Cromer's Mill Covered Bridge on a Great Day

Cromer's Mill Covered Bridge. Long retired from service.

One crisp, clear day in October, 2006 -- the kind of day that seems to come in October more than any other month -- I picked up my son Rob and we headed out for a day of exploring northeast Georgia. I was taking days as often as possible to explore and photograph the state in hope that I would eventually have enough material for a book.

We ate a late (and large) breakfast at a Huddle House and spent the day laughing and joking. I didn't see many pictures, but we were having so much fun it didn't matter.

Late in the day we came to Cromer's Mill Covered Bridge. Just off Georgia 106 about eight miles south of Carnesville, it was built across Nails Creek in 1907 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976. The 110-foot-long bridge was built in the Town Lattice Truss design by James M. Hunt. Restored in the 1990s, it continues to be well maintained. As you can see from the photograph, the road it carried across the creek is long gone. 

At the other end of the bridge we came across this interesting structure.

A shed at the other end of the bridge.

 So we got back in the car and left before anyone showed up with a shotgun. Perhaps the property owner was fed up with curious tourists.

(The photo of the bridge was made with a Canon EOS 5D Classic, the shed with a Canon EOS 20D.)

Louise continues to do well. The next step is to have her bite readjusted by a dental specialist.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Elder Mill Covered Bridge

The Elder Mill Covered Bridge in Oconee County, Georgia.

 I'm sure I've mentioned before that one of my interests, along with old mills, is covered bridges. I've always been fascinated by them. This might have something to do with the fact that I grew up close to one. I attended high school in the little community of Williams, on White River in southern Indiana. Just a mile or so away is one of Indiana's longer covered bridges. It was in daily use on a heavily traveled road in those days, but is now closed to traffic, which has been rerouted to a modern bridge a short distance away.

I began photographing Georgia's covered bridges years before I began the Backroads and Byways book project and as far as I know have photographed all of them.

I found the Elder Mill Covered Bridge while I was working on the book. It's south of Watkinsville in east central Georgia's Oconee County. Take Georgia 15 for about four miles and turn right on Elder Mill Road for about a mile to the bridge. 

Originally built by Nathaniel Richardson over Calls Creek on the Watkinsville-Athens Road in 1897, the bridge was moved by wagon (don't ask me how they did that) to its present location over Rose Creek in 1924. It uses the sturdy Town lattice construction, with heavy planks fastened together with wooden pegs. The 99-foot-long bridge is in daily use and is one of very few covered bridges in Georgia to carry traffic without underlying steel support beams. However there is a size and weight restriction in the form of steel frames at each end of the bridge. I barely made it through with my RAM 3500 pickup. 

Looking upstream on Rose Creek to the Elder Mill Bridge.

Elder's Grist Mill still stands about a hundred yards downstream, on private property. (So no photo.) It has been out of business for many years. It can be viewed by walking down the creek bank.

(Both photos made with Canon EOS 6D, 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 lens.)

Louise is doing well. Thanks for your prayers.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

What about Digital Noise?

 

Marlee dancing. ISO 12,800, about a 200% enlargement. Click on photo to enlarge.

Since digital photography came into general use, digital noise at higher ISOs has been a recurrent bugbear for some photographers. To combat the perceived problem, various software developers brought forth their solutions. Meanwhile, camera manufacturers were designing better and better sensors, enabling photographers to shoot at higher and higher ISOs with less and less noise. 

I began digital photography in 2003 with a Canon EOS 10D. It showed noticeable noise, somewhat resembling film grain, at an ISO of 1600. I was photographing quite a few weddings in those days, and only used high ISOs in low-light situations, such as the interiors of churches. The noise was noticeable on my computer monitor, but did not show up badly at all in the 8x10 prints I was selling my wedding clients.

Dennis Mook, who blogs at The Wandering Lensman, has written two recent blogs on the subject of digital noise. You can read them here and here. Dennis is more concerned about noise than I am, but he apparently concludes it's not much of a factor anymore. Personally, I haven't worried about noise in a long time. But, I don't do a lot of high ISO stuff.

