22-NOV-2014
Fenced in, South Battery Street, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014
These stately antebellum homes line the northern edge of Charleston’s famous White Point Garden, an area generally called the “battery.” The Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston’s harbor launched the American Civil War and rattled the windowpanes of these elegant mansions. I abstract the buildings by featuring only their ornate layers of railings, arches and fences, using a medium 100mm telephoto lens to compress them into rhythmic patterns that symbolize this era.
22-NOV-2014
Fountain, Heyward-Washington House, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014
I combine the work of both man and nature to express the setting of perhaps the most famous historic home in Charleston. The city rented this house for George Washington’s use during the first President’s weeklong Charleston stay in May, 1791. The formal garden of this home features the kind of plants that were here during Washington’s visit. I photographed this fountain at sunset. Golden light warms a cherubic stone figure as it rises from a bed of flowering plants, bearing a basin upon its head. The cherub is incongruously frowning. I contrast the worn stone figure to display the fresh foliage and flowers before it.
22-NOV-2014
Mercury rises, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014
A larger than life bronze representation of Mercury, the Roman patron god of financial gain, commerce, and eloquence, races towards my lens. The setting is quite appropriate – the classical columns of a Charleston mansion echo the vertical thrust of Mercury’s winged staff, known as a caduceus – a symbol of commerce. A wealthy rice plantation owner probably may have built this mansion and placed the god of commerce before it more than 200 years ago. I complete the image by including a row of spiked fence posts across the bottom of the frame. The columns, along with the arm and staff of Mercury, repeat the vertical pattern created by the fence posts and the trees that fill the background.
22-NOV-2014
Landmarks in time, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014ie
I had already photographed this church and its historic graveyard during my 2013 visit to Charleston. (
http://www.pbase.com/pnd1/image/152095149) I decided to go back to it once more during this very brief 2014 visit. This time, the graveyard incongruously proved busier than usual. A wedding event seemed in the offing – clusters of tuxes echoing joyful banter, oblivious to the ranks of tombstones behind them. My vantage point for this image best tells the story. I fill three quarters of my frame with the graveyard and leave only a quarter of the frame for the living. A wedding may well represent a significant stage in the life cycle. However, this image infers that weddings are but a small landmark in time, when compared to eternity itself.
22-NOV-2014
Garden by the sea, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014
Charleston has always been among one of the nation’s great seaports. This walled garden in Charleston’s historic district, only a short walk from the harbor, reflects that tradition. A sculpture of a mythical sea creature incongruously swims upon an aged brick wall. I stressed its verticality by framing it within a vertical garland of greenery on all four sides.
22-NOV-2014
Into the shadows, Charleston, South Carolina, 2014
This dog-walker moves away from us, as she heads down a cobblestone sidewalk, through the shadows of a historic Charleston neighborhood. This twilight image alternately withholds and reveals a patchwork tale of old stones and wrought iron, reminding us of past generations who once trudged through these same shadows.
23-NOV-2014
The “American Glory,” off South Carolina coast, 2014
“The American Glory,” is a small, flat-bottomed riverboat – our home for a week of cruising along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It appropriately flies a large American flag from its stern, and on this day, that flag responds to a strong wind, heavy rain, and the motion of the ship itself. The stripes on the left hand side of the flag are curving diagonally, while the stripes on its right remain horizontal. This directional contrast energizes the image. I lowered my camera to also include four horizontal bars of the ship’s railing as a foreground layer. The bars reminded me of music paper, preprinted with staffs ready for musical notation. The musical reference joins the fluttering flag stripes to render a “Star Spangled Banner.”
23-NOV-2014
Maritime mechanics, “American Glory,” off South Carolina coast, 2014
I made this image a few minutes after shooting the previously displayed photograph of the “American Glory” flag. The flat light and the leaden skies encouraged me to step back, point my camera upwards, and photograph the very top of our ship’s red, white, and blue smokestack, featuring six black exhaust pipes and a small post. A string of decorative lights is attached to that post. The opposite end of that string of lights is attached to an overhead canvas canopy that offers shelter from a heavy rain. The lights literally link the smoke stack with the canopy and tie the image’s main elements together. The resulting photograph is an abstracted interpretation of maritime mechanics, as well a display of powerful primary color. The red band around the top of the smokestack dominates the scene, and brings energy to an otherwise austere composition.
23-NOV-2014
Along the Inland Passage, en route to Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
I built this image around five layers of vertical posts and horizontal piers lining the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. I include very little sky in this image, anchoring the posts and piers upon the heavily textured water. The flat light helps me abstract the image, and make the piers and posts appear in silhouette. Spots of rich color in the small green and red numerical signs in the foreground and far background create colorful front and back “book ends” for this composition. Another key to this image rests in a very small foreground detail – a cormorant sits on top of the green sign. Our ship was in motion, and the cormorant, while stationary, is moving as the ship moves. I waited until the bird fell within the posts of pier just behind it, and then released the shutter.
23-NOV-2014
Heron, en route to Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
A heron, gently stalking through the shallows not far from our flat-bottomed boat, is the focal point of this image. I layer the photograph from foreground to background, first using layers of rippling water and banks of dirt to lead directly to the graceful body language of the heron itself. The layering resumes behind the heron, leading to the marshland and pier in the background. I composed this image to guide the eye through the scene via a series of contrasting colors and textures.
24-NOV-2014
Echoes of the “Old South,” Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
This image attempts to capture the atmosphere and mood of not only Beaufort but also of the Old Confederacy itself, as it existed before the American Civil War. I layer a Victorian fountain from that period against the softly focused cascades of moss hanging from the branches of a nearby Oak tree. The image reminds me of a stained glass window, commemorating a vanished society.
