about what I thought was a little-known store in a remote place on a lightly-traveled highway because it generated such a surprising and unusual number of page views and comments.

In 1937 (the year of my birth!) W.L Coker and his wife Belle built a two-story brick building on a remote stretch of gravel road in east Tennessee's mountainous Anderson County. The first floor was a general store, and the Cokers had living quarters on the second floor.

I can't imagine how the business survived, but there was a great deal of coal mining activity in the area in those day, so the store apparently did okay. It's still very much in business, now operated by a Coker grandson, although he does supplement his income by driving a school bus.

 The Blue & White Service Station next to Coker's Store.

The Blue & White Service Station, located beside the Coker store, is kinda dilapidated these days, but the pair of gas pumps between the two buildings are still very much in use.

That stretch of gravel road where the store is located is now paved and designated as Tennessee Highway 116, also known to some motorists as the Devil's Triangle because of the way the road winds around challenging curves and over steep mountains.

The Devil's Triangle is not as well-known as the Dragon, that stretch of U.S. Highway 129 between Maryville, Tennessee and Robbinsville, North Carolina, but I've driven them both and I believe the Triangle is even more challenging -- and dangerous, with sharp, winding curves, narrow shoulders, loose gravel and minimal guardrails. But of course, all that makes the road even more attractive to adventurous motorcyclists and sports car drivers.

Both photos were made with a Fuji X-T3 camera and the Fujinon 16-80mm f4 lens.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography     digital photography     travel photography     east Tennessee      Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens     Fuji X-T3 camera     Tennessee Highway 116     Anderson County     Devil's Triangle     The Dragon     U.S. Highway 129

Success or. . .?

 Abandoned. U.S. 27, Rhea County, Tennessee.

 Over the years this blog has had maybe 5,000 hits, more or less, per month. Ten thousand hits in one month was cause for celebration. Recently, that number has increased radically to 15,000 hits, 17,000 hits, 25,000. . . Then in May the number shot up to 60,000. So far, there have been nearly 40,000 hits in May. 

Success, right? Well, maybe. Posting three times per week usually, I've racked up more than 800 original posts. Yet, there have been only a little more than 400 comments, and none duriing these months of greatly increased hits. Something smells. So what's happening? 

I think ny blog is being raided by bots, or more likely, by AI, pilfering content while ignoring my copyright. 

Master photo blogger Kirk Tuck suspected something like that was happening, so he shut down his blog and removed all his content, thousands of posts over 18 or so years, and stored it all in a safe place.

He's back now, but on Substack, where his content is only available to those he personally approves. Maybe I'll look into that, or a similar option. We'll see. I write for my readers and for myself. I don't want my work pirated.  

Meanwhile, back at the ranch: Last week Louise had surgery on her shoulder, broken in a fall last February. It never healed properly and we were not happy with the orthopedist, so we went to a different one and she finally got the surgery she needed. As for myself, I'm being treated for an infection in my right foot. I'm also looking at procedures to open up the arteries in my legs and probably an aortic valve replacement. Getting older is definitely not for sissies!

 

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography  blogging     bots    AI

It's Been a Busy Week!

 Abandoned store, Georgia Highway 100, Meriwether County.

 The past week or so has been busy, busy, busy, with two days of Devlin's and Anna-leise's wedding celebration at Pigeon Forge. It was a great time, with lots of family all in the same hotel, and a shuttle to the wedding venue on a nearby mountain. I did too much walking on my game legs and have still not fully recovered. But it was a great time.

Five of my six grandchildren are married now, and have produced ten great-grandchildren, with one more on the way. Glad I'm still around to see them.

In contrast to last week's busy-ness, this week has been doctors, doctors, doctors. I have already seen one about an infection in my foot, and will be seeing two more about other issues. I've spent more time with doctors in the last three years than in all my previous life!

Louise fell in March and broke her shoulder. It has never healed properly, so finally this week they're going to do the surgery that should have been done months ago.

But we're grateful. God has been gracious to us and we are blessed to have lived so long.

The photo of Dave's Place was made with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera and the Panasonic 14-140mm lens.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography  digital photography    Olympus E-M5 camera    Panasonic 14-140mm  lens    Family events    weddings aging    senior health issues

Devlin Is a Big Boy Now

 

  Devlin discovers the sprinkler.

I made this photo of my grandson Devlin discovering the sprinkler in 2004, when he was almost three. He's 26 now, and at 6'2"and 210 pounds, is definitely a big boy. He's also a recent graduate from the University of Tennessee, where he studied something in nuclear physics so advanced I don't even know how to tell you about it. I suspect he does not consider the sprinkler episode to have been his finest moment.

My grandson Devlin and his fiancee Anna-leise. Photo by Kim, my daughter-in-law.

  Now it's time for the next step. Devlin and his fiancee, the lovely Anna-leise Bradbury, are to be married next Thursday, June 4th, at a mountain-top venue above Sevierville, Tennessee. Both families are fully involved, with relatives coming from near and far.