However, when I photographed Marlee's latest dance performance at ISO 12,800, the first time I had used that setting, I was pleased with the resulting files. Although I shot both RAW and jpeg in my Fuji X-H1, I used only the straight out of camera jpeg files. The only things I did to this file in Photoshop was lighten the image slightly in curves and apply an unsharp masking action that raises the mid-tone contrast a bit without affecting the highlights or shadows. 

The sensor in my X-H1 is not the latest version, so I'm sure the newer ones from Fuji and other manufacturers are even better. But I'm okay with what I have. Maybe I'm too easy to please, but I'm satisfied with this photograph. But then, I've always valued content above technique, as long as the technique is adequate to express the idea of the photograph. 

Blog note: Louise is making a remarkable recovery. Heartfelt thanks to all of you who have prayed. There are still some issues to be dealt with, so please don't stop.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Marlee Dancing and a New Lens

 Marlee dancing, May 6, 2023. Fuji X-H1, Fujinon XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8

My granddaughter Marlee began dancing when she was just a tiny thing and over the years has spent thousands of hours practicing and performing. I've been photographing at least one of her performances each year since 2011. 

On May 6th I photographed her final performance as a high school student. On May 14th (coincidentally my birthday) she graduated from the Webb School of Knoxville with a high grade point average, and this fall will enter Indiana University, where she will take pre-med courses and minor in dance.

Over the years I photographed her dance performances with several different Canon and Olympus digital cameras, but in 2017 I switched to the Fuji system and began photographing her with, first, an X-T20 camera, and later, an X-H1. 

One of the first lenses I bought for my Fuji system was the Fujinon XC 50-230mm f4.5-6.7. It's an inexpensive lens, but very sharp, and was adequate for my needs. (See my pictures of pileated woodpeckers here.) However, the lens has one flaw: the mount is made of plastic, and while I was photographing one of Marlee's performances I accidentally dropped the camera with the lens attached and broke the mount. 

This year I replaced the 50-230 with a Fujinon XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 lens. It has a faster aperture, is very sharp, and most especially, has a metal mount.  And although it's heavier than the 50-230, it balances very well on the X-H1.

Even though the above photo of Marlee was made at an ISO of 12,800 it's tack-sharp and has almost undetectable digital noise -- about like a very fine-grained film. And with this combination of camera and lens I was able to capture a much higher percentage of "keepers" than I have in the past.

I'm going to miss photographing Marlee's dance performances, but I probably won't be driving to Indiana to shoot them. 

Please continue to pray for Louise. She's making great progress, but still has a lot of pain.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

I'm Feeling Stale!

 One-stop shopping. GA Hwy 53, Pickens  County, NE Georgia 

I hate to admit it, but I'm feeling kinda stale  We've been busy moving out of our camper and putting it up for sale, buying a new home, moving in, and refurbishing it -- a job which is ongoing. It's been months since I've had time and opportunity to grab my cameras and head out to explore the countryside. And we're living in town now, which makes it worse. I am not an urban photographer.

What I really need is a good project to sink my teeth into. My editor at Countryman Press has asked me to do a book on Tennessee for their Backroads and Byways series, but I'm not sure I should commit to a project that would take up so much of whatever is left of the rest of my life. I love the travel and photography, but research and writing can be a chore. 

Especially research. For each tour, I must select a geographical area, find out what's worth seeing in that area, then arrange the points of interest so that travelers can progress easily and logically from one point to the next in a day trip or weekend drive of 125 to 200 miles. And then I must actually drive the tour and photograph said points of interest. Rinse and repeat for 14 or 15 more geographical areas. As I said, it's fun to do the travel and photography, but determining where to travel and what to photograph can be a bear.

Also, I wonder what the editor would think if she knew I'm 86 years old! I would probably be 88 or 89 by the time the book was finished and published.

Please excuse the griping. I'm very much aware that I have lived a privileged life with travel and photography. But I do need to get out and about with a camera someday soon. . .

(The photograph was made with a Fuji X-Pro 1 and the Fujinon 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 at the 16mm setting. There's some barrel distortion at that setting, which I didn't bother to correct.)

Louise continues to improve, but she is still having much pain. If you have been praying, don't stop.

