Cotton Harvest

I finally found a cotton harvest to photograph and I am so fortunate it was the field I have been watching.  Sometimes I think things are meant to be.

Something I did not expect was how great a photo opportunity the farmers would make.  All the people farming that day were very friendly.  I saw this gentleman picking up bits of cotton, I took some photos then walked up and started doing the same thing.  It's hard to just stand there with a camera while people are working.  I feel compelled do help a little bit, even though picking up a few pieces of cotton is not really work compared to what these guys have done most of their lives.

The sky was very dull and colorless when I first arrived to photograph the harvset.  The sun would come and go.  The nice thing about this kind of photo is the sky doesn't matter much.  It's the person that matters.  So, if you can take away anything from this, it's people matter the most.  There are some times when you have to change direction and focus on others.

Henning, Tennessee

Welcome to Henning, Tennessee.  A very small town in rural West Tennessee less than 2 hours north of Memphis.  There's a lot of history in Henning, but sadly there isn't much happening in Henning with the exception of one place, the Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center.

During a busy day you can stand in the middle of the street and not have to worry about getting hit by a car.  There are two intersections in Henning that have a stop light.  This one actually cycles throughout the day.  Even though no cars are at the intersection, it will still turn red every so often. I'm assuming there are no timers of the stop lights because when a car comes to a red light, it doesn't turn green right away.

Henning has tried to leave the old building fronts in tact as much as possible.  This may appear to be a building that could potentially be used for a retail business of some sort, but it's just a hollow shell without a roof.  I think at one point there was a fire that left these two sections a hollow shell open to the weather. 

There's an old watertower in Henning.  Not sure if it's used, but I sure think this point of view is cool.

This well-kept front porch belongs to the Alex Haley Museum and Interpretive Center.  The boyhood home of Alex Haley draws people to Henning.  As I was photographing this home I met a man from Oregon.  He had come all the way to see Alex Haley's boyhood home.  He wants to tell his grandkids he has seen it.  If someone from Oregon has come to Henning to see one home, just imagine how many more visitors would come to the town if it was revitalized.  Henning has loads of potential.  Hopefully one day it will become a vibrant community again.

To see more photos of Henning, follow this link: http://www.christyhunterphotography.com/p418528565

A Spot Along The Road

One of the spots I have visited a couple times to photograph is on the outskirts of Henning, Tennessee.  An old store and farmhouse sit on the corner.  The day I photographed these images was the third time I have photographed the place and it is probably my favorite.  The sky was blue and full of clouds.  Wish I had a time machine so I could go back many years ago and see what these places were like when they were relatively new.

Need To Be Re-inspiried

I went out today to capture some scenes, but it didn't go well.  The first place I wanted to stop I could not get access so my visions of rust quickly disappeared.

My alternative was to drive around and just find stuff.  I found very little.  I have reached a new point with my photography where I am trying to enjoy it.  The enjoyment seems to be lost.  It is truly work getting things together and heading out for the day.  It costs money that I spend on gas to drive around and find this stuff.  I have to enjoy this because there is no immediate financial gain for what I do, there may never be.

I have a deeper purpose in life, I know that, but when it comes to my photography I feel sort of purposeless.  Why am I doing this?  For what?  For whom?  What is the end result?

As a kid I collected baseball cards.  In the 90s the market exploded and it not longer became fun.  Everyone was trying to profit off it and the cards had to be perfect.  A grading system was invented.  A player's card may have been cherished, but because it wasn't perfect, it wasn't as good.  The joy of baseball collecting was stolen by a market of people just wanting to make a dime off something a kid loved to collect.  More baseball cards were printed to feed the demand and the market became flooded with cards.  The baseball cards I have from that era are not worth as much ones from the past.

I see photography in the same light.  Everyone's got a camera and photos aren't as valuable as they used to be.  I shoot old barns, cars, dilapidated buildings and so does Tom, Dick, Harry, Sally, Sue and Jen.  It's hard to be original anymore no matter how hard I try.  Today I got out of the car to photograph an old shed.  I started to set the camera up and got back in the car without taking a photo.  The sky was cloudless, an empty space of blue.  It really makes for a plain picture.  I'm at the point where I just don't want to take photos if I know they don't even have a chance of having the "wow" factor.

