More about Noticing Things

Green Doors. Marion County, Georgia.

 I've written nearly 800 posts since 2019 on this blog, and one of my most frequently recurring themes has been "noticing things." That's because I think the most important thing we do as photographers is noticing the things around us and showing them to others. As the late, great photographer Tony King said," My life has been dominated by one thing: a need to show people what I'm excited about. When I was a little boy, I was always dragging people off to show them the things that made the world wonderful to me."

That's what I've been seeking to do since I first became seriously interested in photography 57 years ago. I want to see and share the things that make life and the world interesting to me. That's my primary motivation. But since I also found the tools and processes of photography fascinating, I decided to make a career of it. That's not for everyone, of course, but everyone can open his or her eyes to the world around us and make pictures that will be enjoyable and valuable to the photographer and to others.

Our photographs do not need to be earthshaking examples of photographic art. They are not likely to be published in magazines or hung in galleries. They only need to be of things that caught our interest or attention, for whatever reason. If we like our pictures, that's sufficient. If others like them too, so much the better.

The green doors were on an abandoned store building just east of Buena Vista, in Marion County, Georgia. I made it while traveling the circumference of the state making pictures for my limited edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait. The camera was a Canon EOS 5D and the lens was the always-handy Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5.

Nothing spectacular. Just something I noticed.

If you like my pictures, 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     Canon EOS 5D camera     Canon EF 24-85mm lens      digital photography     "Magic Drainpipe"    Buena Vista, Georgia    Marion County, Georgia     B.A. "Tony" King     abandoned buildings

Commuting with Open Eyes (and Ready Camera)

 Tractor in Barn.

For most of the 33 years Louise and I lived on our little farm in Northwest Georgia's McLemore Cove, one or both of us worked in Chattanooga. It was 25 miles to my downtown studio, and about 30 miles for Louise when she worked at the mental health facility. Most people would consider that a long commute, but I always enjoyed it. Louise, maybe not quite as much, but she loved living where we lived.

I made the trip six days a week, most weeks, for thirteen years. After closing my studio in 2000, I still had clients in Chattanooga, so I made the trip frequently, but not everyday.

It was enjoyable for me because there were interesting things to see and photograph in all seasons of the year. As I drove north, Lookout Mountain was on my left. As I drove south toward home, I could watch the sun set in the west over the mountain. I made many of my favorite photos on this commute.

These three photographs were made along Georgia Highway 193 in Walker County. The barn with a tractor peeking out (probably a classic Ford 8N) was in the little community of High Point, about halfway to Chattanooga. The Demented (Crazy) Spider was in that stretch of highway also. Clearing Storm over Lookout Mountain was made just south of Flintstone. It is one of my top five all-time favorite photos:

Crazy Spider,

Clearing storm over Lookout Mountain.

All these photographs were made on Fujichrome 100 film. For the Tractor in Barn and Clearing Storm I used a Canon EOS A2, as best I remember. I do remember that I used the great Canon EF 80-200 f2.8L lens (often called "the Magic Drainpipe") for Clearing Storm. My best guess is that I photographed the Crazy Spider with an Olympus OM2n, but I don't remember the 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     barns     Canon EOS A2 camera     Canon 80-2000 f2.8L lens      Fujichrome 100D film    film photography     "Magic Drainpipe"    north Georgia     Walker County, Georgia     Olympus OM2n camera     Ford 8N tractor

Revisiting Bryce Canyon

 

Formations in Bryce Canyon National Park, as seen from Sunset Point.

A repost from our memorable trip west in 2018.

Just seven years ago, in September, 2018, we hooked our old Chevy pickup to our little travel trailer and headed west, traveling more than 7,000 miles and visiting many sites during our month on the road. One of our must-see sites was Bryce Canyon National Park. 

Nothing much can be said that hasn’t already been said countless times about the remarkable rock formations in the park; likewise countless photographs have been made that are more or less identical. Mine are by no means exceptional, but I enjoyed making them anyway. 

