If It Looks Good, Shoot It!

 

Nurse at Crawford W. Long Hospital, Atlanta

(Now Emory University Hospital Midtown)

Canon EOS 10D, 28-70 f2.8L lens

(Adapted from a post from February, 2020.)

In 1972, I was hired as an intern/assistant/general dogsbody at a small, strictly non-Hollywood film production company in Chattanooga. We made what were called in those days “industrial” movies (basically short films made to promote and/or sell a product). We also made many training filmstrips, mostly for the fast-food industry. (For the younger set, I should explain that a filmstrip is a series of still photographs arranged in a story-telling sequence on a single strip of film with a recorded narration and shown by means of a special projector.)

I had been involved with photography since 1968, and was eagerly looking for a way to make a career out of it.

My first out-of-the studio assignment was to go along as a helper on a shoot for some audio-visual training filmstrips for the Arby’s Roast Beef restaurant chain. We went to a brand new store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, where everything was still sparkling new and clean.

As I said, my company was by no means a large operation. Usually, a two-man team was sent out on jobs like this: a director, who was also in many cases the script writer, and a photographer. I was just along to help out and to gain experience. 

Our lighting setup for this kind of work usually consisted of three 1000-watt daylight blue tungsten floodlight bulbs in 18-inch reflectors which we called “scoops.” I was salivating with anticipation, because this was finally my chance to learn all about lighting ratios and exotic stuff like that.  

We set up the lights at the work area and the photographer moved them around a bit. He turned to the director and said, “That look okay to you?” The director said, “Looks good to me. Shoot it.”  

And thereby I learned the most valuable lesson I’ve ever learned about photography: photography is all about how things look. If it looks good, it is good. Shoot it! 

 (And then, if you can, find a different angle and shoot it again. It may look even better.)

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 $3.95 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.

Photography and text copyright 2016-2025 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     Canon EOS 10D digital camera     Canon 28-70mm f2.8L lens     Arby's Roast Beef Restaurants   commercial photography     audio-visual training films

The Backroads Traveler: Two Historic Churches in Hancock County, Georgia

Powelton Methodist Church.

I found Hancock County to be one of the most interesting places in Georgia. It has an historic courthouse, old mills, some really old houses, and an unusually large number of ancient churches. 

On Georgia Highway 22, about 15 miles northeast of Sparta, the county seat, is the sleepy village of Powelton, one of the oldest villages in Georgia and a very important town in post-Revolutionary War days.  

Powelton Methodist Church was built in 1830, although the congregation was organized long before that. The building has not been maintained recently and looks every one of its 190-plus years, although it appears to still be structurally sound. Some readers may recognize this as the church on the cover of the book Historic Rural Churches of Georgia.

Mount Zion Presbyterian Church.

About six or seven miles north of Sparta on Georgia 15 is the Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church. Built in 1814 at a cost of $700, the Greek Revival-style structure is all that remains of a once-thriving community with an academy that was one of Georgia’s most celebrated institutions. Famous educators and writers were associated with Mt. Zion, which is said to have narrowly lost to Athens as the location for the University of Georgia. 

I visited and photographed both churches on August 17, 2016. For the Powelton church I used an Olympus E-M5 camera with a Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 12-32mm lens. The Mt. Zion church was photographed with a Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF 28-105mm lens.

Adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.

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.

Photography and text copyright 2025 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     travel photography    digital photography     Olympus E-M5 camera     Panasonic Lumis 12-32mm lens       Canon EOS 6D camera     Canon EF 28-105mm lens     Historic churches     Hancock County, Georgia     Sparta, Georgia

The Backroads Traveler: Two Old Georgia Mills

 The Arrington Mill, McDuffie County

Here are two old mills that I think are especially beautiful. I discovered them both while working on my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.

On an obscure backroad south of Thomson in McDuffie County in the east central part of the state sits the Arrington Mill, built on Fort Creek around 1920. The beauty and peacefulness of the scene are palpable.

Powered by an underwater turbine, which appears to be gone now, the mill, like many other small Georgia mills, most likely ground grain for local farmers. I visited and photographed the mill on July 14, 2016.

Perdue's Mill, Habersham County.

About four miles from Clarkesville in northeast Georgia is Perdue's Mill on Perdue Mill Road (sometimes called Pardue). Built in the 1930s on Perdue Mill Creek, it was in operation until the mid-1960s. The mill was powered by an 18-foot overshot wheel, which is now gone. The water came, not from the waterfall which is seen in the photo, but from a mill dam and pond above the cascade. 

I visited and photographed Perdue's Mill on October 27, 2016.

Vines on the wall of Perdue's Mill. I have been told they are Virginia Creeper, but I'm not enough of a botanist to verify that.

Each of these mills is beautiful in its own way. The Arrington Mill has an atmosphere of peacefulness; Perdue's Mill is a scene of raw, wild beauty.

The Arrington mill was photographed with an Olympus E-M5 camera and a Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm lens; the Perdue mill with a Canon EOS 6D and a Canon EF 28-105mm lens.

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.

Photography and text copyright 2025 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     travel photography    digital photography     Olympus E-M5 camera     Panasonic Lumis 14-140mm lens       Canon EOS 6D camera     Canon EF 28-105mm lens     old mills     McDuffie County, Georgia     Habersham County, Georgia

The Backroads Traveler: Bethel Brick Church

 The 1827 Bethel Brick Methodist Church, Screven County, Georgia.

 

At the northern end of Screven County,  near the South Carolina line and several miles north of U.S. Highway 301, on a road called the Oglethorpe Trail, lies the Bethel Brick Methodist Church, constructed by slave labor in 1827.  In 1859, just before the Civil War, the church had 150 white parishioners and 418 black members. The church has been in continuous use in all the years since its founding and is still in excellent condition. It is both the oldest Methodist church and the oldest church building in Screven County.

 

Louise and I visited the church on July 25, 2016, as I was working on my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia. It was a very hot day, and she and our little dog Georgia stayed in the car with the air conditioner running while I made photographs.

Although I found the church to be of interest, I eventually decided not to include it in my tour of the northern end of coastal Georgia because it was an outlier, too far from the other points of interest on the tour, which covered an area from just north of Savannah to Tybee Island and south nearly to Darien.

The photograph was made with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera fitted with a Panasonic Lumix Vario G 12-32mm lens.

 

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.

Photography and text copyright 2025 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     travel photography    digital photography     Olympus E-M5 camera     Panasonic Lumis 12-32mm lens       Screven County, Georgia    Bethel Brick Methodist Church     Historic churches     Coastal Georgia   Savannah