The most beautiful thing about the iPhone is that I truly always have my camera with me. It allows me to shoot things that I see in a moment. It has made a photography a bit more of a daily expression. There are times when the big camera is back in the truck and I don’t want to go back and retrieve it, or it might be that the phone camera seems less intrusive in that moment. Whatever the motivational dynamic, I feel that I have a freedom in continual artistic expression that is somehow good for my soul. I hope you enjoy these very recent images.

You’ve got to love a Southern Woman. She’s refined an beautiful, yet she’ll put on boots to tromp around in the woods in a moment.

There is a part of the South that looks tired, a little bit worn down from recent economic turns. I’ve been photographing old structures as I travel the Southland, knowing that many will perish in the coming few years. This one is an old storefront from Menlo, Georgia.

There is a certain fascination with abandoned old homes anywhere in the country. You look at them and wonder; about the lives that have gone before, about what the place was like when flowers were tenderly planted and children once played in the yard.

Greenhouses are growing in popularity with both folks feeding their families and for sale at the local farmer’s market. This was made at a friend’s greenhouse in rural Georgia.

My mama has always loved pastel’s and both the napkin and table cloth speak to her style.

I like making still life images, and like photographs that make you wonder. Was this unrequited love? Or simply remnants of a wedding? Did someone place them on that rock for reason? Made on Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, Alabama.

Alabama is beautiful. When you’re from the outside and hear the word Alabama you tend to think about the past, about civil rights. Maybe you think about the football team. What people don’t often say is, “Alabama is beautiful.” We know that it is.

Church bells still ring in small towns in the south.

It’s somewhat surprising to find a pagan god in the Bible belt, but that’s just what you’ll find in the Vulcan, blacksmith of the Roman gods atop Red Mountain in Birmingham, Alabama. The Vulcan was actually built for the St. Louis world’s fair in 1904, and not for idol worship. He represented Birmingham’s pride in the local steel industry. When I was a child the Vulcan held a green light in its hand that turned to red whenever there was a traffic fatality in the metro area. Birmingham’s residents initially rejected his display as he wore no pants, so they eventually fitted him with a pair of overalls. Taken down for refurbishing, the statue returned to it’s heights above the city in 2004 and it now holds a spear in its hand.

This photo was made in Eufala, Alabama, on the banks of the Chattahoochee River.

Some old doors for sale, Birmingham, Alabama.

A field full of old cars in the South is as stereotypical as it gets, and these cars in a Summerville, Georgia lot caught my eye.

Finally this week, a look at Nathan Hicks who runs Higher Ground USA, setting up a climb on Alabama’s Cheaha Mountain. Higher Ground USA is a faith-based organization that exists to foster spiritual and personal growth through adventure.

More to come next week, from Florida.

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