Jenkins Rule

Spotted this scene while driving along Georgia Highway 22 in east central Georgia. The first place I could turn around was about 200 yards down the road. If I had been pulling an RV this photo would not exist.

 

Dave Hileman, a fellow RV traveler, photo-blogger, fellow believer in Jesus Christ, and good friend even though we've never met in person, had two questions for me. I'll answer the first one in this post and the second question in the next.

"You drive the back roads and spot something you wish to make a photo of and then, where do you park? It is often a challenge and when pulling our trailer more often not possible.

Jenkins Rule says that "The photogenic qualities of any given scene are in direct inverse proportion to the possibility of finding a place to park within any reasonable distance." When traveling in an RV, the difficulties are greatly multiplied. Dave pulls a smallish travel trailer with an SUV, so finding a place to park may not be totally impossible, but as he says, "it is a challenge."

With my truck and fifth-wheel trailer totaling nearly 55 feet in length, it's not just a challenge, it's pretty much an impossibility. I've had to adopt John Netherton's principle: A prolific landscape photographer and author/photographer of a number of books who didn't care much for walking, Netherton said "There are no photographs more than a hundred yards from a parking lot."

Or, like the famous photographer Gary Winogrand, who, when asked what he did if he saw a photograph while changing film, replied "There are no photographs while I'm changing film!"

By the time something something registers in my brain "That would make a good photograph," I'm usually past it. Is there a place to pull off the road? Not likely. Is there a place to turn around? Almost certainly not if I'm in an RV. If I could turn around, would there be a place to park? Again, highly improbable. So, in the spirit of Netherton and Winogrand, I have to accept that "There are no photographs while I'm driving my RV!"

And that's just the way it is.

Dave Hileman blogs at www.twolanetouring.com, where he posts a new picture every day. Check it out. He's well worth following.

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.