Morning Shower

A Bucket Shower at the Well, Madras City Beach, India

The little three-wheeled taxi let me out by the edge of the sand, about 300 yards from the water at Madras city beach. A hundred yards along, I noticed several men taking their morning showers by dipping buckets into a well and pouring the water over themselves. I kept well back so as not to intrude and photographed them with a 180mm f2.8 Olympus Zuiko telephoto (a very fine lens indeed) mounted on an Olympus OM2n camera. The film, as usual, was Fujichrome 100D slide film.

Pete Porter and Greg Clawson commented about Monday's photo of the two fishermen that it "looked like a National Geographic magazine photo."

I consider that a high compliment. Throughout my career I aspired to work for National Geographic, and even had a portfolio showing with them in Washington, D.C. at one time. They expressed liking for my work, but explained that it took years to train photographers to shoot in the Geographic style. They told me that they were up to their ears in photographers, but only up to their ankles in ideas! 

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

 

On the Bank

Two fishermen on Madras City Beach

Watching me with quizzical expressions as I photographed the action on the beach at Madras that morning were two grizzled fishermen, sitting on the bank above the high-tide line. What they thought about the crazy westerner with a camera I can't imagine. 

For my part, I didn't know why they weren't fishing. They had new-looking nets with them. Perhaps they were waiting for the rest of their crew. None of my business. I just made their photograph, thanked them in a friendly way with the word "Nandri" (right hand in front of my face with fingers up, palm slightly out in the South Indian gesture of casual greeting) and moved on to other scenes in this incredibly photo-rich environment.

(Olympus OM2n camera, 85mm f2 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome 100D film.)

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

A Walk on the Beach

A man and his little daughter at Madras Beach

As I wrote in last Wednesday's post, there are rare times in a photographer's life when one seems to enter an almost magical time and place where wonderful pictures are on every hand, like low-hanging fruit just waiting to be picked. 

As I was watching and photographing the fishermen launching their boats from the beach at Madras, a man and his little daughter came walking along, playing in the edge of the surf and picking up shells in graceful movements. I made many pictures of them, but these are the only two I've scanned so far. The rest are in storage along with most of my film photographs. I wish I could show them all to you. 

Maybe someday I'll get back to scanning more of my film photos. I shot film for 35 years and have been photographing digitally for only 19 years. I think much of my best work is on film.

(Olympus OM2n camera, 85mm f2 Zuiko lens, Fujichrome 100D film.)

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

Ancient Fishing Methods Still Live at Madras Beach

Loading the nets

Pushing off

 Rowing out through the surf

Subsistence fishing in places like the beach at Madras probably hasn't changed much since the days when Jesus walked the shores of the Sea of Galilee and called four fishermen to be his apostles.

Just as the boats used by fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were well-adapted to that smaller body of water, the fishermen of Madras developed a boat with a high bow and stern adapted to the usually larger surf of the Indian Ocean.

The boat in these photographs had a captain and a crew of five oarsmen who pushed the boat out into the surf until it floated, then jumped aboard and used their oars to move the boat into deeper water.

Returning from their fishing at the end of the day, they used the force of the surf to drive the boat as far as possible up onto the beach, then used muscle power to shove it up beyond the high tide mark. They then unloaded their catch and went into town to sell it.

(All photos made with Olympus OM-system cameras and various Zuiko lenses,

Fujichrome 100 film.)

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

Low-Tech Fishing at Madras Beach

Just a pile of logs? 

 

There are rare times in a photographer's life when one seems to enter an almost magical time and place where wonderful pictures are on every hand, like low-hanging fruit just waiting to be picked.

It was like that on Madras beach that early February morning in 1992. As the sleeper on the beach in my previous post tried to catch a few more winks, the beach was coming to life all around her. Or maybe him. It could have been one of the fishermen waiting for the action to start.

One of the first things I saw when I came down to the shore were piles of roughly shaped logs. 

Lashing the logs together to make a crude boat 

 

I had no idea what they were until some young men pulled one of the piles down to the water's edge and began to lash them together with ropes. In a few minutes they had fashioned a rudimentary raft-boat, pushed it out through the surf, stepped a mast and small sail, and begun fishing.

