How Books Have Influenced My Photography

 

Inspiration! Richard W. Brown's New England.

 As I wrote in my previous post, my daughter-in-law, Kim, like most people, has little or no interest in photography. She is only interested in pictures. Others of us, however, are addicted with, not just a love for photographs, but also a deep interest in all that goes into making them. We find cameras fascinating. We want to know about the craft and technology, or at least, as much as we need to know to make the kind of pictures we want to make; and about the art of photography itself: what makes one picture great, another a throwaway.

For me, the major source of this photo-knowledge I seek to acquire has always been books and magazines. Nowadays, many prefer to look at videos, but books have always worked best for me. 

The manual that came with your camera will teach you how to set it up and make a sharp, well-exposed photo, but that's as far as it can take you. After you have learned how to operate your camera and are thinking about what to do with it, I recommend as your next step a small but very helpful book titled On Being a Photographer, by Bill Jay and David Hurn. It's available at amazon.com in paperback here, or in a Kindle e-book version for $9.95 here.

 This little book was a major influence in the early days of my career.

I look at photography books for information, but much more for inspiration. My first great inspiration in photography was a small book titled A New Guide to Rollei Photography by master photographer Fritz Henle. It was my good fortune to find this book at the Miami Public Library in the early days of my involvement with photography. His pictures and commentary still inspire me.

The list of photographers whose work continues to delight and inspire is long, but I'll mention a few: Elliott Erwitt, B.A. "Tony" King, James Ravilious, Richard W. Brown, Robert Doisneau, Sam Abell, Jay Maisel, Peter Miller, and Don Rutledge. Many of these books are out of print,but you can find them on used book sites such as abeBooks.com and Amazon.com.

At one time, my collection of photography books exceeded 600 volumes. I've sold off about 400 of them over the last twelve years, but still have about 200. I'm almost 88, and would like to find good homes for them. If you're interested, send an email to djphoto@vol.com and I'll email you the list.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     photography books     great photographers     photographic inspiration

Photographer or Picture-Taker?

  My grandson Devlin and his girlfriend Annaliese. Photo by Kim, my daughter-in-law.

Not everyone who takes and loves  pictures is a photographer. 

My daughter-in-law, Kim, for instance,  takes pictures by the thousands, and loves them. She snaps away happily with her cell phone and has no interest in the technical aspects of photography, which her phone handles for her. No fuss, no muss, no bother. She just enjoys the finished product. Like the photo of her son (my grandson) Devlin with his girlfriend, above, which is just a cell phone snap but not bad at all.

And sometimes her pictures are very good indeed. Like the photo of her daughter (my granddaughter) Marlee, below, which looks almost professional.

Marlee, ready for the prom.

But the thing is, Kim is just interested in pictures. She has no interest in photography. Her cell phone is fulfilling the promise of George Eastman's slogan for his first Kodak -- "You press the button, we do the rest."

And millions of people love it that way.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography copyright 2025 Kimberly Jenkins. Text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     cell phones      cell phone photography     George Eastman     Kodak

Lulu Gets a Tricycle

 Louise and Georgia with their new toy.

For her 80th birthday I gave Louise an adult tricycle.

The trike arrived on March 10th in a large box stamped with the three most terrifying words in the English language: SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED.

Some Assembly Required indeed! It took me a week, and even then I couldn't get the derailleur (gear changer) adjusted -- I had to take it to a bike shop and pay them to do it. Fortunately, the trike folds and I could carry it in the back of my old Chrysler van.

There were some other minor adjustments I could do myself, but before I could get it all together, on March 18th, Louise fell while walking Georgia and had a concussion. So it turned out to be several weeks before she could ride her trike. But now both she and the trike are up and running and she greatly enjoys peddling around our quiet neighborhood with Georgia riding docilely in the basket.

(Photo: Fuji X-T3, Fujinon XF 16-80mm f4 lens.)

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     adult tricycles      Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens     Fuji X-T3 camera     senior activities

Thinking about Technique

 

Pool and Southeast Elevation of Our Former Home

(Made for the Realtor)

Fuji X-T1 camera, Fuji XC 16-50 f3.5-5.6 lens

Technique, as it applies to photography, consists of decisions about such matters as camera and lens selection, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, angle of view, point of focus, distance to subject, etc. As the great Fritz Henle, master of the Rolleiflex, said, "...seeing pictures is always tied up with technique...it is important to decide things like sharpness or unsharpness and not let them happen accidentally. It is equally important to command the techniques that get the effects you want."

