what is art?

A couple of months ago I was in a gallery in North GA and in a back room that was not being used sat a nice, folk arty chair.  Not on display.  Just sitting there.  I liked how it looked against the wall and the rug, so I took a photo.  I really like how it turned out and the slight optical illusion effect, but mostly just the composition and the color.  Somebody asked me if it was ok to use another piece of art in my art....What's the answer?  I think the answer in this case is that I am not using the chair or even it's artistic qualities as my art, but the room, the light and the color and the presence of the chair.  I welcome feedback on this.

Time flies

Here it is the next year already and we are way behind posting photos.  So, here is one from New Years Day taken from the top of Black Rock Mtn in north GA.   It was a beautiful day - warmish down by the Chatooga, but really cold and windy at the top of the mountain.  Lots of nice views in the winter, but this was one of the nicest.  Very little adjustment here.  The trick was to sit on the cold, wet ground behind a post to block the sun so I could take this view of the the receeding mountins to the south.

Finding our way

We took part in an "Art in the Park" event in a place called Hurricane Shoals County Park in north GA on Saturday. We had had rain on and off all week and the forecast for the weekend was pretty damp, but after much debate and checking the forecast, we decided to give it a try.

We managed to set up before the downpour, but that's about the only break we got. Finally we had to take down most of the framed art and cover the rest. Obviously almost nobody came to the event and at about 2:30 we decided it wasn't going to get better and packed up and headed home. We did not return on Sunday.

The event was billed as "art in the park" but there weren't more than 5 or 6 artists there. The rest were crafts, special interest groups, churches and food vendors. Therefore, the few people who did attend were not there to buy art.

The positive outcomes were that we learned to ask more questions before signing up for events in the future, and the chance to see a very nice and pretty heritage village in the park. It's worth a visit if you are in the Commerce, GA area.

This is a view from inside the little white church in the park looking out at the damp day. It is as yet untouched except to adjust the lighting a little. On a nice, sunny morning, this will be a beautiful place.

Photography makes you buggy

One of the things we have discovered very quickly is that every picture has a story and many have questions. We like to photograph flowers and often find we have included bees or butterflies or ants, or an occasional small spider (I run from the big ones). Last weekend we were at the Georgia Botanical Gardens and spotted 2 strange bugs. The first were eating a bean plant and seem to have killed the nearby beans while the plant itself seemed to be healthy. The others were having a meeting on a leaf. They did not appear to be eating the plant, but it did seem to be a favorite gathering place.

We have not yet learned what either bug is, but thought we'd share. We will continue to look for answers.

Rural Georgia

While listening for the banjo music we found all kinds of interesting things on a short 100 mile ride through east/central Georgia. Towns we'd never heard of, towns that no longer exist and another covered bridge.

Along Hwy 77 south of Elberton just over the Broad River we came to a small intersection with a tiny extinct gas station. The pump in front reads $1.00 gal. It's 1 mile from the former home of an ex-Governor/Senator from the 1800, but "the house burned down years ago." You can, I suppose, go look at where it used to be if you want...the historical marker points the way.

Art is just everywhere. We find it each time we go out and we have covered so little ground so far.

We also passed through a non-town called Glade that used to have a little roadside store. It's not even on the map.

I hear banjos....

So, when you decide to become an exploring photographer and head down the backroads and alleyways, you should probably pay attention.....

Last week we thought we were following a map to take a backroad but the road became dirt, then got narrower and more overgrown then passed a very rundown house with Barcoloungers on the porch, then ended....Cell phones didn't work and the car was scraping dirt as we tried to wend our way out. In fact, we lost a turn signal light, but did not have to get out and walk. We joked about hearing banjo music coming from the old house at the end of the road....

Today we heard about "the oldest church in Georgia" from some nice folks in the little store in Sandy (can't remember), GA. It was "off a dirt road" but "there are signs." Thinking that it would really be something to take pictures of a church that was built in the 1700's, we set off to find the dirt road. There were signs.....and then pavement and then, the drive to the church. As we turned in the drive, we could see a very foreboding and run down house in the overgrowth next to the drive. In great anticipation of a neat discovery, we headed for the church and found....a little white building that had been resided, reroofed, repainted, reporched and restepped......just a little white building/church. The support pillars may have been in place in 1788, but not much else was. So... there was this old house at the head of the drive that needed exploring.

Banjo music now!

The woods, vines and poison ivy have completely captured this house. It clearly used to be something (maybe a parsonage?) but most of it is missing now. Curiously, there appeared to be some straw inside. Suddenly there is a loud noise overhead and 3 very large birds take flight through the trees and off into the distance. My guess is they were large owls. Heart beat slows back down. Wayne tries to get closer to the front of the house and something moves inside......loud, large and sounding alarmed.....I peer through the trees but can't see anything. Just then there's a loud running sound and something big bolts out of the back of the house and into the woods.....clearly hoofed. Cloven?

All in a day's fun, but a reminder that we are not always masters of our environment.