Launching out through the surf

 

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

 

 

 

Asleep on the Beach

Asleep on the beach. Madras, India

 

In 1992 Compassion International, the Christian humanitarian organization, asked me to go the Orient to document some of their work with sponsored children. Accompanying me on the trip was Doug LeBlanc, the editor of Compassion Magazine and the one who actually selected me for the assignment.

Doug and I have remained friends through the years, although our paths don't cross. We stay in touch by way of occasional emails, Christmas letters, and the like. He tells me he reads this blog.

We spent about two weeks in Madras, India, a week in Seoul, South Korea, and had a one-day layover in Singapore.

I had some free time in Madras, which I used to roam around the city and photograph the people. One morning I got up early, hailed one of the little three-wheeled taxis that swarm the streets, and headed for the beach.

I don't much like rising early, but that's when I often find my best pictures. There's a different, softer quality of light, a calm freshness in the air, and both people and nature seem more relaxed and approachable. On the city beach the pictures come early or not at all, because the fisherman launch their boats through the surf at first light and head out to sea.

I found this person apparently sound asleep on the beach. I've always thought if was a woman, but I really don't know, nor do I know why he or she was sleeping there. The person looked comfortable, so I quietly made the photograph with my Olympus OM2n (an especially quiet camera) and a 35mm f2 Zuiko lens on Fujichrome film and moved 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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

What's Happening with the Jenkins?

Louise and David Jenkins and Georgia

 

This past Monday, July 11th, marked 18 months of full-time RV living for us. It has been a mixed bag, but mostly good.

On January 11th, 2021, the sale of the home we built and where we lived for 27 years was complete except for signing the final papers and we had to get out of the way for the estate sale people to do their thing. Instead of renting or buying a smaller house or an apartment, we bought an RV, a fifth-wheel trailer, and moved into it at a campground near Chattanooga because we didn't know where we wanted to settle for the final phase of our lives. (We still don't know.)

There are two aspects to being full-time RVers. One is living; the other is traveling. Living in our RV has been great. We are extremely comfortable. There's just enough room for us, but not enough that we can allow ourselves to continue our clutter-bugging habits.

On the other hand, we haven't been able to travel as much as we had hoped, primarily because of health issues. When we first moved into our RV, Louise was in a great deal of pain and we knew that she was going to need two surgeries in the coming months: one to fuse vertebrae in her neck, the other to fuse vertebrae in her lower back. Both of those surgeries went well, and by July, 2021 we were able to travel around Georgia to work on the second edition of Backroads and Byways of Georgia (which is finally finished and in the hands of the publisher), and also went to Florida last fall for a few weeks.

We were scheduled to go to Florida for the winter, but while we stopped over in Chattanooga for a few days in early January, Louise fell and broke her hip. We didn't get to Florida until March 1st, but spent two months there, at two different campgrounds.

The night we arrived back at our campground near Knoxville in early May, Louise fell off the steps of the RV and had to be taken by ambulance to an emergency room. Tests showed nothing broken, but she was shaken up and sore. She fell again last week, but not as far, and skinned her arm. Meanwhile, she is seeing a doctor about her hiatal hernia and I had my pacemaker replaced yesterday, July 12. I guess this is what we get for getting older. We shoulda stayed young.

On the day you read this we plan to move to a campground at Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park for two weeks. We plan to go to southern Indiana on August 2nd for the Jenkins Family Reunion at Spring Mill State Park, and after that we're not sure what we will do. We would like to go to South Dakota, Montana, and Yellowstone, but the price of diesel fuel in Mr. Biden's economy is very, very scary. There's also talk of rationing.

Please notice that when we talk about our plans we are very conscious of the old Jewish saying "Man plans; God laughs!"

In any case, we are scheduled to return to the Escapees campground near Knoxville October through December, followed by January through March in Florida.  We consider Knoxville our base for now, since we spend more time there than anywhere else. We greatly enjoy being near our son Don and his family, and we especially enjoy attending Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church (EPC).