24-NOV-2014
Centerpiece of “The Castle,” Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
Some of Beaufort’s oak and crepe myrtle trees are hundreds of years old. This tree anchors the garden of an 1850 mansion. The tree was growing there long before the mansion, known as the “castle,” was built. Today it remains the centerpiece of one of Beaufort’s largest private gardens. In my image, the tree breaks through the top of the frame, making it seem as if its height is unlimited. I intensify this scale incongruity by juxtaposing the huge tree against the relatively small urn of flowers at the base of the image.
24-NOV-2014
Southern Gothic, Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
Spanish moss is often associated with the literature and lore of the old south. It is a plant that feeds on trees, particularly the Southern Live Oak and the Crepe myrtle. It is often associated with the Gothic fiction unique to American literature that takes place in the Old South. In this image, filtered light makes the moss seem translucent, blending green and grey textures within this mass of hanging vines. The effect echoes the darkly romantic traditions and legends of the Antebellum South.
24-NOV-2014
The Lost Cause, St. Helena’s Episcopal Church, Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
The vivid primary colors I found resting upon a weathered military grave express the fact that the spirit of the Confederate “Lost Cause” is still very much alive in the present day. Many such flags decorate cemeteries through the South. (This church was used as a hospital during the Civil War, and some of this cemetery’s gravestones were used as operating tables.)
24-NOV-2014
On guard, Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
A pair of dogs patiently stand guard at the entrance of this Beaufort residence. I include just enough of the surrounding decorations to express the Southern charm of the place. There is also an amusing contrast in the attention level of these guardians. The larger dog has apparently lost interest in the photographer. The smaller dog, however, remains focused on my lens.
24-NOV-2014
An old wall comes to life, Beaufort, South Carolina, 2014
A richly colored garland of fresh ivy climbs a wall that has enclosed a Beaufort mansion for more than a hundred and fifty years. Soft dappled light plays upon the scarred and cracked masonry. The focal point of the image is the symbolic blemish resembling an oval “eye” near the top of the frame on the right. If we can see it as an eye, the wall seems to be as alive as the ivy that grows up the left hand side of the frame.
25-NOV-2014
Egret along the Inland Waterway, just off the Georgia coast, 2014
I made this photograph from the top deck of our ship during a rainsquall. The very flat light intensifies the colors of the trees and the marsh grass, while a tiny white egret stands out so strongly that it dominates the scene. The rain and flat light offers a study of scale incongruity, saturated color and stark contrasts, produced entirely by nature itself.
25-NOV-2014
Gull squadron, off Georgia coast, 2014
As we approached Savannah, swarms of seagulls trailed in our wake. They were looking for bits of food churned up from the seabed by our ship’s engines. One member of this squadron of gulls has already dropped into the water to feast on such morsels, while its colleagues remain aloft in search of a meal. I converted the image to black and white to abstract the image and stress the composition created by the outstretched wings.
25-NOV-2014
Convoy approaching Savannah, Georgia, 2014
A heavy fog greeted us as our ship neared Savannah’s harbor. Three boats followed in our wake, in convoy with hundreds of hungry seagulls. I placed my horizon line high in the frame, limiting the amount of featureless sky, and filling most of the image with gulls and ships. There is just enough blue/green color in the image to add a taste of the ocean itself to the image.
25-NOV-2014
Victorian Valhalla, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Bonaventure is Savannah’s most hauntingly beautiful cemetery. Its Southern Gothic character has captured the imaginations of writers, poets, photographers and filmmakers over the last 150 years. I walked among its Victorian tombs in a light drizzle for over an hour, and made several hundred images in this lush city of the dead. I offer seven of them here. Each speaks to us of remembrance, the passage of time, and a belief in immortality. In this image, I express Bonaventure’s atmosphere, largely defined by a forest of live oaks draped in Spanish moss. This moss softly frames the image in the foreground, and more of it is softens the background. Lodged among these trees is flowering foliage, a towering obelisk symbolizing immense wealth and prestige, and several softly focused tombs included as context.
25-NOV-2014
A haunted place, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Some say Savannah is the “world’s most haunted city,” and if so, Bonaventure must be the “world’s most haunted cemetery,” inhabited by angels, cherubs, and lifelike renderings of the departed. In this image, I provide a haunting context for one of Bonaventure’s notable Victorian sculptural figures. I place the monument within the embrace of one of the many moss-laden oak trees that define Bonaventure’s unique character among the world’s burying-grounds. The scene is pure “Southern-Gothic.” It blends sentiment, remembrance, and mystery to produce a sense of haunted beauty.
25-NOV-2014
Gracie Watson, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
By far the most famous ghost said to haunt Bonaventure Cemetery belongs to a child named Gracie Watson, who died in 1889 of pneumonia at the age of six. Sculptor John Walz created this life-sized marble statue of “Little Gracie” after studying photographs of the child. It has become the single most visited gravesite in this 100-acre cemetery. So many visitors touched the statue that an iron fence was erected to protect it from wear. (Walz created many other monuments at Bonaventure, and one of the cemetery’s streets is named in his honor. He died in 1922, and is buried in Bonaventure. Ironically, no headstone marks his gravesite.)
This statue is the most photographed monument at Bonaventure. Photographers invariably push their cameras between the bars in the fence to get a clear shot of the statue. I deliberately stepped back to include the fence itself in my own image of this monument. In doing so, I symbolically separate life from death, putting Gracie Watson well beyond our reach. I also convert the image to black and white, abstracting the scene and making the white marble statue seem more ghostly than it actually is.
25-NOV-2014
Nature’s toll, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This coastal city is a hot, moist and humid place for much of the year. Bonaventure Cemetery is known as a “City of the Dead,” set within an environment of intensely thriving plant life. Many of Bonaventure’s monuments are cleaned regularly, and are pristine. However other grave monuments have fallen into disrepair, drastically altered by the effects of time itself. I used a telephoto lens here to emphasize the toll that nature can take upon these monuments to the dead. This discolored marble figure seems to acknowledge this toll, bending its head in acquiescence.
