Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Things I've Learned Along The Way

This has been an interesting ride and it's not over by any means. It was never my goal to do a blog. I just wanted to take pictures and call it a day. Well...a winter season. My wife suggested I do a blog and I thought why? Who would care? Ahh the things you learn. Just because I'm a guy doesn't mean...well no...we're slow learners. I took her advice because it might be fun. Not that I'm the Laura Ingalls Wilder of bloggers mind you and my little corner of the internet started slow. I would throw out a link on Facebook and beg my friends to take a look. A friend who I only knew through a mutual game we played (Farmville if you were curious) was my first visitor. Thank you Jen. It's people like you that make this a worthy journey.

To be fair my genre is narrowly focused and I didn't expect a lot of people would be be bailing out of Facebook to come take a visit. But I did manage to get folks to come take a look. In fact from all over the world. Google has an easy to use blogger website and even gives you lots of information and statistics about where your readers come from and what browser they use. Little graphs and charts and things like that. Needless to say when I saw I had readers from Croatia and Russia...Romania, France, India, Australia...the United Arab Emirates...I was a bit surprised. In fact it wound up being about 20 different countries. Thank you Al Gore. Your "invention" has given me an audience I would never have thought possible.


I also learned a little about networking. Making friends who follow similar pursuits. I would find interesting pictures taken by other photographers. We tend to be protective of our turf if we find something unusual. But I had one in particular who advised me on a place and to make sure I didn't have Cato with me because he could get hurt. Cato is my baby and I'm very protective of him. I, in turn, told my photographer friend about a place he might enjoy. I met other wonderful people through their Facebook pages. William Hampton has a page called Huntsville Revisited with hundreds of historical pictures. Great guy and I'm happy to call him a friend. Another friend is Beverly Crider who runs the page Strange Alabama. I owe her a lot. She was gracious enough to link my blog on her page. Needless to say when I saw I had gone from a few page views on any given day to 5000 in a single day I was stunned.

I don't really talk to many people when I'm on the road. It's not because I don't want to. The winter daylight is a precious thing and short in supply. Most things I shoot are remote and there's no one around anyway. Usually my subject matter requires a quick stop, shoot, move on to the next target. On occasion I'll see something that requires permission. Practically everyone I met was nice about it whether they said yes or no.

When I make my trips I'm usually alone. Well, save for Cato. I usually drive till I see something I like. More than once I'll push the limits of the truck's gas tank. I'll sweat a little as I go mile after mile and see little evidence of civilization. Much less petroleum related commerce. I'll debate in my mind why I let the truck idle when I could have saved a few cents worth of gasoline. That quick stop that I just knew would take  two minutes turns in to ten. So I gamble. It never came back to bite me. That doesn't mean it won't...

I remember once being way up in northeast Alabama. In the Paint Rock Valley. Trust me when I say it can get quite remote. It's really pretty countryside but very sparsely populated. I watched anxiously as the bright orange stick slid down the "E" like the sun fading in the west. I would debate how far I can go before I have to bail and turn around. Needless to say when I did find gas at $3.80 a gallon I was more than happy to pay the price for my lack of foresight. I logged close to 7500 miles in my three months on the road. Changed the oil twice. My old Dodge has been my constant companion for the last ten years. It's had its share of problems but for a 16 year old truck its been a good, reliable companion.

I have to admit feeling melancholy about the onset of spring. There are few things I dislike more than winter. But winter is a necessary ingredient for my project. With the advancing warm weather that Govt experiment gone awry, kudzu, will once again engulf my quarry. There is still so much more ground I need to cover. Most of northwest Alabama...southeast and southwest Alabama as well. How naive I had to have been to think this would take a couple of months and then I publish my book. No, I need one more good winter (a contradiction to me normally) to collect more material. So much more research I need to do. A more well thought out plan...

Pardon me.....I'm laughing at myself. Good intentions and that road to...well...you know.