The rock formations, by the way, are called hoodoos, like those in the Valley of the Goblins. (See them here.) They have been created by erosion over many years.  Ice freezing and expanding in the cracks of the rocks is largely responsible for their distinctive shapes. 

We were fortunate to arrive when we did, as the morning sun provided a three-quarters backlight that brought out the shapes of the hoodoos in sharp relief.

 

As I said, these photos are by no means exceptional, but I enjoyed making them. They are all from out-of-the-camera jpegs, made with Fuji X-T1 and X-T20 cameras, Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 and XC 50-230mm f4.8-6.3 lenses. 

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     X-T1 camera     Fujinon XC 16-50mm lens       Fuji X-T20 camera     Fujinon XC 50-230mm lens    Bryce Canyon National Park     camping trailers     hoodoos

The Backroads Traveler: Two Marion County, Georgia Courthouses

The Old Marion County Courthouse.

In 2016, as I was traveling and researching for my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia, I photographed courthouses wherever I found them. Two of them were in south central Georgia's Marion County.

In the tiny, crossroads village of Tazewell, I photographed the vernacular, wood-framed Marion County Courthouse erected there in 1848 to replace one that had burned in 1845. It's known as the "old" courthouse to distinguish it from the one built in Buena Vista just two years later. It is one of only two antebellum wooden courthouses remaining in Georgia, according to Wikipedia. 

Just one court session was held there before the voters decided to move the county seat to Buena Vista. For many years since, the building has housed a Masonic Lodge. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is the only surviving courthouse in a town that is not the current county seat.

The "new"Marion County Courthouse in Buena Vista.

The  present Marion County Courthouse was built in 1850 of locally-made brick. The architectural style has been described as vernacular, with Neoclassical alterations, which consist mostly of the columns which were added to the front in 1928. The building, which sits in the town square at Buena Vista, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Even at its age it is a very attractive building.

Flag and eagle. Marion County Courthouse, Buena Vista.

The top two photos were made in 2016 for my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia. The above picture of the flag and courthouse arch in Buena Vista was made in 2010 as I traveled around the state to make pictures for my limited edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait. 

Text adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.

About the photographs: the top two photos were made on September 28, 2016. The camera for both was the Canon EOS 6D with the Canon EF 28-105mm lens. The bottom photo was made on May 10, 2010, using a Canon 5D "Classic" and a Canon EOS 70-200mm f4L 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     Canon EOS 6D camera     Canon EF 28-105mm lens       Canon EOS 5D "Classic" camera     Canon EF 70-200mmL lens    Marion County, Georgia     Georgia courthouses     Buena Vista, Georgia

The Backroads Traveler: Georgia's Grand Canyon

 Providence Canyon, Stewart County. One of Georgia's seven natural wonders.

Providence Canyon, Georgia’s “Little Grand Canyon,” ranked as one of the state’s Seven Natural Wonders, is actually the result of poor farming practices and unchecked erosion. It simply has to be seen to be believed. Perhaps even more difficult to believe is that in 1859 the canyon was only a shallow gully.

There are several overlooks from which to view the canyon, most of which require some walking. One of the best, though, requires relatively little walking and is one of the first you come to, just beyond the restrooms. The state parks people, who should know, say the canyon is 150 feet deep. But it looks much deeper.

In addition to viewing the canyon, which is certainly worth the trip, the 1003-acre state park also offers picnic shelters, pioneer campsites, back-country campsites, 3 miles of hiking trails, and a 7-mile back-country backpacking trail. It’s open daily 7 a.m.–6 p.m. September 15–April 14, and 7 a.m.–9 p.m. April 15–September 14. As with most Georgia state parks, there’s no admission fee but a $5 parking pass is required. It's located west of Lumpkin in southwest Georgia's Stewart County.

Note the two front entrances at Providence Methodist Church.

When Providence Methodist Church was organized, around 1832, the congregation met in a log building on a site that is now between two of the canyons. The present building was erected in 1859, fortunately on a different site. At the time the church was built, the canyon was nothing more than a gully about five feet deep!