25-NOV-2014
Mythology in marble, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Romantic tragedy is another staple in Southern Gothic tales and literature. Visitors to this Bonaventure grave of Corinne Elliot Lawton are eager to believe the lurid tour guide tales of how she lived and died. Such guides theatrically proclaim that Corrine was madly in love with a man “below her station,” and that her parents (her father was a Confederate General) would not approve of their relationship. They say that the General preferred an arranged marriage. They claim that Corinne died by her own hand in 1887, “throwing herself into a river” just beyond this cemetery on the night before her arranged wedding. She is buried under this contemplative sculpture of herself, created by Italian artist Benedetto Civiletti. Visitors to Bonaventure enjoy believing in such romantic fantasies, eagerly accepting them and repeating them to others as fact. I have researched this story, and learned that what our tour guide told us about Corrine Elliot Lawton’s death is pure Southern Gothic fiction, with no basis in fact. Corrine’s mother happened to keep a diary, preserved by the Georgia Historical Society. There is no mention of any arranged marriage or suicide in this diary. The diary does mention that Corrine fell ill just days before her death. Pneumonia? Yellow Fever? The disease is not known, but it was illness that took Corrine Elliot Lawton’s life, not suicide.
I photographed the tomb of Corrine Lawton here as an abstraction. I use monochromatic sepia tonality here, similar to images of this era. By removing color, I leave more to the viewer’s imagination. I include the adjoining tree branches at left to rhythmically echo the curves of the folds in the statue’s garment, as well as to obscure distracting verbal information on the grave marker. The figure symbolizes a young Victorian woman wondering why her life has ended so soon. Victorian grave monuments are highly romanticized versions of life, more symbolic than real. This talented sculptor creates myth out of marble. Corrine Elliot Lawton’s life remains the stuff of tour-guide mythology nearly 140 years after her burial below this statue.
25-NOV-2014
Isolation, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
It is often useful to isolate our subject in order to remove distractions and create meaningful relationships that will help us to tell our stories. There are a number of photographic techniques that may help us to isolate our subjects, such as selective focusing, cropping, lens choice, and vantage point. I combine choice of vantage point and lens focal length here to isolate a sculpture of a guardian angel mounted upon a column. I create considerable scale incongruity by contrasting the statuary to a massive forest of greenery. The angel becomes a lonely sentinel, standing guard for eternity. Using a telephoto focal length of almost 250mm, I am able to frame the sculpture from a considerable distance, and simultaneously shift my camera position until I eliminate all other monuments from my frame. I make sure to eliminate the sky as well, and in the process, I fill the background entirely with foliage. The statue seems to emerge from the palms on the right, and looks into an array of flowering trees on the left.
25-NOV-2014
Broken angel, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This larger than life sized marble angel, mourning over the tomb of a long departed Savannah citizen, has lost the top of one of its wings. The sculpture was intended to express a spiritual idea, however the ravages of weather or vandalism have altered its symbolic meaning. The angel’s wing is now clipped, and its mission seems compromised. Using black and white imaging, I stress both the sadness and the function an angel symbolically brings to its mission.
This angel seems oblivious to the state of its crippled functionality. When I converted this image to black and white, the angel’s eyes mysteriously appear to be either opened and closed, depending upon how I looked at them. The angel could be seen as either symbolically looking upwards for heavenly support, or downwards in grief.
26-NOV-2014
US Customhouse, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Savannah’s historic 1852 US Customhouse provides the background of this image. Aside from a few decorative flower blossoms, the monumental Greek Revival building is essentially monochromatic. A light rain was falling, and the light was absolutely flat. I waited for a pedestrian to enter the frame, hoping for a strong contrast in color. After several failures, this woman stepped into my picture. She is holding a red umbrella, and she wears red clothing. This burst of this primary color brings a vivid contrast and energy to what had been a flat scene. When composing this image, I stressed the interplay of the vertical and diagonal lines – the woman holds her umbrella diagonally, contrasting to the opposing pair of diagonal railings behind her. The woman’s vertical legs rhythmically repeat the vertical thrusts of the four columns at the top of the steps, the vertical blocks lining the steps, and three other vertical poles in this image.
26-NOV-2014
Winged Lion Fountain, The Cotton Exchange, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This fountain was placed in front of the Savannah Cotton Exchange in 1889. It is made of red terra cotta, and represents a griffin, a mythological winged lion. I composed the image around its repeating curves – the flowing water, the back of its head, and the tip of its wing at the bottom of the frame. The curves start at the lower corners of the frame and lead to the expressive face.
26-NOV-2014
Unwitting huckster, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This nineteenth century cast iron sculpture of a capped woman unwittingly wears a twenty first century sign advertising tours of historic Savannah. I found her nestled at the entry of an antique shop. I underexposed the black sculpture so that it blends into the background, becoming a figure out of the distant past. The statue’s expression seems sad, a fitting response to how it is now perceived.
26-NOV-2014
Restoration, Ort Hall, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This nineteenth century Savannah building has been handsomely restored, yet emphasizes its vintage roots by showing off its inner brick structure as a casual, incongruously ragged architectural feature within the formal design of the façade. The building is presently used to host banquets for a neighboring restaurant. I cropped my image severely to compress and compare the raw, ragged brick pattern to its tidy geometric surroundings.
