Rob and His Grandpa

 Rob looks on as his grandfather, C.E. Hedgepeth

fills the tank of our '63 Plymouth.

Yashica 124 twin-lens reflex camera, Kodak 120 slide film

  

Blog Note: This is one of a series of posts about documenting the life of your family in photographs.

 Rob, our oldest son, was born to my first wife, Barbara Hedgepeth of Sarasota, Florida. She passed away when Rob was only 22 months old. Louise and I were married two years later and she became his mother in every possible way. Don was born three years later.

We maintained a close relationship with the Hedgepeths. They were very much part of our family. Rob and Don had the unusual privilege of growing up with three sets of loving grandparents. 

Rob's grandfather, C.E. Hedgepeth, a fervent Christian, was probably the finest man I've ever known. He and his wife operated a small, two-pump Sinclair station on U.S. 41 on the south side of Sarasota when 41 was the main drag. He put three kids through college with that little gas station. 

When we lived in Miami in the late 1960s, we visited the Hedgepeths frequently. Whenever we came, he always insisted in filling the tank of our '63 Plymouth (a great car).

This is another photo from my lifelong documentation of my family. You can do the same. More to come. 

Blog Note: I'm sorry to have missed Monday's post. Louise had back surgery on Thursday, came home on Saturday, and I had a wedding to photograph on Sunday. Probably my last, as Cayce Callaway, the photographer with whom I've worked since 2013, has moved away from Atlanta and is winding down her involvement in weddings, and we hope soon to be traveling in our RV. I'm not sure how many weddings I've photographed -- somewhere over 300, I'm sure. The first one was in 1972, I think. 

Photograph and text 1969-2021 David B. Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone 

Tags: photography, film photography, cameras, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins, wedding photography, family photography, Yashica 124 twin-lens reflex, Kodak  film

 

Busy Days

Louise and Donny in our yard in Miami, 1969 

Yashica 124 twin-lens reflex camera, Kodak Vericolor film

 

These are busy days. We were up early this morning to get Louise to the hospital for surgery to fuse vertebrae in her lower back. Apparently a busy day at the hospital too, as they finally got her into the operating room around 3 p.m. The surgeon says everything went very well, but Louise is in considerable pain this evening, more than she suffered from her neck surgery in early March. Once she recuperates we hope to hook up our RV and get on with our lives. 

Meanwhile, we're preparing for that time. We got our truck two weeks ago; a 2018 Dodge Ram 3500 diesel with dual rear wheels. Even if we get a larger trailer sometime in the future, we won't need a larger truck. This one's a Beast! A few days ago I got a fifth-wheel trailer hitch -- a most impressive chunk of iron. 

Sunday I have a wedding to photograph. Not really good timing, but this one has been on the books for more than a year and I wouldn't want to miss it, even though I'm only the second shooter. In fact, I haven't booked a wedding on my own since 2008 or '09, but I enjoy doing them and have enjoyed working with Cayce Callaway of Atlanta, a vey fine photographer, since 2013. So I'm busy charging batteries, checking my gear, etc. Busywork, but necessary and enjoyable. 

Besides, how many almost-84-year-old wedding photographers do you know? My philosophy is, if you want to do something, if you're able to do it, and there's no good reason not to do it, then by all means do it! Think young. Thinking old will kill you!

The photo at the top of this post is a teaser for something I'm going to talk about soon -- documenting your family.

Photograph and text 1969-2021 David B. Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, film photography, cameras, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins, Dodge Ram trucks, wedding photography, Yashica 124 twin-lens reflex, Kodak Vericolor film

Photographing What's There

The "See Rock City" sign rusts quietly away on a

lonely little barn in western South Carolina.

(From my book Rock City Barns: A Passing Era)

Canon EOS A2 camera, 28-105mm f35-4.5 Canon lens, Kodak Ektachrome film

 

There are many different paths in photography, and many of them overlap. One of the major paths is documentary photography, which Wikipedia defines as " a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit." 

The Beginner's Guide to Documentary Photography says " In it’s most narrow definition, documentary photography is the practice of making a photograph which is an accurate representation of its subject. But the practice of shooting documentary photography is much richer than it’s definition would lead you to believe."

But as I said, the paths overlap. Almost every path in photography could be called documentary, because whether it's landscapes, weddings, portraits, corporate reports, fashion, product, or still life photography, it's about showing what something looks like.

