Blog Archives
Bethel, coming and going
Here’s a two-way sign for a little country church on top of a hill.
Also: it did require a u-turn to get back to it. And also: it took me about five miles of driving to decide that I didn’t want to pass up a chance to photograph the church (and sign). Sometimes I make a u-turn decision right away, and other times it takes a few minutes to decide. And also, one more time: I can’t recall a time that I’ve ever made a u-turn, gotten back to the place, and decided that it wasn’t worth a photograph after all.
near Savannah, Tennessee
photographed 12.26.2021
Swept Away
This was a nice sight: a broom, an industrial-size dustpan, and one footprint.
Lebanon, Tennessee
photographed 12.24.2021
I am a man
The National Civil Rights Museum is a hard place to visit. It’s uncomfortable to be confronted with the racist history of our country. It’s sickening to learn about how many things were denied – institutionally denied – to people of color. It’s embarrassing to have to admit that I’ve lived many, many years without thinking too deeply about what it means. It’s sobering to think about how far we’ve yet to go.
In 1969, the sanitation workers in Memphis were on strike; they carried the “I AM A MAN” signs on the picket lines. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. made two trips to Memphis to support the strikers, and one the second trip he was assassinated as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, the same building that now houses the museum.
If you go to Memphis, please go to the museum: you’ll leave a different person than you were before.
National Civil Rights Museum
Memphis, Tennessee
photographed 12.27.2021
Urban Irony (Christmas Afternoon)
We spent some time on Christmas afternoon walking around the site of the Christmas Day 2020 bombing in Nashville. Even after a year, there is still much work to be done to fix (or demolish, I guess) the buildings that were damaged. The murals here are on the short side of the block that was bombed – they’re painted on plywood that covers where windows used to be.
Christmas usually makes me feel sad, and this scene fed right into my emotions. In front of a mural that says “because you matter you are not alone,” a man sat alone on the cold sidewalk.
Nashville, Tennessee
photographed 12.25.2021
the distillery
From the highway through town, there was little visual evidence of the vast array of buildings that housed the Jack Daniel’s distillery. But back behind the ridge, there were barrel houses, fermentation chambers, the Source…all the things that make Jack Daniel’s whisky Jack Daniel’s whisky.
Lynchburg, Tennessee
photographed 12.26.2021
One Day | One Image 