26-NOV-2014
Sacred and profane, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
The juxtaposition of the words “sacred” and “profane” is often used to express the difference between the interests of a unified group, such as a church, as opposed to mundane, individual concerns. I juxtapose the “sacred and profane” within this image by placing the roof of a parked car -- a mundane, individual possession -- before the open door of a church, which holds a mysterious abstracted sculpture of a religious figure. The car is monochromatic, while the doorway to the church is painted in a vivid red color, and framed by ornate lanterns placed within gothic embellishments. The sculpture within is a symbol sacred to the group of people who worship here. The graceful, aerodynamic curve of the car’s roof plays against the formal geometry of the church entrance. Both car and church are made more symbolic by abstraction – a hedge hides most of the car, while the soaring architecture of the church is pared down to only its entrance, and the statue within the doorway is deeply in shadow.
26-NOV-2014
Remnants, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
A well-used hand-made doll cradles its head against a rusting vintage lantern in the window of a local business. These remnants of Savannah’s past represent nostalgic symbols of local traditions. I pressed my lens close to the window to avoid distracting reflections, and built the image around the relationship formed by these disparate objects. The doll looks sad, and seems to welcome the support of the lantern. The diagonal tilt of its head compliments the opposing diagonal thrust of the lantern. These diagonals combine to form two sides of a triangle, capped by the faded post on top of the lantern.
26-NOV-2014
The Olde Pink House, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This Georgian mansion was built in 1789, and is one of the few buildings in Savannah to survive the fire that swept through the city seven years later. A handsome Greek portico, featuring a Palladian window, stands at its entrance. This historic building now houses an elegant restaurant, known for its romantic dinners. Three elements combine to make this image memorable. The portico itself is of historic and architectural interest. The restaurant entrance is also surrounded by lush green plantings that provide a base for the entire image. But even more intriguing is the presence of two members of the restaurant staff. I found them taking a break at the front door beneath a glowing lantern. One stands with arms folded behind him, while the other clasps his hand to wrist at his waist. The man with the bow tie is shorter and seems to defer to the bearded and taller man wearing the apron. His commanding stature and costume suggest that he could be an important chef at this restaurant. I create a three-way relationship here. The shorter man looks at the taller man while the taller man looks at us, and we look at both of them standing together within a colorfully elegant and historic setting.
26-NOV-2014
City Hall, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Built over 100 years ago, Savannah’s handsome city hall still houses the city’s government. Its most celebrated feature is a dome, now covered in gold leaf. (A tour guide told me that the gilding is a relatively recent addition. She grew up in Savannah and remembers the dome when it was covered in its original dull green copper patina.) I photographed the dome at sunset to compare the gilded reflections to the golden numbers on the clock below. I boldly cropped out the dome’s Victorian cupola here to simplify the image, reduce the amount of empty sky in the frame, and stress the geometric rhythms of the buildings architecture.
26-NOV-2014
Lost in time, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
I saw this man standing on a corner in Savannah’s historic district. I made this image because he seems incongruous in such a setting. When I viewed this image later on my computer, I noticed the reason for his presence here – a cigarette is in his hand. He obviously was not allowed to smoke within any of these old, and possibly historic, homes. The raw walls of the building behind him intensify the “back in time” mood. This man chooses to stand alone on brick sidewalk, surrounded by shadows. Dressed in a suit and tie, he spurns the sun that warms the same building on the far left. The man’s suit, solitary inactivity, and choice of chilly smoking spot intensify the incongruity of the scene, making him seem out of place, someone who seems lost in time.
26-NOV-2014
Police memorial, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This sculpted figure represents the 43 city and county police officers that have been killed in the line of duty here since 1868. I photographed it late in the day so I could use the light and shadow falling upon the statue’s face to express a sense of both life and loss. Only half of the bronze face is illuminated. It stares with steely eye, straight ahead, and into the golden light. The officer’s cap symbolizes the occupation of the figure. The darkness covering most of the face and chest implies a sense of loss, while the silhouetted leaves overhead can represent the cycle of life itself.
26-NOV-2014
Vintage police cars, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Several old police cars are on exhibit just outside of the Savannah police headquarters. I use only two of them in this abstraction. I focused on the black car in the foreground and used the background car as softly focused context. The focal point of this image is the red searchlight mounted on the black car. Red is a color of urgency, emergency, danger, and pursuit. Its presence speaks of a patrol car’s function. The car itself looks much like any other car after I cropped the image to remove the police-car identity that was visible on the side of the car. However the red light is there to tell the story.
26-NOV-2014
Neo-Gothic synagogue, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
Savannah’s Congregation Mickve Israel was organized in 1735 -- the third oldest synagogue in the United States. This rare example of a neo-Gothic synagogue building was built in 1878. Designed by New York architect Henry G. Harrison, it reflects the fashionable architecture of the Victorian era, and looked very much like the neo-Gothic Presbyterian church that stood just 60 feet away until it was destroyed by fire in 1929. I abstract the building down to its essence here. I moved in to emphasize the shadow of the Star of David, a symbol of Judaism, which seems incongruously set within the church-like architectural embellishments . The warm late afternoon light creates a mellow mood, and the geometric windows and entrance trim on the right hand side of the image provide additional context.
26-NOV-2014
Bringing light out of darkness, Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Savannah. French refugees from Haiti organized this congregation in 1799, and this cathedral was built one hundred years later. I feature a dramatic mural which is suffused in spiritual light, while the mural itself moves from darkness into the light supplied by two stained glass windows. Three ornate lanterns rhythmically lead the eye to the mural and the pair of stained glass windows. I base this image on the overall theme of bringing light out of darkness, an acknowledged function of religion itself.
