The Informal Portrait: Nigerian Soccer Boy

   

Young Nigerian Soccer Player, Abak, Ibom Province, Nigeria

Olympus OM2n, 85mm f2 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome RDP 100 film

 

 On the 1989 trip to Africa mentioned in my previous post, I went from Ghana to Nigeria, where I spent a day in Lagos, the capital, before going to Abak in Ibom province where the Church of God national headquarters and hospital were located. 

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa. At the time of my visit one out of every four Africans lived in Nigeria. The northern half of the nation was mostly Islamic, while the southern half was mostly Christian. In recent years Islam appears to be in the ascendancy. The Church of God presence in Nigeria was effective, but relatively small compared to the total population, and confined mostly to the southern part of the country.

I spent several days at the mission compound with the National Overseer (Bishop), a Jamaican, and his wife, an American; photographing worship services and the healing ministry of the hospital. It was here, after evening chapel services at the hospital, that I made the photograph that I consider my all-time best. 

After evening chapel service at the Church

of God Hospital, Abak, Ibom, Nigeria

Olympus OM2n, 100-300mm f4 Tokina lens 

 

 One afternoon I made several photos of boys playing soccer on the mission compound lawn. One in particular caught my eye, so I asked if I could make his portrait. With his expression of in-your-face aggressiveness that I consider typically Nigerian, he reminded me of Hakeem Olajuwon, the great Nigerian basketball player for the University of Houston and the Houston Rockets. 

(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2021)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone 

 

Africa  Ghana  Lagos  Abak  Ibom  Church of God  Islam  Christian  Jamaican  mission hospital  Hakeem Olajuwon  University of Houston  Houston Rockets  Olympus OM2n  Zuiko  Tokina  Fujichrome RDP 100

The Informal Portrait: Ghanaian Deaf-Mute Woman

Deaf-Mute Ghanaian Woman

Olympus OM, 85mm f2 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome RDP 100 film

 

Although I've photographed a wide variety of subjects in my career, from studio work with complex lighting setups to landscapes, the human face remains my favorite subject. I love to make informal portraits of people wherever I go. As I wrote in an article in Rangefinder Magazine some years ago: 

"As a photojournalist and producer creating magazine features and audio-visual programs to help religious and humanitarian agencies communicate their mission, I'm always looking for opportunities to make portraits.  Strong photographs of people add power to the message I want to communicate, because people are interested in people.  That's why we call it "human interest."  When someone from another culture is portrayed in all of his or her humanity, dignity, and individuality, both the subject and those who view the photograph are served.  As the great Edward Steichen, creator of the landmark "Family of Man" exhibit said, "The function of photography is to explain man to man." 

Photography bypasses the logical centers of the brain and communicates directly to the heart.  When the subject is someone from another culture, an incisive portrait can arouse in the viewer a deep awareness that this also is a person, a member of my species.  Different from me, yes, but part of my family.  Nearly 50 years have passed, but I still remember the first time a photograph connected with me in this way.  It was an Emil Schultheiss portrait of an African girl in the old Modern Photography magazine.  Her face plastered with ceremonial paint, she peeked at the camera from the corners of her eyes.  I looked into her soul and was hooked for good." 

In 1989 the World Missions Department of the Church of God sent me to three African countries to make photographs and research script material for several audio-visual productions. The countries were Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia. I also spent two nights in Kenya as I flew from Nigeria to Zambia and back again.

In Ghana, I traveled around quite a bit of the country with the church's national overseer (equivalent to a bishop). One evening we found ourselves visiting a family of church members living in the border zone adjoining Togo. (I would have liked to go into Togo, but wasn't sure my visa would allow me to leave Ghana and return, so I didn't try.)

We had supper, cooked in a big pot over an open fire, with the church family. A woman came by as we were eating; a deaf-mute lady who allowed me to make her photograph. My aim, as always, was not to show some poor woman in worn and ragged clothes, but to portray a person of dignity and worth,. 

The blue cast is courtesy of the post-sunset light, the so-called "blue hour." 

Blog Note: Please forgive the irregular timing of my posts. The wi-fi service here at the campground varies from terrible to non-existent; however I'm working on a solution and hope to have it in place tomorrow. (Hat-tip to fellow blogger Dave Hileman. 

(Photograph copyright David B. Jenkins 2020)

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone

Lighting the WMBW Photos

The WBMW Radio morning show personalities in a more conventional pose.

Fuji X-H1, Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.8-6.3 OIS lens

 

Lighting for photography can be as simple or as complex as you want to make it. In general, the harder I work on a lighting setup, the more simple and natural the photographs look. Sometimes, though, complexity doesn't make a lot of difference. 

In 1972, early in my first (and only) studio job, I went along on a location shoot for a fast-food restaurant chain. My company assigned a two-man team to the job and sent me with them to observe and learn.

