I had the occasion to have lunch downtown yesterday, a day of simply beautiful spring weather — which I absolutely used as an excuse to take the camera for a spin.
The vast majority of the time, I use what I call my standard lens: 35mm. (Some would argue that 50mm is the “standard,” but I really prefer the wider angle of view due to its additional context.) This time, however, I was using Leica’s superb — and, sadly, no longer available — 90mm macro. The detail, the color, everything about this lens excels:
Leaves and Berries, Poplar & New Sts.Veteran’s Flame and Flag, Macon-Bibb Government Center, 700 Poplar St.
It’s sometimes a challenge to be creative in an area you’ve photographed often, but I enjoy trying to spy new details:
L.C. Rick’s Place, D.T. Walton Sr. Way & Poplar St.Kudzu Signs and Building Cornice, 512 Poplar St.
Confession: For the last several years, I’ve been avoiding Eatonton. Its four-lane bypass is notorious as a revenue generator for Putnam County, so when heading north to Madison or Athens I have been taking the prettier Monticello route instead.
My mistake. In almost twenty years of living less than fifty miles from this gem — and perhaps because of that bypass — I’d not explored downtown. It’s definitely earned another visit.
Residence Above Maggie Lane (Mind Your Step)Putnam County Courthouse (Tree)
I also wasn’t aware that Alice Walker (The Color Purple) and Joel Harris (Uncle Remus) were locals — the latter explaining the prevalence of rabbits hopping about:
Rabbit (Paper Jeff)
Interesting art, too:
The FolksArt, 119 S. JeffersonSelz (The “Sole” of Honor), 107 N. Madison
I’ve been meaning to take a camera to Sparta for a minute now; its downtown is small yet old and photogenic in a distinctly Southern way.
Confederate State of Hancock County
On that subject: let’s get the elephant in the room out front and center. Sparta is 85% Black, arguably economically and socially suffering, and yet this monument stands front and center. Why?
Neglect: “It Suits Us”Lightbulb Moment, 12745 Broad St.
However, there are signs of hope. More than one building downtown is being refurbished, and there are at least a couple of businesses that are surviving — perhaps even thriving — by providing a sense of community:
The Sparta Ishmaelite (Printing)Hattaway Furniture, 12755 Broad St.
By the way, those old buildings often have beautiful cast iron details:
Gerald and I took advantage of a warm and cloudless March day for a lengthy photostroll which started in Milledgeville — lunch — and wandered northeast, starting at the nearby O’Quinn Mill:
Old O’Quinn Mill (Wheel)Old O’Quinn Mill (Siding Detail #2)
The old mill building is situated on, natch, O’Quinn pond — a man-made addition to Town Creek:
O’Quinn Pond Dam (Town Creek)
There’s a dock and old farm buildings in the complex, which these days is a picturesque event venue:
O’Quinn Mill on Town Creek
We continued on to Sparta, then returned through Eatonton, stopping in both towns for photographs. (Updates coming tomorrow and Wednesday: stay tuned.)
Meanwhile, take a look at the updated Milledgeville gallery, now up to 100 photographs spanning the last twelve years. Enjoy!
Look out, look up, look forward, and look through in this edition of brief, link-filled goodness.
“You May Now Enter”
PRINT covers, uh, covers:
While the book blob dominated the discourse for the last few years, we’ve recently identified another trend splashing its way across new releases: the recurring symbol of doorways, open windows, and mysterious portals.
—Charlotte Beach and Chloe Gordon, PRINT
A couple of the examples they cite:
Not only a portal but a shelf. Cool.Not only a portal but also stairs. Nice.
Unlike the blob, I’m in favor of this one — the hint of the unknown is appealing in a visceral way that offers more while simultaneously offering more sales by asking potential readers to speculate and, thus, engage. Nice call, PRINT.
Here’s a question you’ve been absolutely asking yourself: what are the origins of the infamous Lorem Ipsum?
The lack of placeholders on the shelf is remarkably appropriate. (Photo: Scott Keir.)
Turns out it’s not as simple as Aldus [known as Adobe these days —Ed.] — or the even-more-infamous annonymous. Tim Carmody, the very capable guest chair at Kottke.org, fills it in: it’s Cicero. No kidding: Slate says so.
De finibus, indeed.
Fourteen Fonts to Follow
Creative Boom, where having eyes on you is actually fun, celebrates “14 Fonts to Fall in Love With” for Valentine’s Day. While Foreword may be late to the party, a couple of the type choices are first rate:
Irregardless1I absolutely want to steal their website design: the menu system is brilliant. and Pastiche, in order. (And no, I didn’t put those two together to be funny.) Read the article and pick your faves.