I realized early in my career that for me, photography is an art of exploration. I consider myself a documentary photographer because the photography I most care about is photography that tells a story in pictures. In order to be engaged I must be working toward some sort of story, whether a photo essay or a photos-and-words story. The best years of my career were the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, when I was developing and shooting A-V programs. Telling stories in photos and words. Doing books is also great, even better in some ways because they’re more permanent – assuming I can get them published!

I’m not an art photographer, except perhaps incidentally, or perhaps I should say accidentally. I’m always looking for visual puns, of course, but other than that I’m mostly not looking for stand-alone photographs, but photographs that advance a story. Many of my photographs are not strong on their own, but gain strength from their context as part of a story or sequence. The thing I do, though, is photograph the “thereness” of things. Many of the photographs in my books are like that, just “there.” Presented without art or artifice, and nothing special in the way of technique, just there and that’s just the way it looked.

Or, as the great Gary Winogrand said, "I photograph to see what things look like photographed."

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins, documentary photography, Gary Winogrand, Rock City Barns, Canon EOS cameras, 28-105mm Canon EF lens, Kodak Ektachrome film, film photography

The Ability to Notice Things

  "

"Pencil of Light," from my limited Edition

book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait

 

 In my previous post I wrote that I believe the most important ability in photography is the ability to notice things. That was a paraphrase of a quote by Elliott Erwitt, who actually said " All the technique in the world doesn't compensate for the inability to notice things." 

Oh well. Close enough for government work.

Another favorite quote is by the English essayist Roger Bacon, a quote that the great documentary photographer Dorothea Lange kept posted on her darkroom door: "The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention."

Erwitt also said “It's just seeing - at least the photography I care about. You either see or you don't see. The rest is academic. Anyone can learn how to develop.”

I don't have Erwitt's ability to notice things; in fact I doubt if anyone has ever matched him in that ability. But I do try to keep my eyes open, and sometimes I score. Another applicable quote (author unknown): "Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn now and then."

In the photograph above, which I call "Pencil of Light," the setting sun casts a beam through a narrow gap between two hills and across my neighbor's pasture in McLemore Cove. I noticed it and caught the moment with a Pentax 6x7 camera, 105mm f2.4 Takumar lens, and Fujicrome 100 film. I believe the Pentax 6x7, by the way, gave me the highest percentage of "keepers" of any camera I've ever used. 

My son and daughter-in-law have a 60x40-inch print of this photo hanging in their great room.

Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins, Elliott Erwitt, Dorothea Lange, Roger Bacon, McLemore Cove, Pentax 6x7 camera, Takumar lens, Fujichrome film

And Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming. . .

Horned Tree, Lookout Mountain, Georgia. From my

limited-edition book Georgia: a Backroads Portrait

 

I hope you found the series of posts about our 1990 documentation of life in Eastern Europe worth reading; perhaps for some of you who have been following this blog for a while it may even have been worth a second look.

Moving on, we have now been living in our Grand Design fifth-wheel trailer since January 11th. We closed the sale of our home and property on January 19th, and on March 2 Louise had surgery to fuse vertebrae in her neck. Her follow-up visit with the surgeon was Wednesday, and although she still has some pain and soreness, he says her neck is healing very well. Surgery to fuse vertebrae in her lower back will be scheduled in the next few days.

Life is very different for us now, but we greatly enjoy freedom from having a large house and 28 acres to maintain. It was fun as long as we had cattle, but after getting out of the cattle business it became less and less fun. About three years ago we came to the crossover point: we no longer owned the property; the property owned us.

Do we miss life in McLemore Cove? A little, maybe, but not all that much. It's a beautiful place and we had a good life and many friends there. We have lots of pictures (of course), and we're ready to see what's next in our continuing life adventure.

Last week we bought a truck capable of pulling our RV, and after Louise recuperates from the back surgery we plan to begin our travels; first to Florida for a brief stay, and then back to Georgia to work on the second edition of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia. After that we will probably find a campground around Knoxville until after New Year's, and then to Florida until spring. Then we hope to go to the northwest. That's the plan anyway, but as we all know, "Man plans, God laughs!"

The photo at the top of this post is "Horned Tree." I found it on Lookout Mountain, just above the point where the road goes down into McLemore Cove. As someone has said, I think maybe it was Elliott Erwitt, "The most important ability in photography is the ability to notice things.