Our lighting in those antiquarian days consisted of  1000-watt daylight blue  floodlight bulbs in 18-inch reflectors. No flash. 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 

I've come a long way in the intervening 49 years, but that lesson has stuck with me. And although I've created some very complicated lighting setups when the situation called for it, sometimes a simple solution works just as well.

In previous years I've been able to make the  WMBW staff photos in large spaces -- a gym, on one occasion, and a warehouse another time. But this year, because of the dread virus, the station manager asked me if I could shoot in a room at the radio studio.

In a larger space, I would normally set up a nine-foot roll of seamless paper on background stands. A flash in a 24-inch softbox would be placed on each side of the background and turned to light the background without any light spilling on the subject(s) of the photograph. The main light would be a flash in a 30x40-inch softbox, placed fairly high and positioned at a 30-to-35 degree angle to the subject(s). I might also use a weaker fill light in another softbox at camera position or sometimes, a reflector opposite the main light and close to the subject(s). 

This time, though, I had to make do with a room that was long enough, but only about ten feet wide -- just wide enough to take my roll of seamless and background stands. Definitely not wide enough for a softbox on each side to light the background.

The room at the studio was narrow, but long. By using a longer focal length,

I was able to get the entire station staff on my nine-foot background.

Fuji X-H1, Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.8-6.3 OIS lens

 

 To make it register as white, the lighting on the background needs to be about one stop brighter than the light on the subject(s). Since I couldn't do this in my usual way, I placed a softbox on the floor behind the subject(s) and angled it up to cover the background. 

The only good thing about the narrow room was that the walls were close enough to serve as reflectors, so I was able to shoot with a main light and no fill. I no longer have a 30x40 softbox, so I used a 24x24 instead. Some photographers get off on using the largest light source possible, even adding layers of diffusion, but look at the photo at the top of this post and this one, which was made with a large softbox and a fill light. Can you see any significant difference in the shading and modeling of the faces? I can't. 

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

 

Hello again!

Morning show personalities, Moody Radio WMBW, Chattanooga

Fuji X-H1, Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.8-6.3 OIS lens

 

I promised to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, I've now missed four posts.  I can only claim extenuating circumstances. I hope you missed me -- if you did, thanks! If you didn't, it's okay. This is just a blog, not the world news report.

The last few weeks have been beyond hectic, getting ready for the big estate sale, which took place last Saturday. I don't yet know how well we did -- the estate sale ladies said it was a really good sale -- but I do know we sold every stick of furniture in the house, including the washer and dryer and the lawn chairs. 

On Tuesday we closed on the sale of our house and property, so we are now officially homeless.

I've been spending my days carrying truckloads of stuff that we can't yet bear to part with to the storage unit and hauling trash to the dump. Oh! -- and another blogging problem -- beside lack of time, we were without internet access for several days, and the service here at the campground varies from poor to non-existent. In fact, I'm writing this while I do our laundry in the campground laundromat, which is right behind the office. The signal ought to be at least reasonably good here. If not, I'm off to McDonald's!

A few days ago we sold our little travel trailer -- the one in which we lived for the month of September, 2018 as we drove 7,000 miles around the wild, wild west, and for three weeks in 2019 as we went to Maine and Nova Scotia, plus two trips to Florida and one to Indiana. It has been a pleasure to own and use, and we sold it for about what we originally paid for it, which was a special pleasure.

We have been sleeping in our new, 2021 Grand Design Reflection fifth-wheel trailer for almost two weeks now, and are finding it very comfortable except when we are tripping over the not-yet-unpacked boxes that cover about 90 percent of the floor space. As we say in the South, we are carried-in, but not yet moved in.

For the time being we are living in an RV campground just outside Chattanooga while we wait to interview surgeons and decide who will do the surgery on Louise's back and neck. If she decides to use the surgeon in Chattanooga, we will stay here while she convalesces. If she decides to go with the one in Knoxville who has done her previous surgeries, we will find a place to park the camper in that area.

For those who came hoping to read about photography, my apologies. We'll get back to that. But this blog is about photography, about life, and about a life in photography. Today, it's about life. But if it will help, I'll give you a picture to look at. I wrote recently about my final commercial photography gig (maybe!), and showed a photo from an earlier assignment for the same client. Here's a shot from that (maybe final) session, showing the interplay between the two morning show personalities.

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

 

Sorry about That!

Civil War Re-enactor, 1975

I promised to post a photo of our new home, a Grand Design fifth-wheel trailer. Unfortunately, packing took up so much time today that it was nearly dark by the time I got to the campground with another load of stuff to try to find a place for. I think we'll get it all in -- the camper is roomy and well-laid-out, with lots of nooks and crannys, but it may take a while.

Meanwhile, I still haven't made a photo of it. So what you're getting instead is an apology, a brief post (too busy to write more), and a different picture to look at.

This is a special photograph to me -- it's my very first award-winning photo, from way back in 1975. The subject was a Civil War re-enactor at the Chickamauga Battlefield National Military Park. The camera was a Nikkormat fitted with a 100mm f2.8 Vivitar lens, and the film was Kodachrome.

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

 

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