So, what does the future hold for us? God will give us clarity in his own time and way. Meanwhile, we want to enjoy to the fullest each day as it comes.

The Rig. Ready to roll.

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

The Old Mill in Cades Cove

Probably few mills anywhere have been photographed

as many times as the Cable Mill in Cades Cove.

 

The John P. Cable grist mill in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was built around 1867 and although it was restored in the 1930s it is still mostly original. It is the only survivor of the six or seven mills that over the years ground grain for the settlers of the Cove.

We were in Cades Cove on a day trip a few weeks ago; the first time we had been there since 2015 when we spent a few days looking for a bear for Louise. You can read about our most recent trip here.

The Cable Mill, along with the Visitor's Center and the Gregg-Cable House, built in 1879 as the first frame house in the Cove, are at the east end of the valley, about halfway along the Loop Road.

As one of the most popular features in the Cove, the mill has no doubt been photographed many millions of times, including a good number of photos made by me on previous trips. Many of those millions of photos are probably better than this one of mine from our most recent trip, but I'm sure there are some that are far worse; so I offer it with no apologies. It's an old mill; I photograph old mills. So here you are.

The mill photo was made with a Fujifilm X-T20 camera and the Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OIS-II lens. Light, precise, and a great carry-around combo.

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

 

Cades Cove Barn

Sunset light outlines the old logs of the Tipton cantilever

barn in Cades Cove, Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 

Since I lived in the northwest Georgia/southeast Tennessee area for many years, I've had abundant opportunities to visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My favorite part of the park has always been Cades Cove, a remote valley completely surrounded by mountains.

In the Cove are preserved the homesteads, churches, and other testimonials to the way of life of the East Tennessee mountain people who once made the valley their home. An eleven-mile loop road encircles the broad, green floor of the Cove, much of which is still being farmed. The valley also has many hiking trails and a large campground.

I normally have an excellent sense of direction, but Cades Cove has always been counter-intuitive for me. The valley runs east-west and is entered from the north. When I'm there I invariably feel that east is west and vice-versa. (Actually, that kind of thing happens to me more in the Smokies than anywhere else.)

Approximately three-fourths of the way around the Loop is the historic Tipton farmstead, with its cantilevered barn. An unique design found only in a small area of East Tennessee, the barn features a large second story, or loft, supported by a first story formed by two cribs. The overhang provided a place to store crops out of the area's abundant rainfall and also a shelter for cattle and horses.

The photograph was made with a Hasselblad 500CM camera, 80mm Zeiss lens, and Fujichrome film.

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

The Passing of Lifelong Friends

Barbara plays the ukulele for Ciindy

I received word today of the passing of two lifelong friends. One was the wife of my roommate my first two years of college; the other was a teammate on my college basketball team. Later, I was the junior varsity basketball coach at the private school in Miami where he was the head coach.

I am saddened, but realize that I am blessed that so many of my lifelong friends are still alive.

Louise and I were on the founding faculty of Florida Christian School in 1968 and were there for two years before moving to Chattanooga. In 1968 and 1969 the staff and many supporters of the school spent the Thanksgiving weekends camping at Jonathan Dickinson State Park on south Florida's east coast. The photograph of Barbara playing the ukulele for Cindy was made on Thanksgiving weekend, 1969 with my first "good" camera, the original Nikon F with the bulbous Photomic pentaprism, and a Tamron 135mm f2.8 lens. The film was Kodachrome 25, which I bought out-of-date for very cheap at the Eagle Army-Navy stores.

The photo below is the young Jenkins family at Jonathan Dickinson the previous Thanksgiving. It was warm that year, not chilly, as in 1969. The photo was made with a Kodak Instamatic, the camera that got me started on my life in photography. The film was color negative of some kind, probably Kodak.

The young Jenkins family, 1968

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

Images of Tranquility

                                                        Abandoned Tractor, White County, Georgia

I have a collection, or portfolio, of photographs that I call "Images of Tranquility." These are photographs that, for me, at least, invoke a sense of beauty, peace, order, and serenity. I've previously posted quite a number of them on this blog. The pictures in Monday's and last Friday's posts are two of them, and you can see some other recent ones here and here and here.

