Your Yard Sale Place

 “Your Yard Sale Place” Georgia Hwy. 32, Bacon County    

 Traveling along State Highway 32 just north of Waycross, near sunset on my 2010 trip around the perimeter of Georgia, I came across this odd structure. I thought maybe it was a boxcar that had somehow managed to jump its tracks and find a new home in a recently plowed field. 

However, when I enlarged the digital file in Photoshop, I found that it was some sort of trailer. There's a hitch on the left end, and two sets of rubber tires underneath. There also appear to be air conditioners at both ends. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Apparently, this was someone's dream of starting a business. The power pole and electric meter box would seem to indicate that it was a serious attempt, and not that someone just towed the trailer out into the field and abandoned it. The fact that what would appear to have been the parking lot has been plowed would suggest that the business didn't make it.

I saw many strange and interesting sights as I drove Georgia's highways. I'm looking forward to finding more visual treasures in Tennessee. As Robert Louis Stephenson wrote:       

" The world is so full of a number of things

I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."

Just keep your eyes open and your camera handy.

(Canon EOS 5D Classic digital camera, EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens)

Signed copies of the new second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to me at 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 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    Georgia     travel    Canon 5D Classic     digital cameras    Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens)     

The Magic of Ordinary Things

 Chaise Lounge, U.S. Hwy 129, Irwin County

I am by no means a great photographer, although I've been a professional for more than 50 years and am reasonably competent in many aspects of commercial work -- advertising, architecture, photojournalism, and portraits, among the many things a small-market generalist photographer may be called upon to do. Most of these take specialized skills, especially skill in the use of light.

However, most of the photographs posted on this blog and in my books requires no specialized knowledge at all -- just basic camera-handling skills. In other words, these are pictures most of my readers could have made. There's magic in ordinary things and in the scenes most of us see every day. The operative word is see. Do we actually see the world around us, or do we just pass by without noticing? 

Hundreds of people pass the little pond with the red settee on U.S. 129 in south Georgia without noticing it. Some do notice, but how many stop to make a picture? This picture could have been made by just about anyone with a camera, but I'm probably the only one who actually did stop and make a photograph. It isn't rocket science. It's just noticing, and taking a moment to make a photo of what you notice. 

Beyond that, if you want your picture to be as appealing as possible, learn a few simple things about composition, which is the art of setting the boundaries of your frame and arranging the elements within it in the way you find most attractive. Again, it's not rocket science.

If you would like to learn more about composing your photographs, check out the six-part series I posted in February, 2022. It begins here. 

(Canon EOS 5D Classic digital camera, EF 70-200 f4L lens)

Signed copies of the new second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to me at 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 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    Georgia     travel    Canon 5D Classic     digital cameras     Canon EF 70-200 f4L lens

The Ogeechee River Mill

The Ogeechee River Mill, Hancock County, Georgia

In an obscure location about eight miles west of Warrenton, Georgia (oh, you never heard of Warrenton?) stands the Ogeechee River Grist Mill, one of the state's most beautiful old mills.

The first mill at this location was built in 1847 on the other side of the river, but was rebuilt on its present site in 1933 to avoid flooding. The original wooden dam was replaced by a concrete dam at that time. 

The mill is unusually beautiful and well-preserved, and is very much in business with a number of clients for its products. It's a good idea to call well in advance to arrange a tour, because the mill is located on a working cattle farm and owners Missy Garner and her son Alex Broward are busy people. Call them at 706-464-2195 or 706-831-1432 and leave a message if you don't get an answer. The cost of the tour is $10 for adults; school children get in free. I assure you that you will get your money's worth. 

Millstones at the Ogeechee River Mill

 Southern-style grits are a specialty, and if the mill isn't grinding grits when you visit, you can buy a bag or two at the IGA grocery store in Warrenton.

(Adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia. Both pictures made with an Olympus OM-D EM-5 Micro 4/3s digital camera and a Panasonic 14-140mm f3.5-5.6 zoom lens.)

Signed copies of the new second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to me at 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 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    Georgia     travel   old mills     micro 4/3s digital cameras     Olympus OM-D EM-5     Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm f3.5-5.6 lens

Snow in South Georgia

South Georgia Snow. US Hwy. 19, Taylor County

 

Northern tourists want to know “What is that fluffy white stuff in the fields? Looks like snow!”

That fluffy white stuff is cotton, and it has a long history in Georgia.

In the years before the Civil War, cotton was king all across the South. But nowhere did it reign more supremely than in Georgia, where it was first planted in 1733 and began to be grown commercially in 1788. The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 made cotton the state’s major cash crop.

In 1914 more than five million Georgia acres were planted in cotton. Nowadays it’s still the most widely grown row crop in the state, with about one and a quarter to one and a half million acres planted. Better farming and harvesting methods make those acres more productive. Only Texas grows more cotton than Georgia in the U.S.

Did you know the cotton gin was invented in Chatham County, Georgia? Whitney’s patent was signed by President George Washington himself.

(From my limited edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait. Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film.)

Signed copies of the new second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to me at 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 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    Georgia     travel     cotton      cotton gin     Canon EOS A2 camera, Fujichrome 100D film     Eli Whitney     Chatham County