26-NOV-2014
Evening, Colonial Park Cemetery, Savannah, Georgia, 2014
This cemetery, in the heart of Savannah, was the burying ground for the city from 1750 to 1833. Its brick tombs hold the remains of historical figures such as Button Gwinnett, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, 700 victims of the 1820 Yellow Fever epidemic, and one James Wilde, who fell in a duel here in 1815. The cemetery was already closed to burials when William Tecumseh Sherman’s Union soldiers took the city in December, 1864. Since the cemetery was the largest fenced area in the center of the city, Sherman used it as a grazing ground for his cavalry. (Some irreverent troopers may have even altered the dates on a number of tombstones.) Those who believe in ghosts frequently observe them here. I photographed Colonial Park Cemetery at the golden sunset hour, yet my favorite image works here much better in black and white than in color. I kept it very simple, using only the vertical façade of a brick tomb along with a pair of vertical tombstones arrayed beneath vertical strands of Spanish moss hanging from an old oak. This haunting image allows room for the viewers imagination to enter the scene and make of it what they will.
27-NOV-2014
Oyster roast, Hog Hammock, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
Sapelo Island is a barrier island, reachable only by plane or boat. Visitors are only allowed here via organized tours. I visited Hog Hammock (population 47), an African-American community of Gullah and Geechee descent. Their unique linguistic and cultural heritage is preserved because they have always lived in relative isolation in rural areas such as Sapelo. Hog Hammock welcomed our group with an oyster roast. I abstract the man doing the roasting by photographing him in silhouette and surrounding him with smoke coming from the stove in the lower right part of the frame. This image appeals to several senses – we not only see the image, but can also imagine the smoky odor, the taste of the oysters, and listen to the crackle of the flames.
27-NOV-2014
A child’s dream, Hog Hammock, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
I use scale incongruity to compare wheel sizes and thereby tell the story of a childhood dream. This child, pretending to drive a motorized scooter, seems completely absorbed in his own fantasies here. He does not notice that the small wheel of the scooter is incongruously placed adjacent to a massive truck wheel in the background. However I stress this linkage – the small wheel is sharply defined by morning light, while the massive truck wheel looms in the background shadows. I shifted my vantage point to place these wheels just inches apart. Both of these vehicles are blue, linking big with small, and making the dreams of childhood seemingly come to life.
27-NOV-2014
General Store, Hog Hammock, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
It must seem like rush hour for the keeper of the only store in this isolated island community as a boatload of visitors visits his store at the same moment. Yet he was able to help each of us in turn, bringing a sense of dignity and patience to his task. I made this image while waiting in line to pay for my own purchase. He shows no sign of impatience as the person in front of me methodically explores her purse for loose change. Her orange sleeve draws the eye towards the shopkeeper’s shirt of similar color. This image is more a character study than a scene of a business transaction. For this moment in time, the world has come to Hog Hammock, and this shopkeeper becomes the face of the place.
27-NOV-2014
Barking up the old tree, Hog Hammock, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
From a great distance, I thought I was seeing a black dog pawing the bark of this old tree. Upon closer inspection, I found that the animal in question was actually a flat piece of black metal shaped like a dog and adorned with a red painted collar. The illusion is so strong that even this photographic image may seem at first glance to show a “real dog,” at least until we see that the barking dog does not display the light on its back in the same manner the tree bark does. The play of light and shadow makes the tree seem three dimensional, while the dog presents itself in only two dimensions. The tree’s bark appears real, while the dog’s bark exists only in our imagination.
27-NOV-2014
Fountain, R.J. Reynolds mansion, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
Three wealthy men dominate the history of Sapelo Island. In the early nineteenth century, Thomas Spalding purchased the island and developed it into a cotton, corn and sugar cane plantation. He brought 400 slaves to work on the plantation from West Africa and the West Indies, and build what would become the Spalding Mansion. Spalding died in 1851, and during the Civil War his mansion was vandalized and lay in ruins. His freed slaves established settlements on the island, including Hog Hammock. The next wealthy owner of the island was Howard Coffin, founder of the Hudson Motor Company. He purchased the entire island, except for the land owned by former slaves, for $150,000 in 1912. Coffin renovated and enlarged the Spalding house, creating an island paradise and drawing such guests as presidents Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover, as well as aviator Charles Lindbergh. The third owner of this mansion was tobacco tycoon R.J. Reynolds. He purchased Sapelo in 1933 and used this mansion as a part time residence for the next thirty years. Reynolds funded ecological research on the island, and his widow sold Sapelo to the state of Georgia in the early 70s. The mansion is now used as a lavish vacation center for groups of at least 16 people. The extravagant fountain that dominates the entrance to the mansion was partially drained when I made this photograph. I play with color here, featuring vertical bands of blues and greens, rising from the bottom of the image to the top, echoing the graceful gesture of the fountain’s sculpture as it reaches upwards through light and shadow.
27-NOV-2014
Solarium, R.J. Reynolds Mansion, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
I photographed this sculpture through the solarium window of the Reynolds mansion, contrasting its glow to the colorful outdoor blossoms as well as the darkened holiday decorations place in an adjoining window. I draw these disparate elements together by framing them within the purple and rusty red stucco of the surrounding structure. The resulting image symbolizes the great wealth that made such a mansion possible.
27-NOV-2014
Lighthouse, Sapelo Island, Georgia, 2014
Master lighthouse builder Winslow Lewis built this historic lighthouse on Sapelo Island in 1820. It’s flashing light warned passing ships until 1908, when it ceased operation and fell into disrepair. It remained dark for almost a century, until it was rebuilt and relit in 1998. In this image, I abstract the lighthouse by photographing it as a silhouette. I stood in the shadow of the lighthouse, blocking the sun, and moving my position until I was able to find the spot where the sun passed through one of the lighthouse’s windows. The sole illuminated window becomes the incongruous focal point of the image. I also placed the lighthouse on the left side of the frame, allowing a silhouetted segment of foliage to occupy the right side, leaving only a tension-filled sliver of space between these elements. I present this image in black and white, which intensifies this abstract approach.