Check out the pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Pencil of Light

"Pencil of Light," from my limited Edition book Georgia: A Backroads Portrait

 

Blog Note: Louise is recuperating well from her fall so far and has a great attitude. But we have a long way to go and she is in quite a bit of pain. She doesn't complain much. If you pray, please pray for her.

As I've written many times before, I believe the most important ability in photography, far more important than technical ability, 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 equaled 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 photograph hanging in their living room.

(Adapted and re-posted from April 19, 2021.) 

Check out my pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Louise

 Louise with baby donkey, Deer Run Farm, McLemore Cove, 2004.

 

I'm sorry to have missed posting on Monday. Things have been a little hectic. 

Last Friday evening Louise and I sang in a concert with the combined choirs of Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church and the Knoxville Christian Arts Ministry. As we were leaving the choir loft after the performance, someone was hurrying Louise and caused her to miss her step. She fell against the sharp edge of a concrete step and cut a deep gash in her left cheek, also breaking her cheekbone. 

She was transported by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where surgery was performed on Saturday morning. The broken bones were put together with small screws and the cuts were sutured with very fine stitches. She was horribly bruised and her left eye was swollen shut.

 

The hospital released her on Sunday evening and she is currently recuperating at home with me as her willing slave. Neighbors and friends from church have been very helpful and supportive.

 

Louise is probably the toughest person I know -- you have to be tough to work for years in a hospital emergency room as she did -- and she refuses to let anything keep her down for long. She has had some bad falls over the years, but this one was the worst. It will take her a while to get over it. If you are a praying person your prayers for Louise will be deeply appreciated.

 

(The photograph was made with my first digital camera, a Canon EOS 10D)

 

Check out my pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Providence Methodist Church

                                               Providence Methodist Church, Camden County, Georgia

Making a long jump from Cedar Grove Methodist Church in the extreme northwest corner of Georgia, little Providence Methodist in Camden County is in the extreme southeastern part of the state, near St. Mary's.

The simple structure was built in 1856, when the area was a remote backwoods. It appears to be well-maintained, even though it is used only occasionally. In 1922, the church was nearly flattened by a hurricane. I spoke with a middle-aged couple who were doing some landscape work on the church grounds. According to the lady, her grandfather attached rings to the building and nearby trees and used ropes and pulleys and a team of horses to pull it upright. 

However, to this day the church leans noticeably to the right, a condition notably not shared by some other churches that consider themselves too modern for "the old-time religion."

The photograph and story are adapted from Chapter 12 of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia. The second edition will be on sale in late June.

(Canon EOS 6D camera with EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 lens.)

Check out my pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Cedar Grove Methodist: A Beloved Church

Cedar Grove Methodist Church in McLemore Cove

Between northwest Georgia's Lookout Mountain (famous for Rock City) and Pigeon Mountain, its offshoot to the west, runs a deep, enclosed valley, called a "cove" in Southern Applachian-speak. It was named after Captain John McLemore, the son of a Scottish fur trader and a Cherokee mother. 

After the removal of the Cherokees in the 1830s, most of the land in the Cove was bought up by William Dougherty, an attorney from Athens, Georgia. He sold off the land in parcels, but, in 1851, donated three acres for the establishment of a Methodist church.

Cedar Grove Methodist is the second-oldest congregation in the Cove. (Only Antioch Baptist, established in 1837, is older.) The current sanctuary, dating from 1923, is the fourth building on the site. 

In former years the Cove was a close-knit community that was home to many families. The church prospered and was well-loved by its congregation, as evidenced by the ten stained-glass windows, a stained-glass fanlight above the doors and stained-glass sidelights and door panels. Extremely unusual for a small, country church. 

Three of the stained-glass windows at Cedar Grove Methodist Church

The property continues to be lovingly maintained by a small  congregation which sadly, is aging out. It will be a sad day when the doors close for good on this small sanctuary. A lot of love has been lavished on this little church through the years.

Check out my pictures at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and you might find something you like.

The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia will be released in June, 2023. 

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Found, but Never Lost

Rock City Barn TN-106. A section of the roof is being repaired.

