Centinnial Olympic Park

 In 1992 after I bought my studio, and in 1996 Atlanta got the Olympic. After the announcement was made, Atlanta started a major transformation, and most of it was in my back yard.  The Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park is three blocks down the road from me, and it was the center of most of the Olympic fun.  My wife and I would walk there almost every night and spend hours watching live concerts from big name entertainers.  I said almost every night because there was one big night we didn't go.

Centennial Olympic Park was designed as the "town square" of the Olympics, and thousands of spectators had gathered for a late concert by the band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack. Sometime after midnight, Eric Robert Rudolph planted a green U.S. military ALICE pack (field pack) containing three pipe bombs surrounded by nails underneath a bench near the base of a concert sound tower. He then left the area. The pack had a directed charge and could have done more damage but it was tipped over at some point.  It was the largest pipe bomb in U.S. history, weighing in excess of 40 pounds.  It used a steel plate as a directional device^.  Security guard Richard Jewell discovered the bag and alerted Georgia Bureau of Investigation officers; 9 minutes later, Rudolph called 911 to deliver a warning.  Jewell and other security guards began clearing the immediate area so that a bomb squad could investigate the suspicious package. At 1:20 AM, the bomb exploded.
Alice Hawthorne from Albany, Georgia, was killed by a nail that struck her in the head.  The bomb wounded 111 others. Turkish cameraman Melih Uzunyol died from a heart attack he suffered while running to cover the blast.

Here is an impression of one of the nails from the bomb that went off

Atlanta street art

Georgia on my mind

This is the Georgia State Capitol building right here in Atlanta Georgia.  I've  lived less than two miles from here for over twenty years.  And today I shot it for the first time. It's a funny coincidence that I'm basically moving from the Capitol of Georgia, to the Capitol of Texas, (my home State).  Georgia is the peach State and our license plates state that as well.  If you spend any time visiting here you will also notice that every street seems to have the word peachtree in its name.  The funny thing is, in all my time here I have never seen an actual peach tree grove of any kind.  In fact, most peaches I have ever had come from Florida.

Scuttlebutt:

Things are getting real over here and soon I'll know a moving date.  

Retro lookback #1

This photograph illustrates two things.  It shows that I have meet a group of friends who, with a little instigation can paste a smile on most everyone around them.  This is my friend Jon Dilling, he mentioned he was going to shave his head so I helped the process along at that exact moment.  You can see here that I gave him a friar poof.  He kept this look for a beer at the Flat Iron bar on a dare.  As funny as that was, he wasn't the only one there with a haircut that bad.   Secondly it shows that I have lost my own hair through the natural process of aging.

Panda says stop

Those of you who have been following this blog have seen at least one false alarm on my studios sale closing.  In fact, there have been several.  Well the time for the sale to close is here, and could come sometime next week.  That is all I'll say about that for now, I don't want to jinx anything

Welding, brazing and airbrush in perfect harmony

I was a fly on the wall as I snapped up this photograph in front of Litttle's Food Store  in Cabbagetown.  I enjoyed the discussion they had about loading potato cannons with fireworks and setting it off in the air.  I have partaken in this sort of deviant behavior, In fact click here and buy one.  They're only $45.00 and it's the most fun you can have with a can of hair spray and a bag of potatoes.

A perfect Atlanta Sunday.

I just got the following e mail: "Thanks, our baby, Xola, arrived this AM :)".  Congratulations!

I was biking down the trail next to the Freedom Park Fountain and I saw this beautiful family and had to take a picture.  This is Zuri (mom) Jeric (dad) and Justice (I love her smile).  Zuri was due on Friday and was hoping the walk would help induce labor.  It's a girl!

You get to see a lot of thing while riding a bicycle than you do in any other way.  I can’t tell you how many photographs I have lost because pulling a car over and parking takes too long.  By the time you do park and get out, the shot is gone.

I 've shared a moment or two with this guitar man, sitting next to him as he plays.  This is an area next to the Candler Park Golf Course.  This is my turn around point so I stop here, have a drink of water and then begin my trip home.

Anybody care to guess?  You’re wrong, all of you.  This is a beacon of light guiding large crowds of women walking for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.  I joined in on the route that the walkers were taking, and I noticed that some of the route went through some pretty bad areas.   The pink color was very helpful to me, it was easy to see and it assured me that I was going the right way, It felt safe.  I stayed there for a while as he cheered the walkers on and did a hilarious dance for them.  If you look closely, he has plastic boobies. 