In these days of auto-focus, auto-exposure, do-everything cameras, learning good technique may not seem all that important. After all, anyone can pick up a modern camera and make sharp, well-exposed pictures. And for many, that's all they want. But if you want to make photographs that are truly your own, you need to learn to control every part of the picture-making process.

One of the things I especially dislike is the minimum depth-of-field trend -- shooting all photos at the lens's maximum aperture. This is certainly a valid technique -- for some photos. It's good to know how to throw a background -- or a foreground -- out of focus, when it's appropriate for the subject matter. But not every photo. For most of my photos I want more, rather than less, depth-of-field. As Henle said, "it is important to decide things. . .and not let them happen accidentally.

In the photo above, showing the pool and rear of our former home, I used a wide-angle zoom lens (24mm equivalent), which has great inherent depth-of-field. I then used an aperture of f11, to increase the depth-of-field even more to ensure that both the pool in the foreground and the far corner of the house were both in the plane of acceptable sharpness.

If you're happy with letting your camera make technical decisions for you, enjoy. If you want to become a better photographer, learn to make these decisions yourself, or at least check the settings your camera recommends and see if they are what you want. For instance, I usually keep my X-T1 set on Aperture Preferred, and let the camera select the shutter speed. But before I shoot, I check the settings and make changes if they aren't giving me the effects I want.

(An adapted post from 2021.) 

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     architectural photography      Fujinon XC 16-50mm lens     Fuji X-T1 camera     Photographic technique

Tennessee Backroads: Briceville Community Church

 Briceville Community Church, 1888. Tennessee Highway 116, Briceville.

A few days ago, following up on a suggestion by my son Don, who lives in Knoxville, I drove the remote, incredibly winding Tennessee Highway 116 through the rugged mountains of northeast Tennessee.

Getting off Interstate 75 at Rocky Top, I followed 116 to my first stop: a village called Briceville, once a center of coal mining in the surrounding mountains. 

The first thing I saw as I approached the town was a white church with two steeples situated on a commanding elevation above the village. 

From a nearby historical plaque, I learned that the church had been built by Welsh coal miners in 1888. The church and its cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Miners fought the Tennessee National Guard over the use of convict labor in the mines in the Coal Creek War in the early 1890s and the church was a temporary jail for captured miners in 1892.

Twenty-two of the 300 miners killed in the 1902 Fraterville mine explosion and the 1911 Cross Mountain Mine explosion are buried in the Briceville Church's cemetery.

There was a cable across the steep drive up to the church, so I walked. Just as I got to the top and began to photograph, a large group of mostly young people arrived. I inquired, and they informed me that the church was often used as a wedding venue, and that they were there to prepare for a wedding the next day. 

The church and the wedding party.

I made the photos with my Fuji X-T3 and the Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens (24-120mm equivalent). It's a fine lens, and the widest I carry, but in this case I could have used something wider for the photo at the top, because I couldn't back up any further without falling off the hill!

More adventures on Tennessee 116 to come.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     digital photography      travel photography    Fujinon XF 16-80mm lens         Bricevill, Tennessee     Tennessee travel     Coal mining in Tennessee   Fuji X-T3 camera    Coal Creek War     Briceville Commuity Church     Tennessee Highway 116

It Really Is Empty!

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem

This is it! The tomb! And the most important thing about it is that it's empty. I walked inside, just to make sure. Yep, empty. Jesus was here once, but no more. The tomb couldn't hold him. 

He was killed by one of the most painful methods of execution ever invented -- crucifixion. The death scene was about 150 yards away, on a small hill called Golgotha, "the place of a skull." You can still see it today, and the cliff face still looks like a skull. 

After his death his body was brought here to a new tomb in a garden by two friends and a great stone was rolled across the opening. The stone is gone now, but you can still see the trough where it ran.

Inside the tomb. This is where Jesus' body was laid.

All the accounts agree that Jesus went to his death voluntarily. Which begs the question: why would he do that? Again, all the accounts agree that Jesus knowingly took upon his own self every sin I've ever committed, everything that separated me from God. And he did the same for you. And for everyone who has ever lived, or ever will live. One payment for all sin, for all humanity, for all time.

And then, on that Sunday morning, he arose, threw back the stone, and walked out. His sacrifice was accepted before God. And when you and I accept that sacrifice for ourselves we are given the gift of eternal life with God. Our sins can never again be charged against us.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe on his name: (John 1:12)

The Lord is risen.

(Photos made with a Canon 5D Classic on a trip to Israel in 2010.)

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2010-2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     travel photography    Israel      Jesus Christ     resurrection     Easter   Canon EOS 5D camera    the garden tomb

Another Rock City Barn in Rock Spring, Georgia

An old horse and an old barn. Just dreaming away the years,

There are three Rock City barns still standing on U.S. Highway 27 between LaFayette and Chattanooga.

One is at Noble, about three miles south of Rock Spring. A second is on the south edge of Rock Spring. I wrote about it here. 

The barn pictured at the top of this post is in Rock Spring proper, but impossible to see unless you know where to look.

It used to be fully visible to northbound travelers on U.S. 27, but the owners of the property have allowed trees to grow up, completely hiding the barn from the highway.

To see the barn, if you're coming from the south, turn left at the last traffic light. (If you're coming from the north, turn right at the first traffic light.) In any case, go a block to Old U.S. 27, turn left, and look left. The barn is behind the house on the corner.

At the time I made this photograph, Rock City was still painting this barn, but it wasn't doing them much good because no one could see it. 

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 1994-2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     Rock City barns   travel photography      Rock Spring, Georgia     U.S. Highway 27

The Backroads Traveler: Sardis Primitive Baptist Church

Sardis Primitive Baptist Church, Charlton County, Georgia.

From Folkston, take Georgia Highway 121—The Okefenokee Trail -- for about two miles to Sardis Road. Turn right and go another two miles to Sardis Primitive Baptist Church. It's on a dirt road on the right behind Sardis Cemetery.

Sardis is an excellent example of the meeting houses built by the Crawfordite faction of the Primitive Baptist Church, a group unique to the "Wiregrass" area of south Georgia. Named after Elder Reuben Crawford, they follow an especially rigid and austere form of Calvinism. They do not believe in Sunday Schools or sending out missionaries, nor will they wear neckties or allow radios or television in their homes. 

Their meeting houses reflect their philosophy, made as they are of rough, unpainted pine with neither heat nor electric lights—nothing that, in their view, would distract them from worship. However, one aspect of modernization has reached them: instead of outhouses, all their churches now have separate, outdoor restrooms with running water, as required by public health regulations.

The pulpit at Sardis Church. Notice the simple plank pews on the right.

Organized in 1821, the Sardis congregation is the oldest of any denomination in Charlton County. The present church was probably built around 1840, although the pulpit is thought to be from an earlier structure. The cemetery is large and has many interesting pieces of statuary. 

The front door at Sardis. All Crawfordite Churches also have a side door. 

I originally visited the Sardis Church in 2016. When I visited again in 2021, it did not appear to be in current use, as there were evidences of deterioration. Some boards needed replacement, and the grass had not been mowed recently.

Never very numerous, the Crawfordite Primitive Baptists, with a worship and life style not conducive to attracting converts, are a gradually dying denomination.

This post was adapted from my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia.  

About the photos: The church exterior and door were photographed with an Olympus E-M5 digital camera and the Panasonic Lumix Vario G 14-140mm lens. For the pulpit, I used a Canon EOS 6D and the Canon 28-105mm EF lens.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2016-2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     digital photography      travel photography    Panasonic Lumix Vario G 14-140mm lens         Charlton County, Georgia     Crawfordite Primitive Baptists     Olympus E-M5 digital camera   Canon EOS 6D camera    Canon 28-105mm EF lens     Primitive Baptist Church     South Georgia Wiregrass region

Reflections on an Old Gate

Old gates on George Queener's GDQ Ranch, McLemore Cove, northwest Georgia.

These old gates stood for years by an old farm road on George Queener's GDQ Ranch, just down the hill from our home.

They were retired from "gateing" by that time; apparently George no longer needed them and left them to age gracefully away. Yet, they still seemed to be sound and usable. Kinda like what I had in mind for my own old age.

Unfortunately, old age doesn't move in with slow decay like old wood. It begins with small nuisances -- a back that doesn't want to stay erect, legs that no longer find walking enjoyable, strong muscles that don't seem so strong as they once were -- and moves on to leaking heart valves, bowels that don't want to cooperate, and steroid injections that give relief but don't last very long. 

I've been blessed to live an active and vigorous life and, perhaps foolishly, thought I could keep right on until I fell over at maybe age 95 or so while out making photos for another book. But a few months after my 87th birthday I had a bad fall, from which I haven't fully recovered (read about it here). Old age, which had seemed to be in the distant future, is now threatening to become my daily reality. I don't like it much.

But whatever comes, my goal in life is to emulate my father's faith, courage, and perseverance. 

(The gates are probably gone now. I photographed them about 35 years ago with a Pentax 6x7 camera loaded with Fujichrome Professional 100 film in 120 size. The lens was the Pentax Takumar 105mm f2.4.)

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $4.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 1990-2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     film photography     McLemore Cove     Pentax 6x7 camera    Pentax Takumar 105mm f2.4 lens    Fujichrome Professional film     120 film     transparency film     northwest Georgia

Taking a Little Time off. . .

Daffodils along West Cove Road, McLemore Cove, Walker County, Georgia. 

The above picture of daffodils has nothing to do with the content of this post. It's just something nice for you to look at. 

I'm in kind of a doldrum. Having a hard time finding things I want to write about. Also, I'm having some minor physical problems that I'm working on resolving.

On top of that, Louise had a bad fall and a concussion two weeks ago, so I've been sticking close to home. I can't get out and ramble with my camera, which is kinda my creative life blood these days. We hope all these things will be resolved soon and I can resume my regular schedule. Thanks for your support and patience.

The photo was made with an Olympus E-M5 camera and the Panasonic 14-150mm lens. It has been printed up to 40 inches wide.

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography

More "Lost" Rock City Barns and the Meaning of Photography

 Rock City Barn RCB-GA-38: U.S. 27 at Rock Spring, Walker County, GA.

For years I passed by this little barn on U.S. Highway 27, just south of Rock Spring. It had lived a long and varied life and was now fading into oblivion. Most recently, it had borne a sign for Sterchi Furniture; now, even that was mostly gone.

It had long ago vanished from Rock City's records, but once upon a time, before the days of interstates, when U.S. 27 was a major north/south thoroughfare from the midwest to Florida, it was one of several barns between LaFayette and Chattanooga that proudly carried the bold SEE ROCK CITY message.

Rock City Barn RCB-GA-26: U.S. 19, Taylor County, GA. 2.8 miles south of Butler.

Photography is about light. In fact, the word "photograph" comes from two Greek words: photos, which means "light," and grapho, which means "to write." So "to photograph" really means to write with light.

The best light for photography usually comes in early morning and late afternoon when the sun is low, casting long shadows which reveal texture and bathe the land in a rich, golden glow. In summer this often meant 18-hour days, as I tried to capture the good light at both ends of the day. I might drive several hundred miles checking out barn sites and then double back to photograph an especially good one in evening light; or put up at a nearby motel if I thought morning light would be better.

 Of course, there wasn't always a motel nearby. I drove 40 miles through the pre-dawn darkness of central Georgia to catch a June sunrise at this little barn which had been lost from Rock City's records. I learned about it from the neighbor who worked on my car.

Both these photos were made with Canon EOS A2 film cameras and Fujichrome 100 film, and probably with the Canon EF 28-105mm lens

Visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Signed copies of my book Backroads and Byways of Georgia are available. The price is $22.95 plus $3.95 shipping. My PayPal address is djphoto@vol.com (which is also my email). Or you can mail a check to 8943 Wesley Place, Knoxville, TN 37922. Include your address and tell me how you would like your book inscribed.

Photography and text copyright 1994-2025 David B.Jenkins.

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

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

Tags:   photography     film photography     Canon EOS A2 film camera     Canon 28-105mm EF lens     Rock City barns   travel photography      Georgia     U.S. Highway 27     Fujichrome 100 film