27-NOV-2014
A haunted place, Dunwody Building, Brunswick, Georgia, 2014
On March 6, 1915, Monroe Phillips, a mentally disturbed Brunswick real estate man convinced that six prominent Brunswick businessmen had stolen $25,000 from him, ran amuck in the center of downtown Brunswick. He killed five people, and wounded thirty two others with a shotgun before being gunned down by one of the wounded victims. The event was called as the “Brunswick Massacre.” The first person to die was Colonel Harry Dunwody, a former Brunswick mayor and a local lawyer. Dunwody was brutally murdered at his desk in his office on the second floor of this building, which still carries his name over its front door. A Dunwody client was shot in the face, but lived to tell the tale. An off-duty police officer was the second to die in the Dunwody Building, shot down by Phillips as he fled down the building’s stairs. A local judge, standing just behind the policeman, was wounded in the leg. The murderous spree continued on Brunswick’s main street, with Phillips taking three more lives and wounding another 30. In the midst of this mayhem, the wounded judge ran to a store, purchased a pistol, chased Phillips, and shot him dead. The massacre was over. It lasted just ten minutes. The Dunwody building still stands in the center of Brunswick, forever haunted by what happened here one hundred years ago. I made this image at sunset -- the ghostly forms of neighboring buildings reflect upon the office windows where the Brunswick Massacre began. The building still rents office suites on its second floor and retail spaces at street level.
27-NOV-2014
Reflections, Brunswick, Georgia, 2014
I walked the historic main street of downtown Brunswick as the sun was setting on Thanksgiving Day. This coffee shop was closed, but some of the town’s buildings were reflected in its windows. In this image, I add the reflected buildings to the empty restaurant tables and chairs, producing a golden scene as silent as the empty streets of Brunswick on this evening.
28-NOV-2014
Tragic ruin, Chicota Cottage, Jekyll Island Historic District, Georgia, 2014
Jekyll Island was once a secluded vacation spot for some of America’s richest tycoons. J.P. Morgan, William Rockefeller, and William Vanderbilt and others like them wintered in vast “cottages” here in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1887, they founded a private club, open only to the world’s wealthiest families, which lasted until World War II. In 1910, the club was the site of a secret meeting of bankers that led to the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. Following the war, its members sold the island to the State of Georgia. Jekyll Island is now a state park, the clubhouse is now a luxury hotel, and some of the 13 remaining “cottages” offer visitors a close-up look at what once was known as the “Gilded Age.” However, one cottage, Edwin Gould’s beloved Chicota, was never renovated. Gould, son of the infamous railroad tycoon Jay Gould, built Chicota in 1897. The cottage was abandoned after the Gould’s son died in a hunting accident. It was eventually torn down. Nothing remains but a hole marking its site, and the pair of stone lions that once guarded its entrance. One of those lions, now reduced to king of only a few small palms, symbolizes what Jekyll Island once represented – a place of elegance and leisure, backed by hereditary wealth, control and command. I converted what originally was a lush color image into a more abstract black and white photograph – changing the mood from a picture postcard to a grim reminder of a place essentially destroyed by tragedy.
28-NOV-2014
Faith Chapel, Jekyll Island Historic District, Georgia, 2014
The Jekyll Island Club built this interdenominational chapel in 1904. It holds a magnificent signed stained glass window by Louis Comfort Tiffany, installed in 1921. I was not permitted to make photographs inside of the chapel, so was restricted to exterior imagery. I decided to place the sun behind the simple chapel steeple, and abstract it as a silhouette. As I was framing the steeple, I noticed a small cloud drifting across the frame. The adjacent sun brilliantly illuminates that cloud. I waited for it to almost touch the steeple, and made this image. I combine the black steeple with the small white cloud and the deeply underexposed blue sky to express a mystical presence, an appropriate tribute to a place known as the “Faith Chapel.”
28-NOV-2014
Sidney Lanier Bridge, Brunswick, Georgia, 2014
Named for poet Sidney Lanier, this bridge carries four lanes of US Route 17 across the Brunswick River. It is the longest span in Georgia, and each of its twin towers is 450 feet tall. I photographed it through the front window of our bus at the fast shutter speed of one three thousandth of a second in order to eliminate any blur from our moving vehicle. The bridge appears as if in a dreamscape – its four triangles of cables suspended from the tops of the twin towers blend perfectly into the overhead clouds. These clouds move through the image in a horizontal line, following the path of the bridges roadway. The ramp leading to the bridge anchors the image, carrying the eye through a sweeping curve, over the row of repeating supporting pillars, below the towering triangles of cable, and finally dips down another ramp into the city of Brunswick itself.
28-NOV-2014
The Marshes of Glynn, Brunswick, Georgia, 2014
“The Marshes of Glynn” is one of Sidney Lanier’s most famous poems. It is part of a set of lyrical nature poems that interpret the beauty and meaning of the open salt marshes of Glynn County in coastal Georgia. Brunswick is the seat of this county, named after John Glynn, a member of the British House of Commons who defended the cause of the American colonies before the Revolution. The Battle of Bloody Marsh was also fought in this very area thirty years earlier, when Britain defeated Spain and created the Province of Georgia. At the close of the American Civil War, Lanier was inspired to write “The Marshes of Glynn.” These marshes that line the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway as it flows between the mainland and Georgia’s barrier islands are known as tidal marshes, and are flooded daily by Atlantic Ocean tides. Salt marshes such as the one in this image play a major role in supporting wildlife and providing coastal protection. This incongruous scene of hundreds of water birds feeding at the edge of a tidal marsh just south of Brunswick echoes the lyrical ideas found in Lanier’s poetry. The marsh grasses provide a striking yellow, orange, and green background for these feeders. The marsh is as rich in texture and color as it is in nutrients. It is also vulnerable to the commercial development. Lanier sought to comfort his Southern readers by showing them that while the South may have lost the Civil War, it still retained the expansive landscape full of beauty and richness which has always been the source of its strength. In the “Marshes of Glynn,” Lanier writes, “Look around you. Take courage from the land which God has given you, which always nourished you, and which is sill there, and be comforted.”