Two cars I love

Some days are better than others when it comes to shooting.  Today is one of those better days.  It was like a really great day of catching a fish every time you throw your line in the river.

My 1984 Jeep CJ7 

Everyone, meet Alick Gerard, he is a musician with the Honky-Tonk Revivalists, and a mechanic.  I caught up with Alick while biking down my favorite portion of the unimproved Beltline trail and asked him for a few photographs.

Alick purchased this Jeep Kaiser CJ3a to use on his ranch as a hunting vehicle, and for now uses it to walk his dog.  Jeeps are near and dear to my heart, the Jeep pictured to the right is my most prized possession.  This is a photo I took of it on a road trip to El Paso Tx., my hometown. The gas can is a speaker.

First I stumbled across this hot looking VW in the Fairly Poplar District.

Then I bumped into this VW near the Five Points area.

After shooting the blue Volkswagen, I biked on down the road and pulled over for a water break.  Suddenly, the silence of the morning was replaced by the unmistakable sound of a VW Boxer engine.  I know this sound well, my first two cars were Beetles.  I followed the sound to a warehouse tucked away behind a street, and met these two guys working on a VW.

Keep in mind that there wasn't a VW car show anywhere that presented this string of Beetles, it was just a strange sequence of coincidences.

My first Beetle made it to the pages of Hot VW Magazine.  I really wish I could make a link to my old VW in the magazine, or even a picture of any kind, sadly I have none.  It was the Beetle that sprouted my love of automobiles, and it was my love for automobiles and photography that steered my career to shooting cars.  For years shooting automobiles for SAAB, GM, Audi, VW and Chevy.  My photographs were used in dealership brochures and PR packages.

 These two Beetles were in this shop

Yaarab Shrine

This is the courtyard of the Yaarab Shrine on Ponce De Leon in Atlanta, it is still early in the morning in Atlanta right now and I plan on riding my bike back to this location today to get some more pictures.  I also want to get some more information for the update I plan for later today.

Center for Puppetry Arts

Today I went to the Center For Puppetry Arts and was given the golden tour by Mrs Hilary Meredith, she is the membership manager there.  Hilary and I have been bumping into each other for many years now and we hang with a lot of the same crowd.  

The Center For Puppetry Arts is a real important slice of Atlanta's "must sees", especially if you have children.  But even if you don't, they feature shows and events that I have to say have entertained me quite a lot through the years.  During some of the events that I have been to, puppeteers walk around the parking lot and greet you with an improve puppet show through your open car window.  

If you live here and you haven't been to a show you are really missing out on a great thing.

This is a little chunk of Atlanta that I will genuinely miss.  And now with my camera, I snap these pictures to take with me to Austin.

This youngster was running around a pole while is mother was making inquires into this room as a  birthday party location.

This is Sir Didymus fro "Labyrinth",  he is one of the many puppets on display here.  The level of detail on these puppets are amazing.  There is a Jim Henson exhibit featuring many popular puppets from Sesame Street, including a real Big Bird body puppet.  I wasn't allowed to photograph those though, (sacred territory).  You'll have to go there yourself to see them.

I've always loved this exhibit, it reminds me of something you might see in a show in old England.

These puppets are from the puppet store room exhibit.  This area replicates a puppet storage room, where performance puppets are found covering walls, ceilings and floor. Eleven puppets in the storeroom move periodically (electronically) to demonstrate a basic element of puppetry - the animation of inanimate objects.


This is a picture of my Niece Sterling and I while visiting the puppet store room in 2006.  She had a blast.

Thank you Hilary!

Welcome to my roof

Last night there was an amazing sunset on the roof of my building so of corse I took a bunch of shots.  I came up with this intriguing photograph  by dodging and burning in Photoshop RAW.  None of these shots are compilations of any two shots, of two different exposures, blended together.  This, in fact is a single photograph.  

This is the roof of my Atlanta studio, and these are the two chairs I keep up there rotting in the sun.  I come up here to have a beer and look over the city.  I used to have a hot tub up here, and it was here when the Olympics were held just up the street.  Now that the time to leave is near, I want to make sure that I capture as many memories of Atlanta with my camera so I can take them to Austin with me.  I started packing and have a good bit of it finished now.  The sale will close within the next 10 days or so....... Cross your fingers. 