The church is not locked. You can go inside, but be respectful.   Laid out in the old style, there are separate entrances and seating for men and women. The pulpit area, pump organ, and pot-bellied stove are all as they were left by the last congregation.

Unfortunately, the state, which owns the land, has not done a good job of upkeep on the cemetery, where many Stewart County pioneer families are buried.

Adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.

About the photographs: Both were made with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera and the Panasonic Lumix G-Vario 14-140mm 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 Lumix G-Vario 14-140mm lens       Georgia's Natural Wonders     Historic churches     Stewart County, Georgia     Georgia State Parks

Fishing for a Living

 Poor man's fishing boats. Madras Beach, India.

Some people live for fishing. I have a nephew like that. But in much of the world people fish, not for fun, but for a living.

When I walked down to the beach at Madras at sunrise that January morning in 1992, I noticed several piles of oddly shaped logs just above the tide line. Within a few minutes, some young men appeared and began binding those logs together with ropes to form crude, boat-shaped rafts. They quickly launched their rafts through the surf, hopped aboard, stepped small masts and sails, and began fishing.

India, as 'most everyone knows, has some of the world's poorest people. These young men were not just fishing for fun or for a living -- they were fishing for subsistence. No sleek boats or powerful motors -- just rafts made of buoyant logs. Fishing the way their fathers and grandfathers and generations before them had fished.

 Lashing the logs together to make a boat.

Indians are some the world's most intelligent people, but are held back by a religious and political system that denies opportunity to many. When they come to a free country such as America, many thrive. But for the millions in India and many other countries, life is about subsistence.

About the photographs: Top -- Pentax 6x7, Kodak EPP film. Bottom -- Olympus OM2n or OMPC, Fujichrome 100D film.

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    film photography     Ektachrome EPP film    Fujichrome 100D film     travel photography     Olympus OM2n camera     Olympus OMPC camera    Pentax 6x7 camera     India     Madras beach     Kodak     Indian people     primitive fishing     subsistence fishing

It's All about the Light

Radiologist at Emory University Hospital, Atlanta. The objective was to balance the supplemental light  with the illumination from the screens to create a natural look. The light source was a flash unit bounced into a white umbrella on the right side of the frame.

In commercial photography the indispensable skill is the ability to use light.

A landscape photographer working outdoors is pretty much stuck with the light that Mother Nature provides. Sometimes things can be improved a bit by moving around, finding another angle, or possibly coming back at a different time or even another day when the quality of the light is more favorable.

A journalistic photographer has to take the light as he finds it, although sometimes he may be able to supplement it with flash. The best journalistic photographers and some wedding photographers are almost wizards at making the existing light work for them.

The commercial photographer has to find a way to create the light he wants, when and where he wants it. In fact, this is the skill that separates the men from the boys in commercial photography, or perhaps I should say the successful from the unsuccessful. 

Good lighting doesn't just make the subject easier to see. It molds, reveals, and defines the form of things, differentiating between subject and background, bringing out color and texture, depth and contrast. Whether the subject is a portrait, a product, or a room interior, lighting is the key. 

The skillful commercial photographer has an arsenal of lighting tools and knows how to use them: large and small flash units, floodlights, spotlights, and LED panels, as well as umbrellas and softboxes to soften and modulate the light as the photographer chooses. He also knows how to use and supplement available light when it's available. And because so many situations create new challenges, photographic lighting is a lifelong learning experience.

As one old photographer signed himself, "Always fighting the light."

 This was an illustration for a printing company's advertising. I used a gold seamless paper background and put a floodlight above and behind the book.

 

About the equipment: For the radiologist, I used a Canon EOS 10D digital camera with the Canon EF 28-70L lens. The book was photographed with a Hasselblad 500CM film camera with an 80mm Zeiss lens and Fujichrome 100 film.

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     digital photography    film photography     Canoon EOS 10D camera     Canon EF 28-70L lens Fujichrome 100 film     commercial photography    photographic lighting     Hasselblad 500CM camera    Zeiss 80mm f2.8 lens

The Unlikely Author

Renee Tipton a.k.a. Kim Jenkins. My daughter-in-law.