28-NOV-2014
Double-crested cormorants, Jekyll Island Causeway, Jekyll Island, Georgia, 2014
The feathers of these fish eating water birds are not waterproof, and they spend a lot of time drying them out after spending time in the water. I found a colony of them clustered on a small jetty bearing a navigation light just below the causeway bridge connecting Jekyll Island with the mainland. There are almost a dozen of them in this image and all face away, or offer a profile view. They are ready to scramble if necessary. I was able to frame them against the sky blue water, just clear of the brownish reflection just above them. The blue background best expresses their environment, and creates a clean field of contrast.
28-NOV-2014
Trawler, St Andrews Sound, off Little Cumberland Island, Georgia, 2014
This trawler sailed past my camera at sunset, trailed by dozens of seagulls looking for a handout. Men fish, and birds feed. The combination of warm light and rich colors, plus the incongruity of the massive seagull assault, expresses the symbiotic relationship between human and animal life.
28-NOV-2014
Trailing gulls, St. Andrews Sound, off Little Cumberland Island, Georgia, 2014
On the final evening of our week-long cruise from Charleston to Jacksonville, swarms of gulls were trailing our own ship, hovering above its wake, looking for nutrients stirred up from the sea bottom by our engines. I caught four of them here in flight – three soar away, while one seems to hang suspended between them. The waves seem to echo the shapes of their wings, while the blue water gives background contrast to the golden feathers that hang in the air.
29-NOV-2014
Then, now, and tomorrow, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
I spent the weekend following our cruise in the heart of Jacksonville, one of the largest cities in the Southeastern United States. It is centered on the St. Johns River, and in 1564 it became a French colony known as Fort Caroline, one of the earliest European settlements in the United States. Jacksonville itself dates back to 1822, a year after the US acquired Florida from Spain. Jacksonville is named after Andrew Jackson, first governor of the Florida Territory. Traces of the past are found all over the city. These elegant streetlights date back to the late nineteenth century, when Jacksonville became a popular winter resort for the rich and famous. I photograph them in front of a contemporary window, reflecting back to us an abstract, futuristic vision of the Jacksonville of tomorrow.
29-NOV-2014
Basilica, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
On May 3, 1901, a devastating fire wiped out downtown Jacksonville. It was the largest city fire in the Southeastern United States, destroying the city’s business district and leaving 10,000 residents homeless. The glow from the flames was seen in Savannah, Georgia, and smoke was observed from as far away as Raleigh, North Carolina. The city was virtually rebuilt within 11 years after the fire, adding more than 13,000 buildings, including this new home for the historic Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, completed in 1910. This church, which had been destroyed twice – once by Union artillery during the Civil War, and again by the great fire, appears here against a solid background of new construction. I zoomed in on its pair of red steeples, cropping them to imply a sense of infinity – regardless of war and fire, they continue to endure through time, without limitations. When the main steeple was built, it became the highest point in Jacksonville until 1913. The commercial buildings in the background may dwarf these steeples, yet they stand in bold contrast to the bland commercial architecture filling the rest of the frame.
29-NOV-2014
Gargoyle, St. John’s Cathedral, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
This Gothic Revival Episcopal cathedral was completed in 1906, replacing an earlier church that burned in the 1901 fire that destroyed most of Jacksonville. Its architecture features numerous gargoyles, one of which I caught snarling against a background linking a slate roof with a stone wall. Gargoyles first appeared on medieval cathedrals, and were used to divert rainwater. This one seems to be positioned above a ledge that probably contains a rain gutter.
29-NOV-2014
Statuary, Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
A statue of Christ stands before a small park opposite the principal Catholic Church in Jacksonville. I photographed it against a softly focused background of green, red, and orange foliage, symbolizing a stained glass window made entirely of natural materials. The city’s First Presbyterian church provides a fitting softly focused backdrop for this image.
29-NOV-2014
Main Library, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
The city’s main library opened in 2005. It cost one hundred million dollars, and is the largest public library in the state of Florida. I made this photograph from a side street. In the background is the entrance to Hemming Plaza, the first and oldest park in the city. Many unemployed and homeless people congregate around this park and library. The people in this photograph could be among them. It may be a pleasant and pastoral scene, yet it can’t mask the social problems that are present in most, if not all, urban downtown areas.
29-NOV-2014
Namesake, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
In this image, a handsome equestrian statue of Andrew Jackson, the first governor of the Florida territory and the seventh president of the United States, appropriately tips its hat to the sleek cathedrals of commerce that now soar over Jacksonville, his namesake town. (Jackson’s name is often associated with money – his portrait graces the US $20 bill, his administration paid off the entire national debt in 1835, and his subsequent banking decisions led to financial panic of 1837.) This memorial to “Old Hickory” is one of four identical equestrian statues of Jackson by the sculptor Clark Mills. The others stand in Jackson Square in New Orleans, in Nashville on the grounds of the Tennessee state capitol, and in Washington DC’s Lafayette Square, across the street from the White House. (Mills also created the Statue of Freedom, which sits atop the US Capitol dome.)
30-NOV-2014
Cop at work, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
I made this photograph on sheer instinct, without any thought or pre-planning. I saw a small child, looking somewhat vulnerable and bewildered, crossing a downtown intersection. Another family member was walking ahead of her, and was well out of the frame when I made this image. A Jacksonville policeman, pencil and paper in hand, was working on another task at this street corner when he suddenly turned to watch this child cross the street. My cropped image takes the scene out of its context. The child now appears to be alone and possibly lost or confused. The cop seems to have stopped everything to keep an eagle eye on this kid. Did he? I leave such interpretation to the viewer. I converted the image from color to black and white to intensify the photojournalistic context.
