Back in June of this year I was at the end of my rope with a relationship I’d been in, so I decided to drive down to my folks’ place in North Florida to just disconnect for a few days. I had to try and come to terms with the realization that who I fell in love with, and who she really is were two very different people. My brain was telling me to let go and that I was better off without her, while my heart still ached to be with who I thought she was, and to whom I had let my guard down. It wasn’t a fun place to be for me. On top of this, she was trained in how to manipulate people for her job, and it came quite naturally to her in her day-to-day life outside of work as a result. She had managed to make me feel like nothing was good about me, and that all of our issues were my fault. I was dumb enough to believe her — up to a point. I’d never felt as badly about myself as I did when I was with her at the end of that whole relationship.

Well, photography is one of very few things in life that can free my mind of whatever is haunting it. I can get so lost in it — or so focused on what I’m doing — that I don’t think of anything else. So, as I drove down that Wednesday afternoon I made up my mind that I was not going to let the week I planned on spending down there go to waste by sitting around licking my wounds the whole time. I wanted to use all the negative energy I was feeling to my benefit, so I made up my mind that I was going to shoot an entirely new portfolio of work while down there.

It wasn’t going to be just any portfolio for me. I wanted to do something that said something about who I am and where I came from — something that I could show with pride. You see, prior to this, I had been openly discriminated against; not because of how I looked or acted, but because of how I talked and where I was from. So, as a result of this, I tried to downplay being more of a country boy quite a bit.

I share all this because it’s the reason I shot all of the images shown here in this post. I like who I am, and was tired of feeling like I needed to change for those that didn’t accept or appreciate me.  I set out that week to capture southern people, places, and activities in an effort to celebrate who I am and where I am from.

I planned my days around where the sun was in the sky that week because I was deliberately trying to shoot as much available light as possible. It was an exercise to me in letting go. Not feeling like I had to make everything just so through artificial lighting. Sometimes it’s so hard in life to just accept, appreciate, and make the most out of what you already have, due to being so focused on what you wish to have. These shots were my attempt to do that visually.

“Fishing For Something That Isn’t There” :: My friend Arna ask me to do a self-portrait while I was down there, and this is what I ended up doing. It visually describes the frustration I felt about what I had been doing.

He actually caught this catfish on a bare hook within seconds of putting it in the water. Him actually catching a fish was a bonus to me. I just brought the props to capture a boy fishing on a dock, and the live freshly caught catfish just made the shot that much sweeter to me.

I climbed up on the roof of my truck to get this shot of what turned out to be one of the largest yellow jacket nest on record. It was pretty stupid of me to do this. Luckily it was later in the day when the yellow jackets are not as agressive due to it cooling down some.

This is the only shot I used strobe on all week. I was shooting in the middle of the afternoon with the sun high in the sky, so I needed the extra light to fill in the shadows.

I was actually letting him drive right over the top of me for these shots. He just stopped the spraying right as he passed over me. It certainly is an odd feeling letting a machine that size head towards you and just letting it go right over the top of you.

This is another photographic example of me not being so smart sometimes when it comes to getting the photo I want. I was laying down on the ground in this shot with cows like this all around me — staring me down. I was out there by myself, so there would have been no one to get help had one of them decided they didn’t like me being there. What a rush though.

This reminds me of Pink Floyd album covers, or the Alice In Chains album cover with the three legged dog on it. It’s an illusion in this case.

They have excellent chili dogs and fried pies at this Tifton, Ga joint.