 Writing runs in my family. My father wrote voluminously on Biblical subjects. I have been writing scripts, magazine articles, ad copy, and books since the late 1960s. My son Rob, a professor of English at Georgia State University, writes perceptive political commentary and is the author or co-author of many books. His latest is "Shooting After Practice," an account of his thirteen years as a junior college basketball coach. (Now available at Amazon.com.) My oldest granddaughter is a fine writer and blogs at peachesandpotatoes.com. My oldest grandson once wrote for a newspaper. My second oldest grandson teaches marketing at Mississippi State and writes on the subject. 

But that's all on my side of the family.On the other side are some fine, very intelligent people, but none with any apparent literary inclinations. Kimberly, wife of my second son Don, surprised us all when her first book was an immediate success on Amazon.com.

Her approach to authorship is even more surprising. She is an accountant -- a numbers person -- and was not particularly interested in being a writer. Although she works with her husband in his business, she was looking for something she could do on her own that would provide long-term, sustainable income and would not require much hands-on involvement, such as online retailing, which would involve buying and selling, maintaining an inventory, and shipping.

Looking at the possibilities, she decided she could create small books, using Amazon's online publishing system. She chose gardening, a subject in which she had some expertise, did some research, wrote the text, then, through the Amazon system, found an editor and a designer to polish her book into publishable form. She utilized all the marketing helps the Amazon system provides and launched her first book, The Self-Sufficient Homestead Garden. She soon followed up with two more books on related subjects. All three are selling well. And she's working on more.

Kim's first three books. More in the planning stage.

About the photographs: The portrait of Ms. Tipton was made with a Canon EOS 5D Classic camera with the 24-85mm EF lens. The collage of her books was photographed with a Fuji X-T20 camera and the Fujinon XF 16-80mm 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     writing    book publishing     Amazon publishing     Renee Tipton      Rob Jenkins     gardening    Canon EOS 5D Classic camera    Canon 24-85mm EF lens     Fuji X-T20 camera Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens

Amateur or Professional?

 

Architectural photography. The Chanticleer Lodge. Lookout Mountain, Georgia.

 If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you have probably picked up on the fact that I'm happy with my career choice. But that doesn't mean it's been all roses and lollipops. I've had to take on a wide variety of projects to make a living -- travel photography, studio and advertising photography, architecture and interiors, weddings, portraits, annual reports, magazines, books, and more. Fortunately, I enjoyed most of it and am grateful for all of it.

Over the years I've been questioned many times by people who thought they might like to get into professional photography. What I've told them is that getting established in photography is about as difficult as getting established in the performing arts. In other words, very difficult indeed. And while it's possible to make it really big in music or the theater, very, very few people ever make it big in photography. A few do. Many more scratch along, barely making a living, and still more realize they could make a better living doing something else and throw in the towel.

My life in photography has taken me to many interesting places and given me many fascinating experiences. My own evaluation of my career is that artistically, it has been a moderate success; financially, that I would not have lasted if Louise had not been willing to work in her own career as a nurse to supplement our income. Fortunately, she has been able to travel with me on some of my projects.

My advice to aspiring photographers is that unless you have such a driving, burning, desire to be a photographer that you can't imagine doing anything else, you have little chance of making it in the profession. If you can conceive of doing anything else, you should probably do that instead. And you will soon learn the hard way that sales ability is at least as important as skill with a camera.

An Executive Portrait: CEO Paul Syek.

As a high-schooler, my grandson Devlin was quite interested in photography. During his sophomore and junior years, I took him to professional photography seminars because I wanted him to get a glimpse of the inner workings of the profession. He realized that he was interested, but not that interested. Now, as a college student, he makes some side money with his photography and is happy with that.

To sum up: It has long been my observation that anyone with reasonable skills can pick up some money doing photography as a sideline. But when one depends upon photography for his/her living, it can be very difficult indeed. 

