Southern Illinois "Terraced" Hillside

A hillside in southern Illinois, "terraced" by Mother Nature.

 Rock City, the tourist attraction near Chattanooga, Tennessee, advertised itself for many years by having the words SEE ROCK CITY painted on more than 800 barns throughout the southeast and midwest. In 1994 they commissioned me to find and photograph every barn still in existence and create a book of those photos.

From October, 1994 through the spring of 1996 I traveled 35,000 miles in my old Chevy Blazer to fourteen states, going as far north as Michigan and as far west as Texas. Using the records created by the Rock City sign painters, I was able to find more than 500 sites and about 250 Rock City barns still in existence. The resulting coffee-table book, Rock City Barns: A Passing Era, became a best-seller, with more than 29,000 copies sold and is still consider a classic.

As I traveled those miles through the heartland of America with my camera on the seat beside me, I found many interesting things to photograph besides the barns. Unfortunately, I haven't done much with those photos, partly because they were made on film and cannot be shown on digital media until they have been scanned -- a process which can be either slow, cheap, and good or quick, expensive, and good,but unfortunately, not quick, cheap, and good. So I have quite a few interesting photos in my slide pages awaiting the dawning of a digital day.

This particular photograph, however, of a hillside in southern Illinois, caught my eye immediately and was scanned promptly. After which I did nothing with it but leave it in my files until now. I'm posting it at this time because of the interest generated by the photo of a terraced hillside in north Georgia that I posted on April 11th.

Unlike the terracing in that photo, which appears to have been man-made, although to what purpose I can't imagine, the "terracing" in this picture appears to have been created by Mother Nature and erosion.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

A Menagerie for Your Yard

Need a twelve-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex to keep people or neighborhood dogs off your lawn? Or how about a nice big alligator to lie entwined in your shrubbery? Maybe a nice cobra, or a serious-looking gorilla? Or perhaps a sorrowful-looking pit bull to keep salesmen at bay? They are all available -- for a price.  

Probably only California has more funky places and things than Florida, but Florida is surely a close second. And one of the funkiest is located in northeastern Florida at the intersection of US 17 and SR 40, a wide spot in the road called Barberville, where a two-acre lot is filled with all of the above and much, much more at Barberville Yard Art. 

I asked some employees how long the place had been there. No one knew, but one said she used to pass it on her way to college in the early 1970s. Like the sign says, "It's one of a kind!"

Photographs and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

The Watchers

The Watchers

Louise and I were spending a few days with my sister at her home in the country village of Fayetteville, Indiana. Her grandson, Isaac, wanted to show us his llamas, which he kept in a neighbor's barn across the road.

Having looked at and duly petted and praised the llamas, we came out of the barn and immediately noticed (there's that word again!) the neighbor's three dogs watching something across the road. I don't remember what they were looking at, but I loved their alertness and intensity.

This picture was made in 2004 with a Canon EOS 20D and a Canon EF 24-85 f3.5-4.5 lens. The 20D had an eight megapixel sensor, which doesn't seem like much now, but after the Canon D30 with three megapixels, and the 10D with six, the 20D's eight megapixels seemed generous. I remember Denis Reggie, wedding photographer to the wealthy and powerful, exclaiming "Now I don't even have to turn the camera for verticals! I can just crop a square or vertical out of a horizontal frame!" 

I owned three or four 20Ds at various times. It was an easy camera to use and the autofocus was greatly improved over the Canon 10D with which I began my digital photography career. The files I made with the 20D still hold up well today. In 2006 I bought the original Canon EOS 5D (now often called the "Classic") and used it side-by-side with the 20D until around 2011. I could still make my living with that combo if I needed to.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on Azaleas

 Louise had set a large pot by each of the posts that supported the deck that ran along the back of our house and had planted azaleas and clematis in them. One day as I was working in the backyard I noticed that a large tiger swallowtail butterfly was buzzing the azaleas. As usual, I had a camera fairly close at hand, so I clicked off five or six exposures. This is the one I liked best.

The picture was made with a Fuji X-T20, which is just now becoming my favorite camera even though I've had it for five years. The lens was the Fuji XC 50-230mm telephoto zoom, which enabled me to stand back far enough to get a close-up shot without scaring the butterfly away.

I haven't said anything about it and you probably haven't noticed, but these last four posts have all had a common theme -- noticing things. I did not make them when I was working on a project or when I was out cruising around with my camera to see what I could find, although those are both perfectly valid ways to find photos. I made them as I was just going about my life. But I make it a habit to go about my life with my eyes open and a camera within easy reach.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone