The People of Ghana

Young Christian couple with baby.

The people I met in Ghana were friendly and welcoming, with the exception of one officious young man I met in a public park in Kumasi. I was walking around making pictures of various things that caught my eye when he approached me and demanded to know what I was doing. "Just making some pictures," I replied. "Who authorized you to do this?" he demanded. "Nobody," I said. "I'm just making some photographs."

After a brief but not very friendly conversation, he left. Presumably to find someone to arrest me. I left too. In the opposite direction. Fortunately, I never saw him again. 

 There were kids everywhere, all clamoring for me to take their picture. 

Two children playing under a tree outside the clinic at Kumasi.

 One day we went to the town of Aflao, in the extreme southeastern corner of Ghana, right against the border with Togo. The church in Aflao is actually built on the beach.

Deaf-mute woman, Aflao. Notice that even though she's poor, her femininity demands a pretty headscarf.
 

In Aflao, I met Dann Devine, who is an evangelist for the Church of God.
 

This young man in rural Ghana spends his days guarding his family's  two goats. In a poor country they are a valuable resource.

A minister in training at the Church's Bible School, Kumasi.

All photographs made with Olympus OM film cameras and various Olympus Zuiko lenses on Fujichrome 100D film and scanned with a Konica-Minolta 5400 scanner.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    Olympus OM film cameras      Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner    Fujichrome 10D0 film    Olympus Zuiko Lenses   Ghana     Africa     Church of God World Missions    Kumasi     Accra   The Gold Coast    Aflao    Christianity in Ghana

Photographing Missions in Africa: Ghana

 

Little Ghanaian girl surprised by the tall westerner pointing his camera at her.

 

In 1989 Church of God World Missions sent me to Africa to document their work in three countries -- Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia. I spent about a week in each country making photographs and gathering information.

My first stop was in Ghana, where, because of an error by the World Missions Department I waited in the airport hotel for two days before the National Overseer (equivalent to a bishop) showed up and took me to his home in Kumasi. The next morning we loaded into his Toyota Land Cruiser and set out to see what the church was doing in his country. 

Nurse Victoria Bade-Boakye examines a baby in the Church of God Clinic at Essianimpong as the mother looks on.

The Republic of Ghana is a smallish country in west Africa. Its area of 92,497 square miles  stretches from the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean to tropical rainforests in the north. With more than 35 million inhabitants, it is the 13th most populous country in Africa. The largest city is Accra, which is also the capitol. 

Women carrying their burdens the traditional way. It's great for the posture!

 

 

Ghana is a country of diverse ethnic and religious groups. Those claiming Christianity constitute 71 percent of the population, while Islam claims 20 percent.

Mosque at Kumasi. In Africa, the dark shadow of Islam is always a threat.

 

Ghana was a British Colony known as The Gold Coast for many years. In 1957, under the leadership of Kwame Nkruma, Ghana became the first colony in sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence. It became a leader in the de-colonization movement.

The features of this Ghanaian boy bear a striking resemblance to those of Kwame Nkruma, the first president of Ghana.

 

 

All photos were made with Olympus OM film cameras on Fujichrome 100D film and scanned with a Konica-Minolta 5400 scanner.

 

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    Olympus OM film cameras      Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner    Fujichrome 10D0 film    Ghana     Africa     Church of God World Missions    Kumasi     Accra   The Gold Coast

Everybody Wants to Live a Long Time, but Nobody Wants to Be Old

here

 Man with pipe. Kumasi, Ghana.

Less than one month before my 89th birthday, old age is announcing its imminent arrival. My fall at Potter's Falls in 2024 (you can read about it here) caused nerve damage affecting my hips legs, and feet. It has greatly limited my walking, in particular, which affects my photography. I can walk as needed, but not far, and it isn't much fun. I hate that! When we were younger Louise and I often took our children on long walks. I miss those days.

The nerve damage also affects my balance. I've had a few falls,but nothing serious so far. 

Honestly, though, I can't blame the fall for all my aging troubles. In February, 2023, we moved from our 5th wheel travel trailer pulled by a honkin' big Ram 3500 dually into a townhome in Knoxville. My life is much more sedentary, and that's my fault.

Louise rocks on, with occasional very painful back spasms interspersed with occasional good days. Today is one of them, so she went shopping.

Other than that, I've been scanning slides from my Africa file for upcoming posts about Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia. My old Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner (now there's a mouthful!) makes beautiful scans, but it is slow, slow, slow --15-20 minutes per scan.

How do you like my Ghanain man with his pipe? More good stuff coming on Wednesday, I hope. His picture was made with an Olympus OM film camera and Fujichrome 100 film.

 

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    Olympus OM filmcameras      Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner    Ghana Fujichrome 100 film    Ghana

The Handyman Rides Again

 

 The reworked (again!) bathroom sink and counter. Photographed with my trusty Fuji X-T3 and the 16-80mm lens.

Sorry my posts have been sporadic of late. We have been very busy. First, there's income tax day, which will be here by the time you read this (and I'm not finished with ours!). Then, there's the matter of dealing with our insurance company to replace our hail-damaged roof. And last but not at all least is the sink and countertop installation I wrote about here.

Everything was fine, we thought. But then we noticed that the sink basin had cracked. How, we don't know. But it had to be replaced, and in the process of taking it out we managed to do some damage to the wooden countertop. We wound up having to sand it back to the bare wood, then refinishing it and installing a new basin of a different design.

To accomplish all this, I had to get on my back on the floor three times -- something I had vowed never to do again. I almost didn't make it up the last time. But it's done, never to be done again (I pray!). Good grief! I'll be 89 next month! Can I quit now?

I've been working on a series of posts about photographing in Africa for a mission organization and hope to get those up soon. But to do that, I need to scan some slides from my files, and unfortunately, my Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner which has served me faithfully for than 20 years is being uncooperative. (It seems to be working now, but grudgingly.)

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    handyman work    home improvement Konica-Minolta DiMage 5400 scanner    Fuji X-T3 camera     Fujinon 16-80mm lens

Magic Light

Rock City Barn Ga-26.

I found this Rock City barn on U.S. Highway 19, just south of Butler, in Taylor County, Georgia. It was not on the list Rock City had given me -- in fact, I learned about it from the mechanic who worked on my car.

The light was bland, but I made a few photos anyway, in case I were unable to return to the site, and went on south on Highway 19 to look for other barns.

That evening, I wound up in Macon and spent the night. I had been thinking about the "Butler barn" all day and felt that if I could get there early enough there might be a good picture.

So I did. I drove the 40 miles to Butler and arrived just as the sun began to rise, illuminating the barn and fields with its magic light.

On a side note: a few years later the barn was scheduled to be destroyed to allow the four-laning of Highway 19. The Taylor County Agricultural Agent bought the barn and had it moved across the fields to his own property, where it remains to this day, as far as I know.

Sourwood Lane and the old entrance to Deer Run Farm.

The late afternoon sun casts a lazy, hazy backlight, gently illuminating the field and the old gravel farm road and gate, disclosing their forms and textures, evoking nostalgia for  summer days past.

Backlight is one of the most magical forms of light. James Ravilious used it very frequently in his photographs of Devon country life.

Behind me as I made this photo was the site of our first home in McLemore Cove, a 12 by 40-foot refurbished mobile home where we lived our first four years. 

Tech stuff: Both photographs were made on film -- the barn with Fujichrome 100D in a Canon EOS A2, and Sourwood Lane with Kodachrome 64 in an Olympus OM camera.

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    Olympus OM camera   Canon EOS A2 camera  Fujichrome 100D film   Kodachrome 64 film   Rock City barns    McLemore Cove    James Ravilious

The Loveliness of Light

 Sunrise casts golden beams and long shadows toward the old (1894) Cove Methodist Church, on GA Hwy 341 south of Chickamauga.

As I'm sure most of my readers know, the word "photograph" is derived from two Greek words: photos, which means light, and grapho, which means to write. So when we photograph, we are literally writing with light.

It is light which makes our photographic subjects visible and gives them form and color. Without light there is no photography. Learning to see and use light is a lifetime journey for the serious photographer.

Light is different at different times of day. Morning light is warm, and softer than at other times of day. It's my favorite kind of light (if I didn't have to get up so early to enjoy it!). Through the middle of the day, if it's sunny, the light is clear and can be harsh and contrasty, while evening light is warm and softer, though not as soft as morning light. 

Sometimes I've had assignments which required me to shoot through the day, so I did the best I could with the light available. But my preferred way of working is to shoot in the good light of morning and evening and take a break or, sometimes, shoot interiors through the middle of the day.

Morning in Susie's Sunset Cafe, LaFayette, Georgia.

I always felt that Susie’s Sunset Café should have been named Susie’s Sunrise Café, because the early morning sun streamed in through the plate-glass front windows and illuminated everything all the way to the back wall.

Susie’s had booths down each side but it also had a couple of long tables down the center where lawyers, businessmen, farmers, factory workers, and gas station attendants ate their breakfasts together and chewed the fat (no reflection on the bacon or sausage) in amiable equality. 

I love the way the light illuminates the things that need to be revealed, giving them shape and form, and hides everything else in shadow.

Technical notes: The photograph of Cove Methodist Church was made with a Canon EOS 20D, while Susie's Cafe was photographed with an Olympus SPn rangefinder camera with a non-interchangeable 40mm lens on Fuji color negative film.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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   film photography    Olympus SPn rangefinder camera   Canon EOS 20D camera  Fuji color negative film    rangefinder cameras

The Backroads Traveler: The Old Sautee Store

 

 The Old Sautee Store is just a few minutes from Helen in northeast Georgia.

The Old Sautee Store is the oldest operating general store in Georgia. Located in the Sautee-Nacoochee Valley, just minutes from Helen, it was a full-service country store selling food, clothing, seed, and farm equipment, and was also the post office from 1913 until 1962. The store interior has been preserved as a museum, with an original fireplace and merchandise displays to show the way things were a hundred and more years ago

The rest of store is quite up to date, with a modern grocery section specializing in a variety of cheeses, and even an ice cream shop.

In front of the store is an old-time gas pump. In order to dispense gas, the motorist had first to work a lever on the side of the pump, which brought gas from an underground tank to the glass reservoir at the top of the pump. 

The reservoir was marked in gallons, so when the desired amount of gas had been pumped into it, the buyer put the hose nozzle into his tank inlet and released the gas in the reservoir, filling his tank by gravity.

The counter and shelves of the Old Sautee store still look as they did a hundred years ago.

 

The photographs were made with a Canon EOS 5D Classic and a Canon EOS 20D.

 

 If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    Canon EOS 5D Classic    Canon EOS 20D   Sautee-Nacoochee, Georgia    Northeast Georgia foothills    Georgia history    general stores

The Chicken Farmer of Cook County

 

Chicken Farmer Danny Gandy with pet rooster.

U.S. Highway 41, Cook County, Georgia

"This is not a fighting cock."

 

(Too busy to write, so I'm reposting a blog from December, 2020)

Traveling north through Cook County on U.S. Highway 41 after leaving his sick Honda with a mechanic friend near Hahira, Michael Largent and I noticed a small house beside the road with a yard full of the distinctive shelters often used by those who raise fighting cocks. Each shelter had a large and colorful rooster attached to it by a tether.

Danny Gandy's 

chicken farm. Although some of the

roosters appear to be free, they are actually tethered.

I thought it was a sight worth photographing, so we pulled off the road. In a few moments we were met by the affable Danny Gandy, owner of the establishment, who explained to us that these were not fighting chickens. It is not illegal to raise gamecocks in Georgia, but fighting them is. Nonetheless, the "sport" continues, with the law often looking the other way. 

Danny was very cooperative, allowing me to make as many photographs as I wished and proudly posing with his roosters, all the while assuring me that "these are not fighting chickens."

Despite all his assurances I somehow doubted if any of those roosters would ever see the inside of a WalMart freezer. But I wrote down Danny's address and sent him a print of the picture at the top of this post.

  

All photos Canon EOS 5D Classic, 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 EF lens.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text and photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2026.  

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    Canon EOS 5D Classic    Canon 24-85mm EF lens    fighting cocks    Cook County, Georgia    U.S. Highway 41

James Ravilious: The Books Part II

A Corner of England was published by Devon Books in 1995. This book is very well-produced and, as far as I know, is the only book by Ravilious containing his color photography, for which he used Kodachrome 25 film.

I purchased my copy in 2015 and was delighted to find it had been signed by Ravilious himself. Amazon currently has used copies for $41.35.

The Heart of the Country is the oldest Ravilious book I have, and may be the first one published. With text by Robin and photographs by James, it was published by Scholar Press in 1980 with a foreword by Ronald Blythe. Amazon apparently still has copies in their used book section, with hardcover volumes at $114.95 and paperback editions for $82.20.My own copy is a well-worn paperback. It is large format, but not as large as Down the Deep Lanes or The Recent Past.  It shows that many of James' best-known photographs were made relatively early in his career.

Down the Deep  Lanes was authored by Peter Beacham with photographs by James Ravilious and published by Devon Books in 2000. It is a large book with many double-page spreads and very well printed. An excellent showcase for James' photography.

