Lake Junaluska Sunset

         Sunset over Lake Junaluska in the western North Carolina mountains.

 

Through most of the 1980s one of my main clients was the Christian Business Men's Committee, USA, usually known as the CBMC. I did photography for their magazine, annual reports, brochures, and media presentations. In 1988 and '89, I did a long-running media project for them which took me to many states -- as far north as Michigan and Minnesota, as far west as California and Oregon, and as far east as Maryland and North Carolina.

In North Carolina, I photographed, interviewed, and recorded many of the CBMC's top people from around the country while they were attending leadership meetings at the Methodist Conference Grounds at Lake Junaluska in the North Carolina mountains near Ashville.

Unfortunately, I never did any more work for the CBMC after 1990. Almost invariably when I lost a client it was because of changes within the organization. In this case, the President/CEO passed away and the new president wanted to bring in his own team. Both of my contact people within the organization were forced out, and I along with them. That's life in the world of business. To some, photography is an art; to others it's just a commodity.

The photo above was made with one of my Olympus OM film cameras -- don't remember which one, or the lens used. The film was Fujichrome 100D, because that's what I used from 1986 on.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

My most recent book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is a 304-page soft-cover with more than 200 color photographs. Published by Countryman Press, it is priced at $22.95. Signed and inscribed copies are available directly from me at (423) 240-2324 or djphoto@vol.com.

 

Lookout Mountain Cloudfall

Morning clouds gather over the escarpment of Lookout Mountain.

It was 25 miles from my home in northwest Georgia's McLemore Cove to my studio in downtown Chattanooga. Five days a week and sometimes more I made the drive, with Lookout Mountain on one side, and Pigeon Mountain on the other. Many mornings it would be clear in the Cove, but the top of Lookout would be wrapped in clouds, looking for all the world like a waterfall of clouds flowing down the ring of cliffs around the mountaintop.

The cloudfall was perhaps most visible from a place about five miles north of my home, where a white barn sat at the base of the mountain. The Cove was an interesting and beautiful place to live, and I have had a lifelong love affair with Lookout Mountain.

North Georgia is truly God's country, although, sorry to say, I often drove through it like the devil!

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

My most recent book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is a 304-page soft-cover with more than 200 color photographs. Published by Countryman Press, it is priced at $22.95. Signed and inscribed copies are available directly from me at (423) 240-2324 or djphoto@vol.com.

 

A Little Bit of Digital Can Replace a Whole Lot of Skill

The Snow White Diorama, Fairyland Caverns, Rock City Gardens 

For many years, beginning around 1982, I was the more-or-less official photographer for the tourist attraction Rock City Gardens, on the cliffs of Lookout Mountain overlooking Chattanooga, Tennessee. In 1993, Todd Smith, who was in charge of Rock City's advertising at the time, asked me to update their photos of the dioramas in Fairyland Caverns.

A tour of Rock City begins with walking around massive rock formations, through deep clefts in the rocks, along cliff tops, and finally, through Fairyland Caverns; a semi-man-made cave featuring ultraviolet-lit dioramas of nursery rhyme scenes. This is what family entertainment was like before Disney World and video games, and the place still holds a special fascination for kids of all ages.

The problem was working out how best to photograph all those scenes illuminated solely by ultra-violet light. It was also a problem that the light was uneven, but that was solved easily by buying several ordinary, small fluorescent lamps and replacing the tubes with ultraviolet ones. These were mounted on light stands and placed around the scene wherever more light was needed.

Another problem was that different brands of color films varied in their response to ultraviolet light, and a third problem was that there was no way to meter accurately for correct exposure.

(I should mention that one of the things I like best about commercial photography is that it is an endless exercise in problem-solving.)

I was using Hasselblad medium-format cameras at the time, and fortunately, they had interchangeable film backs. So I went into the caverns with my tripod-mounted camera and four or five different films by Kodak and Fujifilm loaded into the film backs. I also had a back for my camera that used Polaroid instant film. I made some Polaroid exposures by guess and by golly to get into the ballpark, then made a series of exposures on each roll of film, recording the data in a notebook. (No iPad in those days.)

After the film was processed, I examined each roll on a color-correct lightbox, choosing the film that gave the best color rendition, and also, the best exposure for that film.

Oh -- one more problem. The job had to be delivered on 4x5-inch film. Which meant that I went back into the cavern with my big Cambo studio camera and shot everything all over again, using the film and exposures that had tested best. Since it was necessary to use a smaller aperture to achieve sufficient depth of field with the larger format, some of those exposures were several minutes long.

Now, here's the kicker: in 2012 I was visiting Rock City with some of my grandchildren. As we walked through Fairyland Caverns, I casually snapped some of the dioramas with my Olympus digital camera. Those casual photos looked almost as good as the ones over which I had labored so painstakingly nearly 20 years before.