Photograph made with Olympus E-PL1 digital camera, 14-42 f3.5-4.5 Zuiko lens.  Photograph and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins, Eastern Europe, Grand Design RV, Florida, Georgia, Lookout Mountain, McLemore Cove, Olympus E-PL1 camera, 14-42 f3.5-4.5 Zuiko lens

Reposting: Eastern Europe 1990: Final Observations

First Observation: Socialism Doesn't Work

Near the Berlin Wall: a memorial to those who were
killed trying to escape to freedom in West Berlin.

One of my initial impressions was that things in Eastern Europe were not as bad as I  had been led to believe. However, first impressions aren't always correct. The people of Eastern Europe, like people everywhere, were doing the best they could to cope with the situation in which they found themselves, but that could not hide the fact that they were living out the consequences of a failed system. 

The meat display shelves in Sofia's largest supermarket.

Under Socialism, everyone is equal. No one has anything.

Socialism, far from providing for everyone an equal and abundant share of good things, provided endless scarcity. Standing in line to obtain basic necessities was a daily routine. In West Germany, people drove Volkswagens and Mercedes; in East Germany, people drove Trabants, a tiny plastic car with a motorcycle engine, and waited years to be permitted to buy one.
 

Standing in line for the basic necessities was a normal way

of life in Soviet Russia, as in all the Iron Curtain countries.

 
And because Socialism requires unanimity, there could be no dissent. Since Socialism was a system invented to give the human race a way forward without a God. who is not believed to exist, those who believe in God must be ostracized, persecuted, and eliminated if possible. Christian believers found the doors of higher education, good jobs, even decent living quarters closed to them. Even so distinguished a man as Dr. Zaprometer, a noted biochemist, was a believer in secret for fear of losing his position as a scientist and teacher.

The symbol of the Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics is everywhere in Moscow.

It was even against the law in many countries to own a Bible. By 1990, it was estimated that there were no more than 250,000 Bibles in all the Soviet Union.

And religious persecution was a very real thing. All over Eastern Europe, believers met in secret, in constant fear of the authorities and their secret police. Pavelle Ignatov, a leader of the Pentecostal movement in Bulgaria, was arrested ten times between 1981 and 1990, lost his job nine times, was continually harassed by the government, and had his life threatened. Countless other believers lost their jobs and were denied privileges such as access to schools and better housing. Many were beaten and imprisoned. Yet, the church in Bulgaria grew 600 percent during this time.

A memorial to a young girl in Timisoara killed by Ceausesqu's forces.

But Communism? It never worked. Any time, anywhere. It never brought anything but death. By conservative estimate, more than 100 million people lost their lives in the 20th century as a direct result of attempts to establish Marxism in its various forms -- socialism, fascism, Nazism, and communism (nowadays we euphemistically call it "progressivism").

Second Observation: The Hospitality Trap and the Scheduling Trap

Ferdinand and Lydia Karel. Gracious hosts, but in some ways too helpful.

In all of this, we found the people of Eastern Europe to be unfailingly warm, gracious, and endlessly hospitable. So much so that the Hospitality Trap was a real hindrance in our work.As I said in a previous post, everywhere we went, these gracious people wanted to share with us the best of their food. We couldn't eat it all, but neither did we want to disappoint them. It was always difficult to avoid gorging ourselves but still return graciousness for graciousness. 

Likewise, our hosts did not understand the work of documentary photographers, as indeed, few do. Consequently, we spent too much time being treated as guests or being shown things that were only tangentially relevant to our mission, and  not nearly enough time finding and photographing the things that would help us put their ministries into the context of the life of the community and the nation. But in each country we did our best to create an accurate, although limited, portrait of the nation as we found it.

 Third Observation: Louise Jenkins is the World's Best Travel Companion

 

David and Louise Jenkins at the wedding of their

son Don to Kimberly Keith, June, 1990.

(Photo by Alan Vandergriff)

It was a total delight to have her with me on this trip. Besides doing a great job as a videographer, she took every situation in her stride and was never daunted by hardships or problems. And she is very pleasant to look at.

Fourth Observation: Communism is not dead

In the 1990s, after the fall of the Soviet Union, many people believed Communism was dead. Being a contrarian, I said, "Communism is not dead. The Soviet Union is dead, but Communism is alive and well and living in the faculty lounges and classrooms of America's colleges and universities."