For me, these photographs are visual therapy, promoting a sense of inner calmness. I hope they will do the same for you.

Keith (?) Road barn and pond, Catoosa County, Georgia 

The old tractor was found beside GA Highway 75Alt north of Cleveland in northeast Georgia's White County during one of my photo-rambling daytrips in September, 2006, and photographed with a Canon 5D Classic. The lens was the Canon EF 70-200mm f2.8L-IS.

The barn and pond on Keith Road were photographed sometime in the 1970s on one of my Sunday afternoon photo-rambles. The camera was a twin-lens reflex, probably a Rolleicord Vb, although it could have been a Yashica. (Also, the location could have been Cherokee Valley Road rather than Keith Road. Sorry -- I had not yet learned to keep notes about my photos.) The film would have been Kodak Ektachrome, because Fujichrome did not begin to take hold in the U.S. until the 1980s.

I'm posting a bit late today -- we had a serious thunderstorm and a power outage last evening. A small tornado hit about five miles south of us and took out some power lines and did some other damage.

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

 

 

Black and White or Color?

 

Cove Methodist Church, December 26, 2010 

 

I hope neither of my readers gets tired of me mentioning McLemore Cove so often. What can I say? It’s a beautiful place, I lived there for more than 30 years, and made lots of photographs (but not enough) there. Besides, as it says in the column to your left, this blog is about photography, about life, and about my life in photography. The Cove is both part of my life and my photography.

However, this post is not actually about the Cove, but about Cove Methodist Church, which technically, is not in the Cove. It is two miles north of Georgia Highway 136, which defines the northern limit of the McLemore Cove Historic District. The people who founded the church on Cove Road south of the town of Chickamauga back in 1872 didn’t know that, though. To them it was in the Cove, or close enough. So Cove Methodist Church it became.

Cove Methodist ceased being a functioning church many years ago, but has been kept alive largely through the efforts of the Fine family. A revival service is held every fall, and a standing-room-only Christmas service in December. The church is also a lovely and popular venue for weddings. 

Since I passed by the church frequently, often several times a week for many years, I was able to photograph Cove Methodist Church in all seasons and under all weather conditions. (Although I don’t think I ever photographed it in the rain.)

Now back to our topic: Close your eyes and tell me: is the picture on your screen in color, or black and white?

The photo was made with a Canon EOS 5D Classic fitted with the Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens, which pretty much stayed glued to the camera in those days.

Hope you don't mind a little snow on your Fourth of July.

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be released on December 6th.

 

Visual Therapy

George D. Queener's cattle crossing Chickamauga Creek. 

By the early 1980s, Louise and I were becoming somewhat bored with our suburban existence and began looking for a way to make our home in the country.

In 1985 we heard of a woman who had some land for sale in North Georgia's McLemore cove. As it turned out, by the time we made contact with her she had already sold the land. However, she told us that her neighbor, George D. Queener, was planning to sell some acreage, and that she would ask him if she could show us the land.

He was agreeable, and in September, 1985 we piled into her little Toyota pickup and she drove us around the 30 acres on a ridge with frontage on Chickamauga Creek that were to be our home for more than 30 years.

The land was then part of the 800-acre-plus GDQ Ranch. As we came down to the creek, some of Queener's purebred Polled Hereford cattle were crossing.

The peace and tranquility of the scene were palpable. It was pure visual therapy. To this day, when I need to restore a sense of inner calm, I visualize this scene. The creek, the cattle, the early fall day all come together in perfect visual harmony. The picture does not do the scene justice, but the quest for tranquility continues to be a major theme in my photography.

This photograph was made with a Hasselblad 500CM camera with an 80mm Zeiss lens. The film was Kodak's Vericolor color negative stock.

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 book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia, is now out of print, although copies are apparently still available from Amazon, and possibly other sources. The second edition is now in the editing stage and is scheduled to be published on December 6th.