Art of Building Photography
I wasn’t aware of the Chartered Institute of Building, or their Art of Building photography contest:2Their terms are good, too — something remarkably rare in contests.
“White Constellation,” by Francesca Pompei.
Since architecture and photography very much intersect in my camera, brain, and work, I’m glad to have found this great source of inspiration:
“House of God,” by Roman Robroek.“My own little cosmos within reach,” by Pati John.
Spring is beginning to blossom here in Middle Georgia, which means it’s time to restart the traditional Sunday drive and photostroll. This week’s destination was the small city of Jackson, seat of Butts County, and home to a typically pretty downtown square:
Jackson Historic Square (20 Oak St.)
The courthouse, as is often the case in Georgia, takes center stage:
Confederate Butts Forever“Dream,” Not Necessarily Reflected
No, I usually don’t make political commentary. Why do you ask?
Anyway, there are several examples of my architectural studies, including these:
Butts County Courthouse Tower (B&W Study)Smoking Column Detail, 10 3rd St.
I didn’t realize that Jackson was the filming location for Stranger Things — a stand-in for Hawkins, Indiana:
Jackson is Hawkins (Police)
Check out the full gallery for Jackson, including yesterday’s photographs and those from last year, which include some from nearby Jackson Lake, in the updated gallery.
From book design and minimalist photography to … well, book design and what absolutely isn’t minimalist photography, plus some street signs and another warning about Adobe. Let’s dig in.
Book Design #1: People Really Do Judge a Book by its Cover
From University College Cork — that’s Ireland, folks — we have something that, on the surface, seems obvious: a book cover“is the most likely factor to convince a person to read a book if they are unfamiliar with the work or its author.” Maria Butler, a PhD candidate in the School of English and Digital Humanities at UCC, reminds us why.
Design by Kimberly Glyder.
You’re reading Foreword, so you likely agree — and shown above is one of those worth-a-thousand-words images: the first of the 2023 titles I’ve set aside for my favorites of the year, and absolutely something good enough to make me pluck it off the shelf without knowing anything about either the title or author.
A screenshot from the Shift Happens website. Great stuff.
This project not only scores with great web design — check the interactive version of the book, pictured above — but what also seems like great book design. It’s a Kickstarter project (or will be, next month), so the usual cautions apply, but I might just go ahead and take the leap.
Couple of interesting book design items, by the way: the TOC is at the back, the endpapers are awesome, and the macro photography is tops. The book design reminds me of The Playmakers, still my favorite book design project ever.
Bonus: Tim Walsh, author of The Playmakers, is still going strong. Nice.
Photography #1: Minimalism
The winners of the Minimalist Photography of 2022 awards are in, some are fantastic. Here are a couple of favorites, from the architecture category:
“Prince Claus Bridge in the Netherlands,” by Arthur van Orden“Blue Window,” by Andrea Richey
The Minimalist Photography Award is the only foundation that deals extensively and professionally with minimalist photography as a branch of photography in which the photographic artistic vision takes the lead.
Milad Safabakhsh, President of Minimalist Photography Awards
Direct quote, just because: “A man with three legs, a vintage car scaling a building, and an unsettling formation of people donning bird masks are a few of the scenarios highlighted in the terrifically bizarre Wonders of Street View.”
I didn’t know it was a thing to dress up and pose for the Google cameras. Perfect.
Street Sign Style Guide
Speaking of street views, did you know there’s a style guide for highway signs? Would you believe that I’m a fan?
Interestingly, there is an I-42/I-17 interchange in Phoenix, but this ain’t it: these signs are representational.
As with most things government, there’s confusion, too many regulations, and yet it’s based around good ideas. Beautiful Public Data has a guide to the guide.
Adobe Steps in it, Again
From DPReview: “If you’re an Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, you might want to go and turn off a new setting immediately. It’s been discovered that Adobe has automatically opted users into a ‘Content analysis’ program that allows Adobe to analyze your media files […] for use in its machine learning training programs.”
It’s important to note that Adobe only uses the files saved in the “Creative Cloud,” something I don’t do as a matter of course, but even still, this is yet another example of Adobe using its monopoly position in the creative field to take advantage of its paying customers.
Adobe, unsurprisingly, didn’t return DPReview’s request for a comment/clarification.
Named for the city in Ireland, Dublin in Georgia is an hour or so southeast of Macon. It’s my third trip there, and, like last time, I enjoyed Gerald’s company.1He seemed to enjoy the trip, rain notwithstanding, but apparently the creative juices didn’t flow. (Sorry, man.) Details here.