This  is a view looking towards the Coke USA Headquarters.  You can see the hatch that gets you up there on the left.  Many good times have been had in this spot.

Mad cow!

 Peta was staging a protest in front of the CNN headquarters today, protesting human's consumption of Cows milk.  The protest starts out cartoon like with the protesters dressed in happy cow costumes walking in circles and holding signs.  This cow was very happy to stop and pose for this photograph.

Then these dudes lurk around and hand out leaflets with photographs of cows behind bars and covered in their own feces.  You can see in this picture, that there is a spirited discussion between pedestrian, a peta protestor and a "lurker man" (no cape).   The guy you see with the red and white striped shirt in the background is actually a street guy that they gave a few bucks to, to hand out leaflets.  I was there when the transaction went down.

To show that the discussion was in fact spirited, I am including this photograph.  It shows that the pedestrian lady is frustrated while trying to plead her side of the debate.  I use the word trying because in this case, no one wins the debate and everyone picks up their toys and goes home.  Everyone except the "lurker man" on the left, I think he's still there.  Anyway, time for some ice cream, or creme brulee, or maybe a giant block of cheese.

Underground Atlanta

Underground Atlanta is Atlanta's bad child.  It houses the zero milepost of the first rail line from Atlanta Ga. to Chattanooga Tn.  It also served as a supply depot of the Confederacy during the Civil war.  The actual historic area of Underground lays beneath this shot where you will find shops that sell tchotchkes, nail saloons and $1.00 stores.  Really, there's nothing that you would ever want to buy or see.    All of this badness hasn't kept the city from pumping tax dollars into "improving" the area but it has kept any potential customers from shopping there.  The only thing missing from this photograph is a tumbleweed blowing across the pathway. 

I worked with dodging and burning to give the effect you see in the brickwork.  I wanted the spots where the brick was obviously patched to stand out.  ttp://www.underground-atlanta.com/about-us/history-of-underground.html

Mike Carter of Auto Air Conditioning

This is Mike Carter, auto air conditioning shop owner and mechanic.  His shop is on Marietta St. about two buildings down from mine.  He does everything over there himself, no help.  He's also one of the rare humans that I trust to go under the hood of my beloved 1984 CJ7.  He really knows what he is doing.  Living next door to him has allowed my understanding of how air conditioning works.

Air conditioning is a weird thing, most people think you add cold to the air with it but you don't, you remove heat.  Oh, if you ever take your car in to an AC place and they top off the refrigerant and then send you on your merry way, take your car to someone else.  Someone like Mike.  Mike knows (for the most part), that refrigerant doesn't just go away, unless there is a leak.  He will fix it, not just take your money for a top off, then give it back to you leaky.

Thanks Mike for the lessons you have taught me, you have been a great neighbor and will be missed.

Right after I took this picture he asked me if I moved some stuff.  He knew I moved that red hat and I happened to catch the moment he figured it out.  You can see the laser beam focus he has on the hat, and you can tell that he's thinking that something is off. He was right, I moved it to get some pictures of the stickers he has on the lid of the toolbox.

We all experience the same illusion when we walk into places like this.  to us it looks like the aftermath of a hurricane, and we all wonder how anything could be found.

The reality is that everything has its place and when it's needed,  Mike will make a bee line straight to it.  Calling out a part and watching him go straight to It would be a great parlor trick if his business was auto air conditioning / bar.  

O rings.  Mike uses a lot of these things, they fix a lot of the leaks that I discussed earlier.  Mike tells me that If we run our AC in the winter from time to time, it will lubricate these rings and keep them from drying out.

Upon inspection some things make it into purgatory, but, that is its place.

Retro Tech

It's another beautiful day in Atlanta today as I rode through the Georgia Tech campus.  Riding a bike through the Georgia Tech campus should be on the "to do" list of every person who likes to ride a bicycle.  The sidewalks are real wide and wind throughout the pictures campus.  When you do need to get on a road there is usually a bike lane, and cars seem to be careful.

The buildings have real design here, you just don't see cheap looking glass square buildings.  It looks like they may have even encompassed a lot of the design input from the students in everything, each building looks like a class project.  This Summer they leveled quite a lot of buildings and erected some amazing ones in their place.  

