Wednesday, August 6, 2014

There are two more monographs I've obtained that I am enjoying a lot.  One is by the late Georgia photographer, Jack Leigh titled The Land I'm Bound To.  The other is by George Tice titled Seacoast Maine.  Both are vivid evocations of place, and both do it well.   Many of Leigh's photographs share themes with those of Tice, and there's no doubt that he's been influenced by that master, but Leigh is genuinely of coastal Georgia and is original and true to that subject.  I mention this because I need the influence too.  This flat Florida landscape isn't easy to photograph the way the rolling hills, and open forests of New York are.  Both Leigh and Tice use fog as an important filtering element, but that's not so common here.  Coastal Florida, though, has incredible clouds that form on many summer afternoons and often bring local downpours. The photograph here was made standing at the edge of the little roadside pullout where I found the bent over tree in my previous post. The clouds were not spectacular, but were good enough!



3 comments:

dvoss said...

I looked up both of them as they were not known to me. I realized I had seen Jack Leigh's photograph on the cover of a paperback book I read years ago.
Some of his photos reminded me of my memories of Chestertown, Galena, Betterton, Elkton and Kentmore Park. Refrigerators and washing machines in the front and back of houses, tiny little churches, old brick buildings and sidewalks, metal lawn chairs and gliders, farm stands with men in kakis and suspenders and the Fagan's store to name a few.

John Voss said...

The book you are referring to is "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil". That photograph made him well known. I agree about the reminders of all those Maryland places you mention...rural, small town, run down, and quaint. Very evocative, aren't they.

dvoss said...

Yes. I went back there twice. Once when I was driving. I was a few years out of Tyler. It was much the same and my heart ached. I used to have recurring dreams about our house and K.P. I was driven down there by a friend in the mid 90's. It was very different. Lots of additions on houses. New ones built in what had been larger yards. Kind of yuppy, suburban, prosperous with almost a gated community feeling. I walked to the end of the big pier. There was a house for sale near Doc's for $140,000. If I was driving, I would have seriously considered it. I think if something good or bad is in your life, it comes up and taps you on the shoulder when the time is right. ( Not fate, just cause and effect) The K.P. time had past. I took brownie snapshots as a kid, but my mind holds a treasure trove of memories of that time and place.