It has a photogenic downtown, too:
Corker (of a) Building, W. Jackson St.Fountain and Holiday Tree, N. Monroe St. and Bellevue Ave.
The Welcome Park includes a clock and bell complete with clover, reminding visitors that the name is, in fact, a tribute:
Dublin Welcome Tower #1
As has become typical, my favorite — “best” is debatable, of course — shot is a close-up that’s almost an abstract. In this case, a turquoise box car in the appropriately-named Railroad Park:
Pull Down for Camel, Dublin Railraod Park
Just off the main drag we found an item thankfully not yet painted over:
Aqua Fox, Jefferson and Madison
. . . Which may, in fact, be a holdover from a bygone era. In fact, I’d be remiss if I didn’t call this subject out:
Laurens and Dublin Mural (No Biases Shown), S. Lawrence St.
The only people of color depicted here are Native Americans, relegated to viewing (probably from afar), and two Blacks, very much shown “in their place.” (Dublin still prominently features a Confederate memorial, as well.) Let’s hope that this small city continues its journey into the 21st century, one step at a time.
See the updated gallery here. As always, once in the gallery, click on any photograph to start a slide show.
1
He seemed to enjoy the trip, rain notwithstanding, but apparently the creative juices didn’t flow. (Sorry, man.) Details here.
This time, art from old encyclopedias, architectural art, and an appeal to add art to your post-holiday shopping and giving plans.
Books as Art — In a Different Way
Cara Barer says, “Books, physical objects and repositories of information, are being displaced by zeros and ones in a digital universe with no physicality. Through my art, I document this and raise questions about the fragile and ephemeral nature of books and their future.”
It’s more than that, though:
As This is Colossal puts it: “With cracked spins and crinkled pages, the manipulated objects reference the relationship between the natural and human-made as they evoke flowers at peak bloom.”
As a book designer, I’m glad that the titles used aren’t something a designers labored over but rather mostly instruction manuals and old encyclopedias. Either way, they’re a beautiful way to make commentary.
“Photographic escapades in arcades and colonnades”
Liberty Station, San Diego by Keith James
Few scenes set my photographic heart aflutter as does the view down a long covered walkway towards a distant, barely visible vanishing point. As a self-confessed symmetry addict drawn to architectural images in black and white, photographing these vistas scratches a deep creative itch.
Keith James, MacFolios
His article is well-illustrated, informative, and speaks to my heart: I love a good arcade — although, in some cases, I feel like an entry or exit makes the point:
Vassar College Chapel Arcade, September 2021
This is not the first time I’ve admired Keith’s work. His “Architecture Meets Sculpture in Black and White: the Interplay of Light and Form” was great work. Both articles are highly recommended.
Artist Sunday
For those of you in the United States, this weekend is the Thanksgiving holiday. It’s also that most American of traditions: a shopping weekend. I have spent recent years boycotting Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and am encouraged by the emergence of Giving Tuesday. Here’s something to add to that list:
Photographer Chris Sherman developed the concept of “Artists Sunday” in 2019, after noticing a bump in sales on that day in November. “The idea struck,” Sherman told Hyperallergic. “What a great time to patronize artists — during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.”
In 2020, Sherman launched the project alongside Cynthia Freese, a fellow artist who has also spent extensive time on the boards of arts nonprofits. On a dedicated website, Sherman and Freese provide artists and arts organizations with free marketing materials to promote the event. Now in its third year, over 4,000 artists and more than 600 towns and cities across the country have signed onto the initiative, which takes advantage of special events and partnerships (with nonprofits, individual artists, and businesses) to spread the message.
As most of you know, I’m not a huge fan of photography competitions. Like I did last year, though, there’s an exception for this one: not because it’s better than some — there’s still the problem with rights, methods of compensation, etc. — but because it’s so up my alley. (Pun intended.)
If you’ll pardon the cliché, great architectural photography is more than the sum of the building’s parts. These great shots show just that:
Cycling Under the Circles, Berlin, Germany, by Marco Tagliarino (Exterior)Shapes of Soul, Milan, Italy, also by Marco Tagliarino (Interior)
Entry photographs are divided into six categories: Exterior, Interior, Sense of Place, Buildings in Use, Mobile (with Bridges being this year’s theme), and Portfolio (focusing on the theme of Transport Hubs).
Glass Floor, Tokyo, Japan, by Tom Ponessa (Buildings in Use)Architecture 1, location not listed (but pretty cool, IMHO), by Stephane Navailles (Bridges)Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport, China, by Kangyu Hu (Transport Hubs)