The events unfolding before our eyes every day demonstrate just how right I was. Led by a cohort of mis-educated elites and some who know exactly what they are doing, Americans are ignorantly allowing themselves to be led into the same hell-hole from which the Eastern Europeans escaped so joyfully thirty-one years ago. Americans must wake up or it will soon be too late.

Photographs made with Olympus OM and Leica M cameras and lenses, Tamron lenses, Fujichrome 100D and 400D films.  Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins Eastern Europe, Berlin Wall, Soviet Union, Communism, Socialism, Bulgaria, Pentecostalism, Olympus OM cameras, Leica cameras, Tamron lenses, Fujichrome film, film cameras

Reposting: Eastern Europe 1990: An Interlude in Vienna

 

Saint Stephen's Cathedral, the center of Roman

Catholic worship in Vienna, was completed in 1433. 

 

Blog Note: My purpose in reposting this series of blogs about our travels in Eastern Europe in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, is to show the joy of the Eastern European peoples as they emerged from the Marxist system into freedom. My hope is that at least a few Americans will be warned as our present government seeks to lead us into that darkness. 

The tourist agency helped us find a reasonably-priced "pension" in a good, central-Vienna location. Checking in, we found the staff helpful and the room pleasant in an old European style. The Pension Andreas occupies the third floor of one of those massive, old, five or six-story buildings which seem to occupy most of Vienna's blocks, and is about a block and a half from the church where Beethoven is buried.

Pink Volkswagen, anyone?

By this time it was about 8 p.m. and we were hungry, so we went looking for food. Supper for two at a nearby Chinese restaurant set us back about $34. Everything in Vienna costs three or four times what we were used to paying in Chattanooga. If I describe the cost of something in Vienna as "reasonable," remember that it's all relative.

Normally I'm a night-owl, but when you're traveling, especially on a working trip, you take your rest when you can get it. And we did get a very good night's sleep.

Monday, March 26  The next morning we had the "free" breakfast in the hotel's breakfast room -- the usual meat, cheese, jam, and so-so coffee. But a good deal compared with the price of breakfast on the town.

Crowds in the Kartnerstrass, a pedestrian street which

links the opera house with St. Stephen's Cathedral.

And then we were off for two days footloose in Vienna, like two kids let out of school! We had picked up maps and tourist brochures, but found it all very confusing, especially the transit system. Finally we took the plunge and bought passes and set off for the center of town. I carried cameras, of course, but Louise, exhausted from carrying the heavy S-VHS camera around Eastern Europe, left it in the room.

The monument to the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

was erected in 1896 in the Burggarten in Vienna.

All kinds of people enjoy a sunny March day in Vienna.

Louise took the opera house tour and enjoyed it very much, while I photographed the area around St. Stephan's Cathedral. Pizza and salad for lunch set us back $20. In the late afternoon we took subway and tram about 12 miles to the end of the line -- a town called Boden -- to see the Roman ruins. By this time it was nearly dark and too late to see the ruins if we had found them. We found instead a lovely park, a good supper of roast beef and potatoes, a friendly waitress, and more reasonable prices. It took us a little time to find the station, but we eventually got back to the pension, tired and satisfied.

The Anker Clock was created by the painter and sculptor

Franz Matsch and completed in 1914.

Tuesday, March 27  The day dawned gray and gloomy and stayed that way. I spent some time trying to find out if any part of the Iron Curtain fence was still standing between Czechoslovakia and Austria  that I could photograph. I was informed that the fence was being taken down by the Czechs and no one knew for sure where to find the remaining sections. I would like to have had the photographs, but it looked likely to be a wild goose chase. So, we went out to see more of Vienna.

Pavement art in the Kartnerstrasse.

The weather put a damper on picture-taking, and Louise was tired from the previous day's walking, After a light lunch ($20 -- not much today, but this was 1990) I took her back for a nap and went out for a while by myself. The light was still bad.

A stained glass window in St. Stephen's Cathedral.

Later, we took the tram to the McDonald's on the Franz Joseph Quay, then back to the Karntnerstrass, but the crowds had gone, and with them apparently, the street musicians. And it was starting to rain. So we went back to our room and began packing for our 7:10 a.m. flight.

Everything was fine until we came to security, where they flatly refused to hand-inspect my film. This was important, because airport x-rays can damage film. I stood my ground and asked to speak to the person in charge. They kept us waiting until 15 minutes before take-off, when a senior person showed up and passed us through without even looking at my film! That was life before digital cameras.