One of the hardest things for me to deal with as digital imaging took over photography was the fact that so many of the technical skills which I had labored to acquire, and of which I was proud, were now as useless as buggy whips. The average tourist who walks through Fairyland Caverns snapping away with his cell phone probably makes photographs that are nearly as good technically as those that took me days to make 30 years ago. Sic transit gloria mundi.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

My most recent book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is a 304-page soft-cover with more than 200 color photographs. Published by Countryman Press, it is priced at $22.95. Signed and inscribed copies are available directly from me at (423) 240-2324 or djphoto@vol.com.

God Is in the Details

Civil War Re-enactment, Chickamauga National Military Park, about 1977.

\You've probably heard the saying "The devil is in the details." Personally, I don't care to give the devil that much credit, because God certainly is in charge of every detail of life.

Virginia Creeper on wall of Perdue Mill near Clarkesville, Georgia.

Speaking of sayings, there's a saying among artists that "less is more." Very often you can say more visually by showing less. That's the reason I try whenever possible to photograph details as well as wider views. Sometimes a detail shot may tell a story better than a wider view. Ideally, of course, they work together, with wider views and detail photos augmenting and enhancing each other.

Vines on barn wall, U.S. Hwy. 231 near Huntsville, Alabama.

It's easy to get caught up in looking for a wide view to tell the whole story in one shot and forget to look for the telling details, so if you're like me you'll need to remind yourself constantly to look for details. Yet, as I said, details often tell a story better than a wider shot.

When Louise first saw the above photo of vines on a barn wall, her immediate reaction was "I want that one for my wall!" The framed, 20x24 print I made for her hung on our bedroom wall for many years.

Photographs and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

My most recent book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is a 304-page soft-cover with more than 200 color photographs. Published by Countryman Press, it is priced at $22.95. Signed and inscribed copies are available directly from me at (423) 240-2324 or djphoto@vol.com.

Southern Illinois "Terraced" Hillside

A hillside in southern Illinois, "terraced" by Mother Nature.

 Rock City, the tourist attraction near Chattanooga, Tennessee, advertised itself for many years by having the words SEE ROCK CITY painted on more than 800 barns throughout the southeast and midwest. In 1994 they commissioned me to find and photograph every barn still in existence and create a book of those photos.

From October, 1994 through the spring of 1996 I traveled 35,000 miles in my old Chevy Blazer to fourteen states, going as far north as Michigan and as far west as Texas. Using the records created by the Rock City sign painters, I was able to find more than 500 sites and about 250 Rock City barns still in existence. The resulting coffee-table book, Rock City Barns: A Passing Era, became a best-seller, with more than 29,000 copies sold and is still consider a classic.

As I traveled those miles through the heartland of America with my camera on the seat beside me, I found many interesting things to photograph besides the barns. Unfortunately, I haven't done much with those photos, partly because they were made on film and cannot be shown on digital media until they have been scanned -- a process which can be either slow, cheap, and good or quick, expensive, and good,but unfortunately, not quick, cheap, and good. So I have quite a few interesting photos in my slide pages awaiting the dawning of a digital day.

This particular photograph, however, of a hillside in southern Illinois, caught my eye immediately and was scanned promptly. After which I did nothing with it but leave it in my files until now. I'm posting it at this time because of the interest generated by the photo of a terraced hillside in north Georgia that I posted on April 11th.

Unlike the terracing in that photo, which appears to have been man-made, although to what purpose I can't imagine, the "terracing" in this picture appears to have been created by Mother Nature and erosion.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

A Menagerie for Your Yard

Need a twelve-foot Tyrannosaurus Rex to keep people or neighborhood dogs off your lawn? Or how about a nice big alligator to lie entwined in your shrubbery? Maybe a nice cobra, or a serious-looking gorilla? Or perhaps a sorrowful-looking pit bull to keep salesmen at bay? They are all available -- for a price.  

Probably only California has more funky places and things than Florida, but Florida is surely a close second. And one of the funkiest is located in northeastern Florida at the intersection of US 17 and SR 40, a wide spot in the road called Barberville, where a two-acre lot is filled with all of the above and much, much more at Barberville Yard Art. 

I asked some employees how long the place had been there. No one knew, but one said she used to pass it on her way to college in the early 1970s. Like the sign says, "It's one of a kind!"

Photographs and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

 

The Watchers

The Watchers

Louise and I were spending a few days with my sister at her home in the country village of Fayetteville, Indiana. Her grandson, Isaac, wanted to show us his llamas, which he kept in a neighbor's barn across the road.

Having looked at and duly petted and praised the llamas, we came out of the barn and immediately noticed (there's that word again!) the neighbor's three dogs watching something across the road. I don't remember what they were looking at, but I loved their alertness and intensity.