 Among the Rock City barns I plan to include in my proposed book Lost Barns of Rock City are some that I found, but were never actually lost -- they were never on Rock City's list because because Rock City didn't paint them.

Someone, unfortunately I don't remember who, told me about this barn on Tennessee Highway 78 in Robertson County just south of the Kentucky state line. It may have been David Pepper, the owner-painter himself who contacted me, but I can't find any record of it, and any notes I may have made would have been in the (sadly lost) travel notebook #3 I was using at the time.

I met many interesting characters in my travels for the Rock City Barns book and other ventures, But David Pepper ranks among the most interesting. Tirelessly energetic, he had made his farm into a showplace by collecting old vehicles and erecting a cluster of small buildings that emulated a village of years ago. 

At the time I photographed his farm he had repaired a section of his barn roof, which had blown off in a windstorm, but had not yet got around to repainting it.

Some of David Pepper's reindeer.

He also had, believe or not, a small herd of reindeer that he rented out for Christmas parades and other such festivities.

(The photo at the top was made with a Canon EOS 5D Classic fitted with a Canon EF 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 lens. The bottom photo was made with an Olympus PEN E-PL1, my first mirrorless digital camera, and an Olympus Zuiko 14-42mm f3.5-4.5 lens) 

Check out my prints at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and, who knows? You might find something you like.

The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia will be released in June, 2023. 

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Another "Lost" Rock City Barn

Rock City Barn RCB-AL-37

 

From the little Lookout Mountain resort town of Mentone in DeKalb County, Alabama, Highway 117 winds its way down the mountain, through the lovely village of Valley Head, and on to Hammondsville. Located about halfway between the two communities, this barn once bore a "See Rock City" sign but has been hiding under Sequoyah Caverns paint for many years. 

Clark Byers, the original, and for 33 years the only, Rock City barn painter, was also the developer of Sequoyah Caverns, a tourist attraction in the northeast corner of the state. Some other Rock City barns in the area were also repainted with the Sequoyah Caverns sign to draw in travelers from U.S. 11 and other highways in the area.

My notes (and memory) are kinda fuzzy on this one. I record just about everything I photograph in a notebook, but unfortunately, the notebook from that time period has been lost. All I can say for sure is that it was before 2003, when I changed to digital photography (which has the great advantage of recording the date of every photograph). I believe this picture  was made with a Canon EOS A2 camera, because that's what I used from 1995 to 2003. The lens was most likely the Canon EF 28-105 f3.5-4.5, and the film was almost certainly Fujichrome 100, scanned with my Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner.

Check out my prints at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and, who knows? You might find something you like.

The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia will be released in June, 2023. 

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.

Another "Lost" Rock City Barn

                                         Rock City Barn KY-47. U.S. 31-W in Warren County, Kentucky. 

It's been a while since I've featured a Rock City barn on this blog. This is one that hasn't been shown before. I call it a "lost" barn because it had been lost from Rock City's records. I've found more than 50 such barns; some because people told me about them, and some because I went looking for them along the old roads.

Returning from a trip to Indiana to visit family in July 1997, I was traveling a section of old U.S.Highway 31W that I hadn't been on since the Rock City Barn project began. Actually, I had traveled the old north-south routes such as U.S. 31E, 31W, 41, and 41A many times, but that was before the interstates and before I became interested in Rock City barns as anything other than occasionally-sighted curios.

On this particular day I was staying off Interstate 65 as much as possible and following U.S. 31W when I sighted this barn on my left as I was driving southbound near milepost 25, about 10 miles north of Bowling Green. 

I was using a Canon EOS A2 camera with the Canon EF 28-105mm f3.5-4.5 lens. The film was Fujichrome 100, which partly accounts for the lush green of the grass.

This is one of about 50-55 barns which will be in my Lost Barns of Rock City book, if I can ever get my act together and get it published! 

Check out my prints at my online gallery: https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  Looking is free, and, who knows? You might find something you like.

The second edition of my book, Backroads and Byways of Georgia will be released in June, 2023. 

Photography and text copyright 2023 David B.Jenkins.

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

Soli Gloria Deo -- For the glory of God alone.