30-NOV-2014
Kennedy Monument, Hemming Plaza, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
Hemming Plaza has always been regarded as the center of downtown Jacksonville. It was the first and oldest park in the city. It once contained bandstands, fountains, rest rooms, and a tourism bureau. In October of 1960, presidential candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon both gave speeches here a few hours apart, and President Lyndon Johnson also spoke here in 1964. Over the years, major stores lined the adjoining streets. The park was in the news all though the 60s, as race riots erupted during civil rights protests. During the following years, the city was integrated, and the park had changed forever. The city converted it to a paved square, changing its name to Hemming Plaza, retailers left the area, and their empty store fronts attracted the homeless, who now congregate both in the park and around the new city library across the street. I made this ironic image of a person incongruously dozing at the base of a monument to Kennedy. The formality of the brass tablet, and the historical context it provides, contrasts strongly to the circumstances currently facing the man who sleeps in front of it.
30-NOV-2014
Fist Bump, Main Library, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
A fist bump, a spontaneous gesture of friendship and solidarity, brightens the day of two men greeting each other along side of the city’s main library, which has become a hangout for many local residents, including numerous homeless people. A woman reading in an adjacent niche never sees the greeting. The side-by-side window niches tell different stories
30-NOV-2014
Sole survivor, Main and Bay Street, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
This lion’s head stands alone on a street corner in Jacksonville. I moved in on it to reveal both texture and detail that help tell its story. The furrowed brow and downcast eyes lead down to what appears to be a bag of fruit clamped within its jaws. There seems to be no reason for it to be here – there is no plaque or sign that tells its tale. I later researched this architectural fragment, and discovered that it is the sole surviving decorative element of a historic Jacksonville printing firm known as the H.&W.B. Drew Company. Founded in 1855, for well over a century Drew Printing was one of the oldest businesses in Florida in continuous operation. The great fire of 1901 destroyed its original building and a new one was built the following year. That building was demolished in 1971 to make way for Jacksonville’s soaring Wells-Fargo Center. All that remains of that Drew building built 112 years ago is this lion’s head, one of a pair of cast-stone creatures that once looked down upon the city from its ornate fourth floor façade.
29-NOV-2014
Midnight City, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
This mural, by an artist known as MactruQue, covers the side of Urban Core/Burrito building in downtown Jacksonville. Entitled “Midnight City,” it is the artist’s biggest project to date. I choose a vantage point that places the trunk of a palm tree at the spot where the two different sides of the street in the mural collide. Its buildings seem to come to life by night as they bend and flow into each other. I waited for a pedestrian to walk between the palm tree and the left edge of the frame, and made this photograph. The pedestrian never seems to notice the explosion of color and scale incongruity looming behind him.
29-NOV-2014
Jaguar in the ruin, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
An old downtown Jacksonville building, possibly destined for demolition, incongruously hosts a mural featuring a large, complacent jaguar dozing within two of its bricked up windows. My image, made with the help of the setting sun, also features a vintage brick wall, pairing the art of bricklaying with the art of making murals. The less than forceful jaguar could be a current reference to the lackluster status of the city’s National Football League team, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
29-NOV-2014
Up from the Ashes, Lerner Building, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
I photographed part of the top half of a mural sprawling the width of Jacksonville’s vacant Lerner Building, a joint collaboration by local artists who are trying to urge residents to support downtown renewal and see it return to the epicenter it once was. Although I cropped out its “Rise from the Ashes” slogan, I relate the head of a soaring bird, perhaps an eagle representing a symbolic bird rising like a phoenix from the ashes, to a row of windows reflecting abstractions of the renovated 1926 Roosevelt Hotel just across the street, now converted to luxury apartments known as The Carling.
30-NOV-2014
Selfie, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
Part of the Wells Fargo Center, once the tallest building in Florida, is reflected here in the ground floor window of a neighboring structure. I saw my own figure reflected in this window as well, and made this geometrically composed “selfie” portrait of myself. The window’s curving surfaces distort and abstract my silhouette, as well as the lines of the reflected building. The vertical and horizontal lines that flow throughout the image combine hints of both cubism and surrealism with a color palette reminiscent of Edward Hopper’s paintings.
29-NOV-2014
Parking garage, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
I made this image of a parking garage at night from an eighth floor window of a neighboring hotel. My very high vantage point allows me to juxtapose the silhouetted figure, at center, of a man striding past the illuminated garage exit. It also helps me pair another figure, at far left, with a diagonal ramp leading to the second floor of the garage. These people seem dwarfed in scale by the massive shadowy structure, suggesting the lonely and somewhat threatening nature of an urban area at night.
29-NOV-2014
Holiday sail, St. John’s River, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
I combine the romance of the sea with holiday festivity by photographing just one of the hundreds of illuminated sailboats passing along Jacksonville’s St. John’s River during the city’s annual “Light Boat Parade,” a civic celebration kicking off the holiday season. This overhead view, which I shot from my hotel window eight stories above the scene, emphasizes the strikingly abstracted colors reflected upon the surface of the river itself. Four additional reflections, created by an illuminated bridge and another decorated craft, intensify the effect.
29-NOV-2014
Fiery finale, Holiday Light Boat Parade, St. John’s River, Jacksonville, Florida, 2014
This water-borne spectacle concludes with the city’s largest fireworks display of the year. I end this gallery with a spectacle -- an image combining a smoke-laden sky illuminated by fireworks exploding within fireworks. I used a 24mm wideangle focal length to embrace not only the smoky sky and the pair of explosions, but also the richly colored reflections in the river, and the floodlighted towers of the city’s signature Main Street Bridge. I made this nighttime photograph from the eighth floor window of my riverside hotel room, using a slow seventeenth of a second shutter speed, combined with a very high ISO of 6400.