This picture was made in 2004 with a Canon EOS 20D and a Canon EF 24-85 f3.5-4.5 lens. The 20D had an eight megapixel sensor, which doesn't seem like much now, but after the Canon D30 with three megapixels, and the 10D with six, the 20D's eight megapixels seemed generous. I remember Denis Reggie, wedding photographer to the wealthy and powerful, exclaiming "Now I don't even have to turn the camera for verticals! I can just crop a square or vertical out of a horizontal frame!" 

I owned three or four 20Ds at various times. It was an easy camera to use and the autofocus was greatly improved over the Canon 10D with which I began my digital photography career. The files I made with the 20D still hold up well today. In 2006 I bought the original Canon EOS 5D (now often called the "Classic") and used it side-by-side with the 20D until around 2011. I could still make my living with that combo if I needed to.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, 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

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on Azaleas

 Louise had set a large pot by each of the posts that supported the deck that ran along the back of our house and had planted azaleas and clematis in them. One day as I was working in the backyard I noticed that a large tiger swallowtail butterfly was buzzing the azaleas. As usual, I had a camera fairly close at hand, so I clicked off five or six exposures. This is the one I liked best.

The picture was made with a Fuji X-T20, which is just now becoming my favorite camera even though I've had it for five years. The lens was the Fuji XC 50-230mm telephoto zoom, which enabled me to stand back far enough to get a close-up shot without scaring the butterfly away.

I haven't said anything about it and you probably haven't noticed, but these last four posts have all had a common theme -- noticing things. I did not make them when I was working on a project or when I was out cruising around with my camera to see what I could find, although those are both perfectly valid ways to find photos. I made them as I was just going about my life. But I make it a habit to go about my life with my eyes open and a camera within easy reach.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo

For the glory of God alone

North Georgia Terraced Hillside

 

I remember making this photograph, but don't remember exactly when or where because it was long before I began keeping a notebook of locations and other information about my photos. It was sometime in the '70s, I think, and would have been on either Georgia Highway 136 or 52, because I remember we were on our way to Dahlonega at the time. If it was before 1978, the camera would have been a Nikkormat; after that, an Olympus OM. The film was almost certainly Kodachrome 25.

I've always liked this picture, but have never published it before.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, 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

 

The Scarecrow

Some of the volunteer firemen had started a garden behind the old fire station at Hog Jowl Road (no kidding!) and Hall's Mill Road in McLemore Cove.

This is from another Fujichrome 100 slide taken with a Canon EOS A2. The lens was probably a Canon EF 24-85 f3.5-4.5. Scanned with a Minolta DiMage 5400. The photograph is from my limited-edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, 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

 

Cat on Porch Rail

 My apologies for failing to post yesterday. Actually, I'm going to have to cut back on the amount of time I spend on the blog until I finish my taxes and get the Backroads book off to the publisher.

However, I'll keep my regular Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule, posting pictures of some of the things I've noticed as I've gone about my life, with maybe a few explanatory words.

Today's photo was made on old Georgia Highway 2 in Chattanooga Valley. The camera was a Canon EOS A2 with (probably) the 80-200 f2.8L lens and Fujichrome 100 film. A Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner converted the slide to a digital file.

Photograph and text copyright 2022, 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

 

The Graysville Mill

Gray's Mill in the early 1970s. Sitting in serene

beauty by its dam on Chickamauga Creek.

 

 When we moved from Miami to Chattanooga in 1970, our new home, while in Tennessee, was only a mile or so from the village of Graysville, Georgia. The old mill, just on the other side of Chickamauga Creek from the village soon became a favorite destination for our walking, biking, or picnic excursions.

The village was laid out in the 1840s by John Gray, the English-born contractor who built the Western and Atlantic Railroad and dug the tunnel at Tunnel Hill. He liked the Northwest Georgia area so much that he bought 4,000 acres on Chickamauga Creek. He built the Queen Anne-style Gray House, dammed the creek, and built a large, three-story mill. The mill was burned during the Civil War, but was rebuilt in 1869 and continued to operate into the 1950s.

In the early '70s the mill was still pretty much intact. I made some photos of the interior, which are, unfortunately, in storage, but I seem to remember three milling stations with millstones approximately eight feet in diameter. A very impressive operation.

The ruins of the mill after it was burned, possibly by vandals.

 The mill burned again in the late '70s. Possibly the work of vandals, or, it could have been picnickers or campers who let their fire get out of control. The heavy plank floors and massive wooden beams would have burned like tinder.

The house built on the mill ruin uses the foundation and original stones.

After the passage of some years, the site was purchased and an unique, three-story house was built on the ruin, using the mill foundation and many of the original stones.

Photographs and text copyright 2022, 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