  

This is the University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics.   I've always really liked this building, It has a George Jetson look to it's design.  Georgia Tech used to be full of cool little buildings like this, but seeing them now is becoming rare.   I hope they keep this one.

                                                                                                                                                                 Here is  shot of the buildings bottom.  I have always loved the design in the glass block.  The interior looks pretty aged though and the walls all seem to be cinderblock. 

Arabia Mountain.

Today was a special day.  An angel ascended from the heavens, picked me up in her Subaru, and brought her trusty sidekick with her.  I am talking about the hilarious gem in my life, Diane Simone and her friend Susan Shipsky.  Today we biked in the Arabia Mountain trail near Stone Mountain Georgia. The morning started out cool and cloudy, there was almost a drizzle in the air.  Then on the way back, the clouds parted and the sky opened up.  

Arabia Mountain is known as a rock outcrop and a monadnock. A monadnock is an isolated hill standing above the surrounding area, in this case wooded Piedmont land. Many rock outcrops lie east of Atlanta. Most are active quarries. Stone Mountain, Panola Mountain, and Arabia Mountain are being protected by local and state governments. Four hundred million year old Arabia Mountain is the oldest of these three monadnocks, 100 million years older than its granite cousins. Arabia is famous for the swirling rock pattern characteristic of "Lithonia gneiss," which looks especially beautiful on foggy days. Arabia Mountain was formed when rock was pushed upward toward the earth's surface, but still lay underground. As Stone Mountain and Panola Mountains were formed, Arabia Mountain underwent a change and the original granite rock was metamorphosed into gneiss (nice) rock.

This is chief pontificator Susan Shipsky.  Susan is expressing her desire for me to make her look like a starlet from the 1920's.   Please read Photoshop discussion from start of today's blog.  Besides, I think she does look like a starlet from the 1920's.

In this picture you see my angel Diane Simone.  (Don't tell anybody, but she is my x wife)

Diane is looking great, and sporting her full biker girl apparel.  With her pretty smile and slim aerodynamic bike you might expect to see her racing in some sort of petit le mans style bike race.  She has legs too, she made me work to keep up with her.

Hey now, look who we bumped into.  One of my BFF Rick Schroder and his wife Pat Berryhill .
The rumors are true.  Pat Berryhill introduced me to Diane in the "way back machine".  We got a passerby to take this shot for us.  That is me with the red shirt.

Topical and controversial.

Those of you here that are living in Atlanta know this sight well.  This is the now infamous Criminal Records in Atlanta, and they are a beloved album store that has been hanging on by the skin of their teeth.  It lives within the tapestry of Little Five Points.  Right now, Criminal Records is in the news in Atlanta a lot right now because they have been in danger of closing. The people of Atlanta have rallied together and started a grass roots effort to help save this business.  It started of Facebook with a Save Criminal Records, Facebook page.  

It's a real bummer for music lovers to see fewer and fewer places to buy LP's.  I found out that it is actually a real popular thing to have as an up and coming music artist.  Not just to appeal to the LP crowd, but as a means to showcase the artwork of the album cover.  Think of it, you're on the David Letterman show.  What do you want David to hold up to the camera while he introduces you, a tiny CD or a giant album cover?

Now for the controversial part.  Martin Luther King has been in the news quite a bit lately.  A giant stone carving of him has been unveiled in Washington.  I think the trouble started when Maya Angelou said King memorial inscription makes him look ‘arrogant’.  It then continued when people din't like that the stone they carved it into was white.  Anyway, I thought that I would pay tribute to him today.

Ebenezer Baptist Church 

Martin Luther King, Jr., was baptized as a child in the church.  After giving a trial sermon to the congregation at Ebenezer at the age of 19 Martin was ordained as a minister.  In 1960 Dr.King, Jr became a co-pastor of Ebenezer with his father, "Daddy" King. He remained in that position until his death in 1968.  As a final farewell to his spiritual home Dr. King, Jr.'s funeral was held in this church.

The Eternal Flame located in front of Dr Martin Luther King's Tomb at the King Center in Atanta, GA. The inscription on it reads:

The Eternal Flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King's ideals for the "Beloved Community" which requires lasting personal commitment that cannot weaken when faced with obstacles."  Built and dedicated in 1977 when Dr King's remains were moved to the current location from South View Cemetery.  The location is a National Historic Site.

Here he rests with his beloved wife.