Midday Rest

Our little herd, taking their noonday rest under a redbud tree in March, 2003. Alice, at the far left, looks on suspiciously, but then, Alice always looked suspicious. This photo was among the first I made with my first digital camera, a Canon 10D fitted with a 50mm f1.8EF "nifty-fifty" lens.

Raising beef cattle may seem to be an odd avocation for a full-time commercial photographer, but that's what I did for 24 years. During that time I estimate I averaged at least 15 hours a week (probably more like 20!) feeding and caring for the cattle, maintaining the land, cutting firewood, etc., plus 40 or more hours at the studio. Louise did a lot also, but my work hours were more flexible.

We loved our cattle, and all had names. But all good things must end, and eventually it became clear to us that our time with our cattle was drawing to a close.

The cattle left in 2013, and gradually, maintaining the empty land became less and less fun. By 2017 or so, we realized that we no longer owned our property -- it owned us! Time to sell and move on to the  next chapter of our lives.

So we did.

Getting a drink before settling in for the noonday siesta.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My cows take their midday break

Starry Eyes

Bass Drummer in a Rome, Georgia high school band

Too busy to write anything today, so I'm posting a picture I made while working on a book in Rome, Georgia many years ago. 

Photograph and text copyright 2021, 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

 

  

Three Dollars from Rock City

     Rock City barn, U.S. Hwy 411 at GA 136, Gordon County

Just out of the picture on the left is an old farmhouse. Nobody was home in November, 1995 when I made this photograph, but the barn roof had been repainted recently.

Rock City Barns: A Passing Era was published in 1996. Part of my agreement with Rock City was that each of the barn owners would receive a copy. Rock City was to notify the owners and send the books to them.

A year later when I happened to pass by, a car was in the drive. My knock at the farmhouse door produced a small, elderly lady who, it turned out, had not received her book. I gave her one from the box in my van and showed her the photograph of her barn. She hugged the book to herself with both arms, sighing, “Oh, if only my husband could have lived to see this!” 

In the glory days of the Rock City barn advertising program, the company leased rights from the barn owners. The owners received paint jobs for their barn roofs every few years, tickets to Rock City, Rock City thermometers and other trinkets, and a small yearly payment. The annual check from Rock City had just arrived in her mailbox that very day and she showed it to me. It was for three dollars.

Adapted from my award-winning book Rock City Barns: A Passing Era.

Photograph and text copyright 2021, 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

Our Lavish God

 

Wildflowers by the roadside near Valdosta, Georgia.

Is it not by his high superfluousness that we know

Our God? For to equal a need

Is natural, animal, mineral: but to fling

Rainbows over the rain

And beauty above the moon, and secret rainbows

On the domes of deep sea-shells. . .

Not even the weeds. . .multiply without blossom

Nor the birds without music. . .    

                           Robinson Jeffers

Barnyard and flowers, Murray County, Georgia.

Robinson Jeffers was not a Christian. I think he could best be described as a high pantheist. But truth is truth, wherever you find it, and I think Jeffers caught an insight into the lavishly generous nature of God, "who gives us everything richly to enjoy."

                                        More roadside flowers near Valdosta.
 
This post is for Dave Hileman. Check out his blog at www.twolanetouring.com.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, 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

Quiet Beauty Is Everywhere

Geraniums and Stone Columns

St. Elmo Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee

 

 

Paint Pots after Children's Outdoor Art Class

 Riverbend Festival, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Virginia Creeper

Pardue Mill, Clarkesville, Georgia

Sunrise over Chickamauga Creek

McLemore Cove, Walker County, Georgia

                   Earth is crammed with heaven

                   And every bush aflame with God.

                   But only those who see

                   Take off their shoes.

                             -- Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Photographs and text copyright 2021, 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

 

George D. and Jake

 George D. and Jake, his beloved Austrailian Sheep Dog.

Leica M3, 50mm f2 Simmicron lens, Fujichrome film

 

George David Queener was larger than life. He was one of the most unforgettable characters I've ever met. 

George D., as he was usually known, came to Mclemore Cove in the northwest Georgia mountains 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 to 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 Queener

and the old Chevrolet pickup George always called his

"good truck," even though he had newer ones.

Olympus OM2n, 35mm f2 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome film

 

 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 could be 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.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, 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

 

Tags: Dave Jenkins, photography, Leica M3, Summicron, Olympus OM2n, Fujichrome, McLemore Cove

 

Basic Equipment for Architectural Photography

Randolph County Courthouse, Cuthbert, Georgia

Photographed with Canon 6D, 17-35mm f2.8L lens

Vertical lines corrected in post-processing 

 

Blog Note: This series of posts is adapted from my article Architectural Photography the Digital Way, which appeared in  Rangefinder Magazine in 2010. 

Digital architectural photography is mostly a full-frame, wide-angle-lens proposition. Ordinary wide-angle lenses can be used -- I completed my first few assignments with only a 17-35mm zoom – but a perspective control lens will make for more efficient work in the field, will save time in post-processing, and will result in better final files.

Briefly, the primary purpose of a perspective control lens is to make it possible to photograph a building or other object in such a way that parallel vertical lines in the subject remain parallel in the photograph. With a non-PC lens, it may be necessary to tilt the camera to take in the top of a tall building. Tilting the camera will cause parallel lines to appear to converge, an effect which makes the building appear to be falling backwards. Below is what you get when you point your camera up at a tall building.

Entrance to Finley Stadium, Chattanooga, Tennessee

Showing the effect of pointing the camera up at a tall building

Canon 5D, 17-35mm f2.8L lens

 

A PC lens, however, is designed to allow the front of the lens to be moved independently of the rear of the lens and the camera body. The camera remains stationary, with the sensor plane parallel with the building, while the front of the lens is raised by turning a knob until the top of the building comes into the frame. In addition to rising/falling front elements, current perspective control lenses also have a tilt feature which allows the photographer to either increase or reduce the depth of field. For this reason, they are often referred to as tilt/shift lenses. The basic focal length for architectural photography is 24mm.

 Finley Stadium Entrance, Chattanooga

Showing the effect of photographing with a Perspective Control lens 

 

 Canon has had a complete range of perspective control lenses for several years, their TS-E series in 17, 24, 45, and 90mm focal lengths. After deciding that architectural photography was something I wanted to pursue aggressively, a 24mm TS-E lens was my first purchase. 

Making the Work Flow

I shoot everything in RAW mode for the greater flexibility of the digital negative. The RAW vs. jpeg capture debate has been going on for years, but according to a poll conducted by Alan Blakely, founder and director of the Association of Independent Architectural Photographers, every architectural photographer who responded shoots RAW. 

 First Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Chattanooga

  Canon 5D, 24mm TS-E (Perspective Control) lens

 

After downloading my cards, I open and sort the files in a nifty, inexpensive, little  program called Pixort (pixort.com) and tag the keepers. These are opened in Capture One, adjusted for color and density, and converted to Tiffs. Any remaining work is done in Photoshop. To be continued.

Photographs and text copyright 2021, 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

 

Tags: Dave Jenkins, architectural photography, Canon 5D Classic camera, Canon

6D camera, Canon 24mm f2,8 TS-E lens, Canon EF 17-35 f2.8L lens, Capture One,

Perspective Control lenses