william christenberry kodachromes

So much for my mental break....

I'm back,

I guess I never really left,

although it was starting to feel like I would have to.

So here I am,

we'll see how long I can stay....

I grew up in the 

Deep South,

born in the 

Big City,

(Atlanta)

raised in the oldest permanent

settlement in the United States,

Pensacola, Florida.

I mention this because a sense of place and history

have always been with me since I left there

and moved on to other really big cities,

such as London, Chicago, Miami and now

New York.

These William Christenberry images

haunt me in that they remind me of my childhood.

They make me feel young,

they make me feel like I belong somewhere.

I was born in 1965,

so this is exactly what it looked like to me growing up.

I'm not going to get into politics here,

but as you can imagine I grew up in a very

liberal, open minded household.

This was at odds with the

prevailing sentiments of the time,

and place,

but I liked that, the tension

of being different. 

Believe what you will, but

Southerners are open and honest,

and speak their minds.

Maybe that is why we get such 

a bad rap for being racists.

The whole world is racist.

Drive 15 minutes past the 

George Washington Bridge

here in NYC

and you will be surrounded

by rednecks, hillbillies and bigots.

Don't believe me?

Try it.

Religion was never a real part of my life.

It was in my father's,

and I'm pretty sure why it wasn't in mine.

I was christened in the Episcopal Church,

but I could count the number of times 

I have been in church since that day on

my fingers and toes.

Speaking of my father,

he grew up in a house in Vernon, Florida

(If you have never seen Errol Morris's

documentary 

on Vernon, it is a must.)

not much different than this one.

Not run down like this one,

but the same architectural style,

Cracker Architecture.

Did this very specific landscape influence 

and/or shape my aesthetic?

I feel like it did,

at least in the same way it shaped 

Mr. Christenberry's.

I could have (and have!) taken all these shots before,

I say that not as I could have done what he did as well

 and as beautifully 

as he has done it, 

I say that in that I can feel in each one of these shots,

that I could have taken them.

I don't feel that way about many photographers,

and it is not just the familiar landscape,

it is more,

it is the feeling they invoke in me....

I remember seeing signs like this and being 

fascinated by them.

I wanted to take them, steal them, possess them,

but I wasn't sure why.

They had no value...

(Or at least I thought until I moved to New York 

and walked through one of the folk art shows....)

So what was it?

The voice? The passion? The simplicity?

The honesty?

Everything about these images

ring true to me.

But that is nothing special,

wherever, whenever you grew up,

if you are shown pictures from that place and time,

especially when you reach a certain age,

you will feel these same feelings.

These photos are special,

don't get me wrong,

but they are especially special to me,

because they give me that feeling,

whatever that feeling is.

"Child's Grave with Lamb"

Hale County, Alabama

1981

Disco people rock

Yes they do.

I'm starting to run out of things to say,

not that I started this post trying to say something.

I actually was going to say, it was my plan to say,

that I wasn't going to say much of anything for a while, 

and that I was just gonna post pictures and videos and

keep the jokes and snide, sarcastic remarks to myself.

But here I am, saying more than I have ever said.

This yard is not dirt because they had no grass,

it is dirt because they swept it.

My dad would always point out a

swept yard

when we would drive past one.

That fascinated me since in the neighborhood

I grew up in people

were obsessed with watering, fertilizing, and mowing

their yards.

Also notice how the trunks of the trees are painted white.

My memory is that they were usually only painted 2-3 feet up the

trunk,

but these go way up.

Interesting....

Some say they were painted to keep away pests:

there are all sorts of theories,

but I feel they were painted for decoration.

It may have started somewhere for pest deterrence,

but I am pretty sure it was just to look pretty.

Matt O, the top picture is for you, 

(for obvious reasons)

and Matt B,

the bottom image is for you.

The designer and the DJ,

together again for a nite, a moment... eternity?

This last photograph is for you Jessica.

Because you, 

better than anyone else I know, 

can see the beauty

in decay,

and have an optimism for life that

doesn't see a rotting building,

but a beautiful and magical

"kudzu monster".

Thank-you for that.

More here