The photographs: Great Room at the Chanticleer Lodge: Canon EOS 5D Classic camera, Canon EF 24mm f3.5L tilt/shift lens. CEO Paul Syek: 4x5 Calumet film camera, 150mm Caltar lens, 4x5 Fujichrome film.

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     digital photography    film photography     Canon EOS 5d Classic camera     Canon EF 24mm f3.5L tilt/shift lens      Fujichrome 4x5 film     Chanticleer Lodge    executive portraits     architectural/interiors photography    photography as a career    

The Kindness of Friends

65 Miles to Rock City

US Hwy. 127, Bledsoe County, TN

Olympus OM2n, 60-200 f4 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome 100

 

Reposted from September, 2021.

In late summer of 1993, Louise and I were going through an especially difficult time. The contractor who was building our home had just gone bankrupt, holding 82 percent of our money and leaving us with a house that was not 82 percent finished.

Our friends John and Ann Huckaba took note of our discouragement and invited us to come with them on a Sunday afternoon outing to Crossville, Tennessee to see a performance at the Cumberland County Playhouse.

Afterward, we ate at the excellent restaurant at Cumberland Mountain State Park, then walked down to the lake. Naturally, I had a camera with me, so I made a few photos of canoes pulled up on the dock.

Driving home on U.S. Highway 127 in rich evening light, we passed a barn with one of  Rock City's ubiquitous signs. I asked John if he would stop so I could make a picture. He did, and I did, resulting in one of my favorite Rock City barn photographs.

This was more than a year before I actually began commissioned work on my book Rock City Barns: A Passing Era, but I was already gathering photographs of the barns as I found them. Having a number of good barn photos to show Bill Chapin, the president of See Rock City, Inc., was what actually sealed the deal on the book project. 

Canoes at Cumberland Mountain State Park

Cumberland County, TN

Olympus OM2n, 60-200 f4 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome 100

It was a refreshing and encouraging day for Louise and me. We will always be grateful for the kindness of friends. And because I had a camera with me and my eyes were open to noticing things, I have two of my favorite pictures to help us remember the day.

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 2021-25 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    film photography     Olynpus OM2n camera     Olympus Zuiko 60-200mm lens       Fujichrome 100 film     Crossville, Tennessee    Cumberland County Playhouse     Rock City barns     Cumberland Mountain State Park     Rock City Barns: A Passing Era     canoes     barns

The Backroads Traveler: Three Great Northeast Georgia Mills

 The restored Healan Mill, Hall County.

 Featured in today's post are three beautiful old mills located in a relatively compact area of northeast Georgia between Gainesville and Clarkesville.

First is the Healan Mill, on the headwaters of the North Oconee River at 5751 Whitehall Road, off U.S. Highway 23 north of Gainesville. It has been fully restored as the centerpiece of a new Hall County park.

Built by William "Billy" Head in 1852 and originally known as Head's Mill, the mill has gone through a series of owners during its colorful history -- Heard, Shore, Hyde, and Turner were some of the names -- and finally, it was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Healan, whose name stuck. During the Civil War, the legend says that Billy Head and his wife used a hollowed-out log under the mill wheel to hide gold and silver from raiders. Later, around the turn of the century, a wine press, cotton gin, and sawmill were added to the mill's operations.

Ragsdale Mill, Banks County.

On Mt. Olivet road, in a secluded valley east of Homer, is the Ragsdale Mill on Nail's Creek. 

The first mill on the creek was built sometime before 1837. The Reverend Ragsdale, who was a man of many facets, acquired the mill site and 257 acres of land from his father in 1853 and built the mill in 1863. The millstones were imported from France and brought into Savannah by blockade runners bypassing the U.S. Navy guarding the port. In its heyday, the mill also included a threshing machine and a sawmill. 

The site includes the Ragsdale homestead and a Grange Hall, which also served as a schoolhouse. The Reverend Ragsdale was a visionary who hoped to establish a town to be called Nail's Creek, with the church, the mill, the Grange Hall, and the school as its nucleus.

The town never materialized, but perhaps it's just as well. This is one of the most serene and beautiful places to which my Georgia travels have taken me. The Sisk family, who now own the property, have thoughtfully provided picnic tables and chairs in which to sit and enjoy the peace.

Short's Mill, Habersham County. 

One of my all-time favorite mills. I use this picture as the screen-saver on my computer, so I look at it every day. 

Also known as Laudermilk (or Loudermilk) Mill, Short's Mill on Little Hazel Creek was probably built in 1880, although some sources say the mid-1800s. Operations ceased in 1970, but even after more than 50 years the structure appears to be in remarkably good condition. The sluiceway is long gone, of course, but the overshot wheel is still in place. 

The mill is about four miles south of Clarkesville and is set well back on the east side of the road. If you're coming from the south it will be difficult to see until you are almost past it.

Adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.

About the photographs: The Healan Mill was photographed on January 23, 2018, with a Fuji X-Pro1 digital camera and the Fujinon XF 27mm lens. The Ragsdale Mill was photograhed on October 27, 2016, with a Canon EOS 6D camera and the Canon EF 28-105mm lens. For Short's Mill, which I photographed on October 11, 2010, I used a Canon EOS 5D Classic with the Canon EF 24-85mm 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     Fuji X-Pro1 camera     Fujinon XF 27mm lens       Canon EOS 6D camera     Canon EF 28-105mm lens     Canon EOS 5D Classic camera    Canon EF 24-85mm lens   old mills     Healan Mill     Ragsdale Mill     Short's Mill     Northeast Georgia

Sixty Years! (and Counting)

August 21, 1965. Off to see the world in our '59 Volkswagen.

We made it! Sixty years! Today is our sixtieth anniversary. What a trip it has been! From our wedding in Tallahassee to Miami, to Chattanooga, to 33 years on a small farm in North Georgia's McLemore Cove, to two years in a fifth-wheel travel trailer, and now to Knoxville. It has been the adventure of a lifetime. As Louise once said when I asked her why she married me, "One reason was because I thought it would be an adventure."

I have been blessed beyond measure to have shared my life with this exceptional, deeply intelligent, multi-talented woman, who has an invincible spirit and a work ethic that puts me to shame.

Not that it's been all lollipops and roses. We have had our share of hard times and times when it appeared that the thread that held us together was in danger of breaking. But we were held together by the grace of God, by our commitment to him, to each other, and to our marriage. 

We call our dog Max "the dog that saved our marriage." In the early '90s when we were building our house, there were the usual disagreements about where to spend and where to cut costs. In the midst of that, our builder went bankrupt with 82 percent of our money. The house was not 82 percent complete. There was so much anger that we could hardly speak to each other. It was "Max, tell your mother. . ."  "Max, tell your father. . ." 

But by God's grace we survived, and lived happily in that house for 26 years. I asked Louise this morning what she felt was the reason our marriage had endured. She answered quickly "Commitment." And so it was. 

If I could offer a few words of advice, this is what I would say:

1. Build your marriage on God.

2. Always be courteous to each other.

For those who read my post about our family reunion/anniversary celebration in Indiana, I should explain that it was held in early August so that family members with children in school could attend. But our actual anniversary is today.

The beginning of something good.

Our wedding was held at the Thomasville Road Baptist Church in Tallahassee. It wasn't our church, but was borrowed because we were attending a start-up church that didn't yet have a building. We dashed down the steps in a shower of rice and headed off in our little blue Volkswagen to begin life's greatest adventure.

Here's something I wrote on the last page of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia, in a chapter about the north Georgia mountains:

"One of my most poignant memories is of the last day of our honeymoon. Louise and I had spent a week in the North Georgia mountains; the last several days in a small resort across from Vogel State Park. 

On this last day, we packed our Volkswagen and drove over the mountain to the fork at Turner's Corner. To the right, down U.S. 19, lay home, responsibility. . . life. I can still feel, even now, the powerful urging of my heart to choose the left fork and stay in the mountains forever. 

As Yogi Berra said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." 

So I did. And life has been good."

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 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:    marriage     north Georgia mountains    Old Volkswagens      Vogel State Park     marital advice