Writing this has been a blast. I hate that I have to stop for now. I was just going to write a few, maybe five or six, but that few turned into 20+. I want to thank y'all for giving me a few minutes of your day to enjoy my passion. Dang I hate this part. I came to love my journey. But for now it's time to let it rest till winter once again welcomes me back to the road.

Just a little advice before I go. Get a camera. Just a decent little point and shoot. Take pictures. Lots of pictures. Your friends and family. Your pets. Your house. Your garden. Your car. Your neighborhood. Your church. Where you shop. Where you work. Where you play. Sure lots of these seem odd for now. But ten years from now?Twenty or 30? Then you'll understand. And your kids will thank you. And their kids and....well you get it.

Sadly it's the end of the road for now. See you in December. I am humbled that many of you took a moment to drop by. Thank you....thank you very much!

Old AL 69 as it disappears into Smith Lake















16 comments:

  1. I ain't sure how I got here, but I did. Read every word and clicked on every picture. Fantastic journey you take us one! I believe I'll plan a little two wheel adventure down hwy 231 this summer (if it ever gets here) and check out this place called.... Alabama...

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  2. Lordy this site can be quirky. It double posted your comment then my reply. I deleted it and it was gone. Thank you so much for your kind words! Alabama is a lovely place with genuinely decent people. Please come and see us. If you need help or directions please drop me a line. Have a great day!

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  3. Good job! Enjoyed reading and seeing the pics!

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  4. @mecookin. Thanks so much for taking the time!

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  5. Very interesting. will definitely be coming back for another visit. I love seeing the old and "out there" shots that a person can find when their really not even trying to find them! love it.

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    1. Thank you! Not sure if you ended up here because of my Facebook page by the same name or elsewhere but I appreciate your interest!

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  6. Well, I had to stop by after finding your facebook page, and posting a few photos on it. What excellent work you're doing! I'm a Dallas photographer, with family from Winfield, Alabama. I get home three or four times a year, and I just plain couldn't do it without my camera. There's so much to photograph...people for the memories, landscapes for the beauty, just anything you could think of. And, as that old song goes, "every picture tells a story, don't it?" Thanks again!

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind comments. I decided years ago that a neglected niche of our lives is capturing the past. The past that we see but don't notice. Exactly why I said at the end of the blog to get a little point and shoot. Shoot the most mundane things. Meaningless for the most part now but 20 years from now you'll look back and think "Oh wow. I remember that!". That's the "story" I want to tell with pictures. The blog is in hiatus for now but will pick up again when it gets cold. I wait till the leaves are gone and the kudzu is dead. I just really like dark and gloomy settings. Thanks for stopping by!

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    2. Thank You for creating such a valuable resource. Posted is a image of the Martin Theatre in Florala. I am a resident and would like to know how I can obtain a high resolution file of this photo. I do plan to contribute my own photos taken in the 50's.

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    3. I don't have an image of the Martin in Florala. Where did you see that?

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  7. Found this through your Facebook posts.Love you work. I am moving to Huntsville next year and I am looking forward to hitting the road with my camera. How safe is it out there on my own? I do have a Beagle for a companion, but I don't know how good she would be for protection

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  8. i saw Oh, one more question. Why do you only shoot in the winter? Is it really because of Kudzu?

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    1. The kudzu for sure but really things show better without vegetation. That and winter tends to be dark and dreary which adds to the ambiance.

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  9. Just found your site. I will be reading all your old posts and looking at your pictures! I never thought I would come across another soul that would refer to alabama as their Beloved Alabama! My sis once said "we were born and lived most of our life in Georgia, but our heart and soul were in south alabama. I wish cherish going through all your photos and blogging, and maybe by then, winter will be close and you can start your journey again.

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    1. Hmmm...I replied via Gmail but it didn't show here. Thank you so much for your kind comments. It is, indeed, my beloved Alabama. No place I would rather live. And I'm anxious to get back on the road again but not real thrilled about being cold :-). Thank you for enjoying my labor of love.

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