Also, on Saturday we're having a reunion of the guys from the Bible Study groups I led at UT-Chattanooga from 2006 to 2017. They're coming from several states and some are bringing their families. It will be great to see them all again.

So it's going to be a busy week. Thankfully,I won't be the official photographer for Devlin's wedding -- I no longer have the stamina for that -- but I'll be taking plenty of snaps and will post a few when the dust has settled. 

The photo of Devlin with the sprinkler was made with my first digital camera -- a Canon EOS 10D with the EF 28-105mm lens. Kim made the picture of Devlin and Anna-leise with her iPhone.

 

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography  digital photography   iPhonel photography    Canon EOS 10D camera    Canon EF 28-105mm lens    Family events    weddings

The Backroads Traveler: Watkinsville, Georgia

The Eagle Tavern has been a Watkinsville landmark for 225 years.

Entering Watkinsville from the northwest via Main Street, on your left, across from the courthouse, is the Eagle Tavern, at 26 North Main Street. Built around 1801, it was an important inn, tavern, and stagecoach stop on the route between Milledgeville and Athens. The tavern also has a rich history of ghostly tales and is considered by some to be the most haunted building in North Georgia.

Today, the Eagle Tavern is a history museum depicting frontier life in Georgia 200 years ago. It is open for tours Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

The Visitor Information Center is across from the Eagle Tavern at 21 North Main Street. They will be happy to provide guidance about tours and points of interest. Watkinsville, probably because of its proximity to  Athens and the University of Georgia, is also home to a very active and extensive art colony, with numerous shops and galleries awaiting your exploration.

 The Old Oconee County jail still stands in Watkinsville.

 Also across from the Eagle Tavern, behind the courthouse, is the old Oconee County jail, which in 1905 was the scene of one of the worst incidents of racial violence in Georgia's history, when a mob took nine men, eight black and one white, out of the jail, dragged them outside the town, and lynched them, supposedly for raping a white woman.

The Haygood House, built around 1827.

 Going south, the Haygood House, circa 1827, at 25 South Main Street, was the birthplace of two prominent Methodists: Bishop Atticus G. Haygood, born in 1839, was president of Emory College from 1875 to 1884, and his sister Laura Haygood, born in 1845, was one of the first Christian missionaries to China.

The Elder Mill Covered Bridge.

From the Haygood House, turn left and go back to GA 15. Turn right and go about four miles to Elder Mill Road. Turn right again and go 0.8 miles to  Elder Mill Covered Bridge, 

Originally built by Nathaniel Richardson over Calls Creek on the Watkinsville-Athens Road in 1897, the bridge was moved by wagon (don't ask me how they did that) to its present location over Rose Creek in 1924. It uses the sturdy Town lattice construction, with heavy planks fastened together with wooden pegs. The 99-foot-long bridge is in daily use, although weight-limited, and is one of very few covered bridges in Georgia to carry traffic without underlying steel support beams. 

This post was adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia. All photos were made with a Canon EOS 6D digital camera and the Canon EF 28-105mm lens

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography  digital photography   travel photography    Canon EOS 6D camera    Canon EF 28-105mmlens    Watkinsville    Georgia travel    Elder Mill Covered Bridge    Eagle Tavern

The View from 89

A Cross in the sky. (Chicago skyline, 1990).

 Today I am 89 years old.

That sounds impressive until you consider the fact that if I live to the age of 100 I have already used up 89 percent of my life!

That doesn't mean I'm pessimistic. I'm looking forward to whatever time I may have left. There are still miles I haven't driven and photographs I haven't made. In fact I have a standing offer from my publisher to do a Backroads and Byways of Tennessee book, but Louise is too worried about me being out on the road all those days and nights, plus her health is up and down, so I need to stick around here.

But I'm content. I've had a full life. I feel privileged to have had a long career as a professional photographer (even though I probably would have made more money if I had stayed with teaching) and I'm grateful for all the places my cameras have taken me and the experiences I've had. 

I'm even more privileged (and blessed) to have shared my life and many of my travels with the lovely Louise Devlin Jenkins. Our great-grandchildren count is now up to ten, with another on the way!

I do have some health issues. Next week I'm going for tests that may reveal that the problem with my feet and legs is poor circulation. That may lead to surgery, which I would welcome. We'll see.

 Whatever may happen, I give all credit to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Gospel is simple and straightforward: Jesus Christ is God, who came in a human body. He died a sacrificial death that paid the penalty for all my sins -- past, present, and future. When I acknowledged myself to be a sinner and received him by faith as my savior, he saved me (John 1:12). He will save anyone who comes to him on those terms. That means you -- whoever and wherever you are.

I hope to have many more years to enjoy life, Louise, our family, and photography. But if not, my future is secure.

 Photo of the Chicago skyline: Olympus OM2n camera, Fujichrome 100D film.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless life gets in the way.

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Tags:   photography   film photography    Olympus OM2n camera    Fujichrome 100D film   Chicago