So today I spent 5 hours slowly wandering the countryside and this is what I came back with.  At least there are some clouds...

Exhibit - The Art of Farming

Next week I will begin setting up for my first exhibit.  There will be 30 pieces on display at the West Tennessee Delta Heritage Center in Brownsville, Tennessee.  This is such a great opportunity and I feel honored to be able to share my work with so many people.

I Went Out Today!!!!

I have not been out photographing since November.  There are reasons for this.  Today I made myself get out.  It is cold.  'Bout froze my fingers.

I have those little stretchy gloves, which are fine, but in order to feel the dials on my camera, I cut slits in the pointer and thumb fingers of the glove.  Makes for two very cold fingers while the rest stay warm.  Visited some new places, but went back to some places I have photographed several times.  Below is one of those places.  As of today, I think this is probably the best photo of this place I have taken.  Glad I went out.

Take Me Someplace Warm Please!!!!

I'm getting a bit sick of the cold weather.  Sometimes I like to pull up old photos from my trip to Gulf Shores during the summer because I really enjoyed the early morning walks on the beach barefoot with my camera.  We did stay one night in Louisiana on our way home and since the French Quarter seemed to lack kids on a Saturday afternoon we just parked and our family walked down by the riverfront.

This cruise ship was leaving and heading to some wonderful destination - at least I hope so.  I put this on Pinterest a while back and it gets pinned quite a bit.  People dream about going on a cruise and pin it.  Those who are going on a cruise and pin it.  Others are planning their cruise and pin it.

I thought about going out today and photographing all the ice on the trees, but I'm too cold so I just edited some photos and read American Photo magazine in front of the fire place.

To Warmer Days!!!

The Instagram

For the past couple weeks I stopped posting work to my Christy Hunter Photography Facebook Fan Page.  I found it became quite pointless when Facebook limits how many fans can actually see my photos.  There are about 1,000 wonderful fans on there and Facebook seems to pick favorites without my choosing.  My website is always open 24/7 at www.christyhunterphotography.com.

I have had an Instragram account for a while.  What I have found that Instagram does not limit my followers to what they can see.  I have around 200 followers and most photos generate 20 or more likes.  With Facebook I would be lucky to get 5 likes from almost 1000 followers.  Also both Instagram and Facebook allow tagging, but tagging on Facebook doesn't display everything in a group like it does on Instagram and Facebook doesn't allow tagged posts to appear if they aren't recent posts.  The only negative I see of Instagram is the format.  Pictures are small and have to be square unless you put a border around them.  There are limits, but I have found Instgram to be a better way to share my work.

You can follow me at:
 http://instagram.com/christyhunterphotography

What is it?

I found this piece of equipment near an old barn and abandoned house I was photographing.  What is it?  Looks like it could be something to hold milk.

What to do?

I'm in the midst of restructuring things.  I've acquired a new dot com, http://adventureroadphotography.com.  It just goes back to my website, the usual http://www.christyhunterphotography.com.  I wanted to have an identity that is associated with rural West Tennessee and the adventures I come across.  This may be scenes of old barns, an abandoned house, rusty cars and sometimes a new car or two.  In the past I've taken a lot of photos with people as the subject and my goal is to do less of that so I can focus more on the adventures I may find driving around in my car with a cup of coffee.

My postings have been limited on my usual Facebook Fan Page, but I have a new one that I have been posting to, http://www.facebook.com/AdventureRoadPhotography.  This Fan Page is going to focus on rural scenes and not many portrait type images.  I can't guarantee that a really cool portrait or some interesting scene with a person wont appear, but I want the majority of what I post to be rural scenes without people.

Instagram people!  Use it.  http://instagram.com/christyhunterphotography  Follow me and have a nice day!