My Last Commercial Gig?

 Morning show personalities, WMBW Radio, Chattanooga.

This is from a 2016 photo session, but we try to maintain

the same feeling of spontaneity in each iteration.

Canon EOS 6D, 100mm f2 EF lens

(Click to enlarge)

 

Yesterday I did what may be my last commercial photography assignment. It was staff portraits for Radio Station WMBW, the local Moody Radio network affiliate. WMBW has been a client for many years. 

I say it's my last gig, but who knows for sure? I no longer solicit commercial photography, but I still enjoy doing it. So if someone asks me, I'm not going to turn down the opportunity. Granted, there aren't many 83-year-old commercial photographers around, but if I'm able to do the work, if I enjoy doing it, and there's no reason not to do it, then why shouldn't I do it?

One of my heroes is Julius Schulman, probably the greatest architectural photographer ever. He retired in his 80s, got bored after a while, and went back to work until his death at age 99, getting around with a walker and an assistant to carry his camera and tripod. 

Another of my heroes is the Biblical Caleb, the contemporary of Joshua. As the Israelites were occupying the land of Canaan, Caleb went to Joshua and said (paraphrasing) "I'm 85 years old. My eyes are still good and I'm as strong as ever. So give me this mountain and I'll drive out the Anakim (a tribe of giants)." 

I'm probably not going to find any giants to kill, but I'm looking forward to starting work on a second edition of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia (Countryman Press, 2017). The deadline is the end of this year, and if all goes well it will be in bookstores around the middle of 2022. 

Meanwhile, the sale of our home and property is moving ahead. We have purchased our next home -- a fifth-wheel trailer -- and are busy moving our selves and our possessions into it. I'll try to have some photos to show in my next post. 

Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?

(Photograph copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone

 

McLemore Cove: One Final Note

Captain John McLemore Historical Marker

West Cove Road, McLemore Cove

Olympus OM-D E-M5, Panasonic 14-140 f3.5-5.6 lens

(Click to enlarge)

 

I received a comment from a reader who identified himself as a descendent of the man for whom the cove was named. Captain John McLemore, the son of a Scottish fur trader and a Cherokee mother, lived in the Cove in the early 1800s before moving west to Arkansas in 1817.

The photograph at the top of this post is of a marker placed by the Walker County Historical Society at the intersection of West Cove Road and Captain Tom Wood Road in honor of John McClemore. Unfortunately, no one bothers to maintain the site. It's not hard to find in winter, but more difficult in summer foliage. 

In any case, if the commenter should ever visit the Cove, he should be able, with a little poking around, to find his ancestor's marker.

Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?

(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone

 

McLemore Cove: Part 4

Daugherty Gap Road, Mountain Cove Farm

Canon EOS 5D Classic, 70-200mm f4L lens

(Click to enlarge)

 

This is the fourth and final installment of my article about McLemore Cove, originally published in Georgia Backroads Magazine. The first, second, and third parts were posted on my blog on Monday, December 28th, Wednesday, December 30th, and Friday, January 1st.

Although there have been both mining and industry in the Cove in the past, it is now almost completely given over to farming, primarily raising beef cattle. There are also a few dairy farms. The railroad tracks that once ran to the Reichold Chemical plant and the Barwick-Archer carpet mill were featured in scenes from the movie Water for Elephants but have now been abandoned 

The 1840s Daugherty Manor House, Mountain Cove Farm

Fuji X-Pro1, Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OISII lens

Mountain Cove Farm, located at the south end of the Cove where it narrows to a point, is a remnant of the land bought up after the 1832 Land Lottery by William Dougherty, an attorney from Athens, Georgia.  He resold much of it, but by the 1970s, when the farm was owned by Wayne Rollins, owner of Orkin Pest Control and other companies, it still covered 10,000 acres. After Rollins's death, some the land was sold in 15- to 30-acre plots and a number of fine houses have been built.  Walker County now owns what's left of the land. The Mountain Cove Farm Manor House, built by Dougherty in the 1840s, has been leased as a restaurant by several different entities, but so far no one has been able to make a permanent go of it. One of the barns is operated by the county as a wedding venue and the former farm workers cottages have been renovated as vacation cottages. There is also an RRV campground on the property. The farm has also been home to an annual Walker County Fair. The county recently changed to a different form of government with multiple commisioners, however, so what will happen to Mountain Cove Farm remains to be seen.