Amazon did not list this book, but I found a hardcover in used/very good condition at abebooks.com for $90. abebooks.com is an extremely good source for rare and used books. They have many books Amazon does not list.

 

  If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text copyright 2026 Bruce Robbins. Photos by James Ravilious copyright The Beaford Trust, 2026.

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   Leica photography     James Ravilious     England    Devon    English country life   documentary photography   southeast England rural culture    The Leica "glow"    Kodachrome 25

James Ravilious: The Books

When I became interested in James Ravilious and his photography I immediately began to look for books of his work. As best I remember, my first purchase was An English Eye, which I bought in 2014. I consider this the basic book about Ravilious and his work. Some good photos and lots of information about his life, his work, and his tools and techniques. Paperback copies (which is what I have) are available new for about $75.

 

The cover of The Recent Past, by James Ravilious.

This is the latest book of Ravilious photographs, as far as I know, and has the best reproduction of all his books. Whoever made the prints and did the scanning did an incredible job. Some of the reproduction from 35mm negatives look like they had been shot with a 4x5.

I bought my copy new from Amazon in 2020 for $36. Now, only used copies are available, and they start at $360!

Robin Ravilious wrote an excellent biography of her husband. From every indication their marriage was a true partnership. Robin understood her husband and was fully involved in supporting his work.

New copies of her book are still available at Amazon and other places, I'm sure. Amazon has new paperback copies for $22.71 and hard cover books for $84.76. Highly recommended.

Robin Ravilious reading. Photograph by James.

 Altogether I own six Ravilious books. We'll talk about the other three next time.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text copyright 2026 Bruce Robbins. Photos by James Ravilious copyright The Beaford Trust, 2026.

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   Leica photography     James Ravilious     England    Devon    English country life   documentary photography   southeast England rural culture    The Leica "glow"   

James Ravilious: Part Three

Irwin Piper leading his sheep. Upcott, Dolton, Devon.

 Guest post by fellow photoblogger Bruce Robbins. https://onlinedarkroom.blogspot.com 

James's widow, Robin, wrote his biography, James Ravilious, A Life - another great read that I'd heartily recommend - and she revealed some more information about his shooting technique and equipment which included an uncoated 73mm Hektor lens. His photographs, she wrote, took on a more subtle, three-dimensional form after he adapted the Zone System to his own needs.

The best reproductions I've seen of his work are in An English Eye by Peter Hamilton. Peter said the photographer's problem was the need to compress a large range of tones caused by his shooting into the light. He wrote, "By giving the negative twice the normal exposure and then reducing its development in a dilute, soft-working compensating developer, he obtained a negative which retained detail in both shadow and highlight areas." This approach meant that skies typically needed a 10-30% burn in time as opposed to the 100-150% extra he was accustomed to before adapting his technique.

Bill Cooke in Colehouse Yard, Riddlecomb, Devon.

He seemed mainly to use 35mm and 50mm Elmars and a 28mm Hektor with his M3. I've not really found confirmation of his choice of film and developer but it doesn't look like Tri X to me so I'd go with HP5. In all probability he used them both. As for the developer, he wanted something soft-working and compensating. Perceptol would be one candidate. However, I've also heard that James did, indeed, use Tri X rated at about 200 ISO and developed in D76 (that's what his photographer friend Chris Chapman said) so who knows. I can't verify anything about his film and developer choices.

Clearly, then, not everything is known about James's working practices but there should be enough information in this post if anyone wants to have a go at duplicating his atmospheric look. Older, uncoated Leica lenses, a lens hood taped up to stop unwanted light striking the front element, contre jour lighting, a light yellow filter, HP5 or Tri X rated at 200 ISO and a soft-working, compensating developer.

Young Bulls eating thistle heads.

Those are the technicalities. The title of this post, How to get the James Ravilious Look, is obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek. Knowing the process is just part of the equation. What you'll have to bring to the party is James's unique eye for a picture and, unfortunately, there's no short cut for that.

If you like my pictures, visit my online gallery at https://davejenkins.pixels.com/  

Click on the link at left for information about ordering original signed prints from the Rock City Barns book.

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.

Text copyright 2026 Bruce Robbins. Photos by James Ravilious copyright The Beaford Trust, 2026.

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   Leica photography     James Ravilious     England    Devon    English country life   documentary photography   southeast England rural culture    The Leica "glow"    Kodachrome 25 film