And then home, after 21 days of intensive, fascinating, enjoyable travel and work.

Photographs made with Olympus OM and Leica M cameras and lenses, Fujichrome 100D and 400D films.  Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins Eastern Europe, Iron CurtainVienna, St. Stephen's Cathedral, Roman Catholic worship, Beethoven, Mozart, Olympus OM cameras, Leica cameras, Fujichrome film, film cameras

Reposting: Eastern Europe 1990: A Portrait of Poland

 

Bethany Church of God is building a 2500-seat

worship center on a site that was once a swamp.

Blog Note: My purpose in reposting this series of blogs about our travels in Eastern Europe in 1990, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Soviet Union, is to show the joy of the Eastern European peoples as they emerged from the Marxist system into freedom. My hope is that at least a few Americans will be warned as our present government seeks to lead us into that darkness. 

 

Saturday, March 24   After tub baths, which we were getting used to and tired of at the same time, we were taken to the church for breakfast. It was the usual eastern European cold cuts, cheese, and jam, but it was good. (Or maybe we're just getting used to it.) And lots of that good coffee!

 

After breakfast we were taken to the  site where the church's new, 2500-seat worship center is under construction. In an attempt to "get rid of the Pentecostals" by appearing to give them something while actually giving them nothing, the city gave the church four and a half acres in a prime location near the intersection of two main arteries. The catch was that the land was a worthless swamp. But to their surprise, the despised Pentecostals drained the swamp, filled it with dirt, and proceeded to build.

The Black Market in Katowici looks much like an

American flea market that has fallen on hard times.

Paul had to give a seminar at the church, so we went out to photograph the Black Market, which looks very much like a U.S. flea market fallen on hard times. Then back for another Polish dinner (these folks apparently don't do lunch) and more of that great coffee. (Do you detect a coffee addict rescued from withdrawal here?)

Farmers in rural Poland still plant

potatoes in the old-fashioned way.

After the meal we were driven around town and out into the countryside, where we found farmers doing their spring plowing and people planting potatoes in the traditional way. Then back into town, where we photographed a group of young people from the church holding a street meeting in the town center. Playing their instruments, singing, and then preaching, they had attracted a good-sized crowd. 

A group of young people from Bethany Church

hold a street meeting in the Town Center.

For the rest of the day we were ferried from Bible studies to home churches to children's meetings to music groups, with hardly time to catch our breath. But we did our job as best we could and when we got back to the hotel were very glad to call it a night. As the trip winds down and the excitement and adrenaline ebb away we feel the weariness more and more.

Faces of Poland

 

A young singer at the street meeting.

Anna, the Karel's 11-year-old granddaughter

is a budding concert pianist.

Ferdinand and Lydia Karel. Graciousness personified.

 

Sunday, March 25   We were tired and moving slowly this morning, but since we were leaving Poland that afternoon, we had to be packed and checked out of the hotel before being picked up at 8:15 for breakfast and the church service.

Breakfast was the usual meat and cheese, but redeemed again by great coffee. The church service was packed with people, which made it difficult to move around, and the lighting was not-very-bright fluorescent. But we covered everything thoroughly. The Polish Pentecostals are quite unrestrained in their worship. I'm sure I witnessed several solo performances of Polish folk dances. Or something.

Sunday morning worship at Bethany Church. Getting

good color under mismatched fluorescent lights

was notoriously difficult when shooting film.

After a great lunch with the Karels, we loaded ourselves into the church van for an hour's drive to the airport, near Krakow, and were soon on our way to Vienna and some badly needed R&R.

Our time in Katowici was altogether too structured. Having only united with the Church of God a year earlier, Pastor Karel and his associates were eager to show their new denomination the effectiveness of their ministry. However, they did not understand the work of documentary photographers, as indeed, few do. Consequently, we spent too much time photographing various aspects of the church's ministry and not nearly enough time documenting the things that would put that ministry into the context of the life of the community and the nation. I'll have more to say about this in an upcoming post.

 

Photographs made with Olympus OM and Leica M cameras and lenses, Fujichrome 100D and 400D films.  Photographs and text copyright 2021, David B.Jenkins

I post Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week.

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

Tags: photography, Dave Jenkins, David B. Jenkins Eastern Europe, Communism, Poland, Katowici, Bethany Church of God, Pentecostalism, Black Market, Krakow, documentary photography, Olympus OM cameras, Leica cameras, Fujichrome film, film, film cameras