These are two pictures of the house. We could have gotten closer but decided we did not want to disturb anything else and would let things return to (para?)normal.

The pain and fun of art

As you know, we love finding everyday art and capturing it to share. Sometimes this can be painful. We've missed the poison ivy so far this year, but fire ants, ticks and a lot of scrapes and cuts is about par for a weekend. I HATE ticks!

Last weekend we went to Watson Mill Bridge State Park outside of Colbert (as in Steven) and took some wonderful pictures of the covered bridge and a strangly colored heron. Upon leaving the park we found a herd of cows milling along a fence near the road. As usual, I had to try to get a picture. Sometimes cows run when they see a camera, but these were publicity-hungry cows who wanted their pictures taken. I waded into the waist high grass along the fence to try to get another good cow picture. "Blackberry" claimed the front, but soon 10 or 12 cows were trying to get into the picture and pushing and shoving. The longer I shot pictures, the more cows tried to be included. This is just one of the many of the crowd and one of Blackberry who was the champ.

However, on the way back to town I started to ITCH. Deep, intense, can't make it stop kind of itch on my stomach. I couldn't see anything there, but it was completely distracting and made me wonder what might be crawling on me. As soon as we got home I put Tea Tree Oil on the itch and it stopped immediately. The next day it started again but the oil again stopped it. It was quiet on Monday but Tues a.m. it was back and now I could see a series of bites...yuck. I have no idea what got me. I do have to wonder what creature/plant we will encounter next and when I will learn my lesson.

Learning history

As usual, we headed out on the backroads this weekend to see what was new and interesting. There was a lot to see, but for me the most interesting was a beautiful farm south of Colbert, GA. We came to a very rural intersection and right ahead of us was an amazing spread with rolling hay fields, a huge brick barn, a small lake, horses and all framed by a brown fence that ran as far as we could see. As we explored a little further, we came to an old brick house next to a huge white frame plantation-style home with a brick silo. There was a gated drive onto part of the property and a sign that said "Tucker Plantation."

The 3 brick horse barns and the brick house all had large iron S on them. On the map this area is called Smithsonia as is one of the roads that runs by.

One would think I could look up Tucker Plantation or Smithsonia on Google and learn about the area. Not so fast. The plantation site has a short website about weddings on the grounds and mentions that the farm once belonged to Kenny Rogers. Smithsonia, GA shows up as being near Atlanta and nowhere near Colbert (as in Steven, we claim).

Clearly there has been a huge and impressive farm here for some time, but at this point it's history remains obscure. And Cindy and Jewett Tucker, the current owners, seem to be strangers to Google.

Next stop is the GA historical society, I think.

But, this is why backroads and alleyways are so much fun. There is fodder here for hundreds of great pictures as well as historical research.

This picture is of the first sight we had of the farm as we approached. More to follow.

Beauty and Joy

On a heavily overcast May day in Georgia, we went for a ride. Along the way....we saw strange bovines in a distant field. Ignorning the first drops of rain; many, many fire ant hills (ignored but not missed, unfortunately) deep wet grass, the possibility of snakes and ticks, we tresspassed just a little to get a closer look.

Not what one expects to find in GA. These beasts were in a rolling green field with a nice muddy pond at the bottom. They seemed very content, but three of them decided to let us know that they were HUGE just in case we tried to cross the fence. It NEVER entered our minds! I have now determined that they are Cape Buffalo. No idea what they are doing in Georgia, but we are going to try to find out. Google tells me that Cape Buffalo are very dangerous.....and I believe it.

After taking as many pictures as we could as the rain beat down, we drove on to find the most beautiful corner in the SE with an old, old house with a little mother cat and her 4 little kittens enjoying the sunshine on the front porch - yes, the weather can be quirky. We also met 5 more donkeys and a few more gorgeous cows.

Here is a nice portrait of the mother cat just to offset the beasts. All in all it was a great day for photography.

Event announcement

We will be selling photographs at a small event in Bethelem, GA on Saturday. It is the annual Spring Fling at Bethelem United Methodist Church. The event is from 11 - 3 and we will feature many Athens and UGA scenes as well as a selection of our other - backroads - work.

The photograph to the right is representative of our currently featured pictures. It was actually taken in FL several years ago but was uninteresting as a photo until I got to work on it with photoshop. The only transformations are in hue and saturation and the neat little trick I love of inverting....

Our next currently scheduled event is the Strawberry Festival in Slater, SC on May 16 where we will also have a collection of interesting Greenville photos.

Who knew?

This picture was taken at the same roadside junk shop as the previous post. I can't even guess what these are for but they could give you nightmares. It sure is interesting to go exploring though and learn about things totally outside your realm of experience.

The unexpected

When you get home from shooting pictures and take a look at what you've captured, you sometimes find new and unusual things....like Batman in a junk shop in Georgia. I didn't see him till I downloaded the picture, so I don't know how he got there, but there he is. Any ideas? This picture has been saturated to bring out the color in the water drops, but no other additions or alterations. He was really there!