Polled Herefords graze along West Cove Road

Fuji X-T20, Fujinon 1F 18-135 f3.5-5.6 lens

 

We have lived in McLemore's Cove for 33 years now, which means we're still newcomers, but the natives accept us graciously. We call our home Deer Run Farm because, of course, the deer run through it, to my wife's continuing delight. We raised beef cattle for more than 20 years, but sold our herd in 2012. We miss them, but it was time. 

Chickamauga Creek and Pigeon Mountain, Winter, 1993.

Our house is built on a ridge that runs down the center of the Cove and so oriented that we can watch the sun rise over Pigeon Mountain in the morning and watch it set over Lookout Mountain in the evening. 

There may be more beautiful places than McLemore Cove in this world, but probably not many. 

Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?

(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone

 

McLemore Cove: Part 3

 Blue and Gold

South Chickamauge Creek in McLemore Cove.

Pentax 6x7, 105mm f2.4 Takumar lens, Fujichrome 100 film

(Click to enlarge)

This is the third installment of my article about McLemore Cove, originally published in Georgia Backroads Magazine. The first and second parts were posted on my blog on Monday, December 28th and Wednesday, December 30th.

High on the western side of Pigeon Mountain is a small enclosed valley -- known in the southern Appalachians as a "pocket." Someone told us about it not long after we came to the Cove, and of course, we wanted to see it for ourselves. Driving back along the gravel road that led to the Pocket, we passed a cornfield, where an old man and his wife were picking corn. It was Fred "Coon" Hise, then in his 80s, and his wife Myrtle. We stopped and they came over to talk with us, their arms full of corn and their faces full of simple goodness. The scene was overwhelmingly reminiscent of a famous 1930s FSA photograph of an Iowa farmer and his wife holding the products of their farm. I had my camera; I could have taken the picture; but somehow, I didn't. I've missed many shots in my career as a photographer, and some I regret more than others. But this was the one I regret more than any other.  That old couple defined McLemore Cove people for me, and still does to this day. Some of their children and grandchildren are our present neighbors and are very like their ancestors. 

McLemore Cove is home to some of the sweetest people we have ever met. "Sweet" may not be the most appropriate word, but I can't think of a better one. Cove people are for the most part sweet-natured, gentle, friendly, and kind. 

Of course, like most places, the Cove has a few people that just don't fit the mold. Chief among them would be George David Queener, who did not fit anybody's mold. Larger than life, he was one of the most unforgettable characters I've ever met.

George D. and Jake

Leica M3, 50mm Summicron lens, Tri-X

George D., as he was usually known, came to the Cove in 1946, just out of the army, to work at Mountain Cove Farm. He had been a corporal, and was newly married to Mary Ellen, who was older than he, and had been, interestingly enough, a lieutenant. George's ambition was to be a cattleman, and to that end, he told Mary Ellen that he wanted to go to medical school so he could become a doctor and earn enough money to own cattle. With her characteristic common sense, she told him, "If you want to be a cattleman, go work in the cattle business." 

Eventually, they were able to acquire a piece of property and put some cattle on it. Through years of scrimping and saving, going into debt when necessary to buy more land when it became available, they in time found themselves owners of the GDQ Ranch, with more than 800 acres and 350 head of purebred Polled Hereford cattle. 

George D. and Mary Ellen. Good Neighbors, good friends.

 

George D. was considered by many to be a hard man, and perhaps he was. But he sold us our land, and he was a good neighbor to us. Mary Ellen was one of the most gracious ladies I've ever known, but George D. was inclined to get a bit obstreperous now and then. It usually ended when Mary Ellen looked at him and said, "Now, George D. . ." 

I guess he never forgot that she outranked him. 

To be continued.

Blog Note: I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at alifeinphotography.blogspot.com. I'm trying to build up my readership, so if you're reading this on Facebook and like what I write, would you please consider sharing my posts?

(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone