Tuesday, July 31, 2012

My Sister's Antiques: Details

When I have the time, I love to putter about in antique stores, especially those in small towns. That's what this post is about.

Today I went to My Sister's Antiques in downtown Loganville, just two or three miles from my house. I'd gone there over the weekend and was returning to buy a Kodak Starmite camera that's a couple of years older than me, and also to look around some more (it's a great store).

I had my (contemporary) camera with me, and they were kind enough to allow me to take some pictures while I wandered around. Here are some of my favorite details from the store:





















Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Mamie's Alteration Shop: A Photo Essay

For about three years now I've been getting my pants hemmed at Mamie's Alteration Shop in Loganville (and, at five-foot-five, I have to get all my pants hemmed before I can wear them; they don't make pants for guys as short as me). I've been intrigued by Mamie's for some time now, and when I went in this afternoon to take a pair of my wife's pants that needed fixing, I got up the nerve to ask the owner, Henry Buff, Jr., if I could take some pictures of him and his shop. He said yes, so for the next twenty minutes or so, I made portraits of him and his shop and talked to him about his business.










Mamie's has been in the same spot for forty-nine years now, except for a few years when he moved to Atlanta. Most of the sewing machines are older than that; Mr. Buff has been using the same machines since he opened up, but he bought them used back then. They are beautiful old Singer machines; I'd like to go back and take more pictures of them one day.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

People at the Georgia Aquarium: Waiting, Looking

Here's a photo essay of people I saw today at the Georgia Aquarium:








Sunday, July 15, 2012

Atop Stone Mountain

Today my family and I went to Stone Mountain Park. We go to Stone Mountain a lot; it's one of our favorite places.

This is a photo essay about some of what you see at the top of Stone Mountain, beginning with the Summit Skyride ride up:


This young woman looked at me through an O she made with her thumb and forefinger--I'm not sure why:


The Atlanta skyline, to the southwest:


A panorama of the sky above Lilburn:


Green-shirted man resting:


A fellow photographer:


Big clouds, blue sky, tiny people:


Pointing towards UGA:

 (I don't know if that's what he was actually doing or not.)

The lady with the parasol:


Wednesday, July 11, 2012

To Tallulah Falls and Back

Today I went for a nice little drive up through northeast Georgia. I'd actually intended to go all the way to Dillard, GA, right at the South Carolina border, but I made a few too many stops along the way to allow me to get that far--at least if I wanted to make it back home in time for supper with my family (as I had assured my wife I would). But as it was, by the time I was done taking pictures in Tallulah Falls I was ready to head home anyway.

I started out from my home in Loganville at about 7:50 that morning, and after stops at QuikTrip for a cup of almond amaretto cappuccino and a Candian bacon/cheese/egg English muffin, not to mention a tank of gas, I was off for real.

At about 9:30 I stopped in Jefferson to take some pictures of the soon-to-be-opened Red Hound Antique Market, which is in the site of the Jefferson Mills, Inc., founded July 15, 1916, as you can see in this picture:


The antique market wasn't open when I was there; in fact, when I looked it up on the Internet, I learned that the ribbon-cutting ceremony was to be two days later. In any case, I had a good time walking around taking pictures of the place. I'll resist the urge to post a couple dozen of them here, though, and just post a few.


The posters of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley that are up around the third floor of the building are, I would guess, about ten feet high:

(I don't think that's really Marilyn, either, but someone pretending to be her. It's the real Elvis, though.)

The next two pictures are from the back side of the building, which had lots of interesting textures and shapes and colors. The railroad tracks also run right behind the building.


This is a closeup of the lock and handle on the above door:




After half an hour or so of taking pictures at Red Hound, I headed back out, but after only a few minutes stopped along S.R. 335 to take this picture of this old tin house, labeled Mays Venable:


On the other corner was this sign, which gave me a craving I haven't yet satisfied:


At some point not too far away I got on U.S. 441 going north. I stopped at Bookstand of NE GA in Commerce and, after nearly an hour of perusing, bought a couple of Loren D. Estleman's mystery novels and Eyewitness: 150 Years of Photojournalism. Just beside the strip mall containing the bookstore is the remains of the Pottery Plant Greenhouse and Gardens, which looks to have been empty for some time. Appropriately, the local flora is taking it over:



I took a couple dozen pictures, but I'm trying to avoid the cliched fine-art fascination with TOADs (mostly because I don't do it that well), so I won't post any more.

I stopped just a few minutes later in Cornelia, Home of the Big Red Apple:


and took a picture of myself on the caboose outside the Railroad Museum:


After half an hour or so of meandering around Cornelia, I headed back up 441:


and eventually arrived in Tallulah Falls. The Indian Springs Trading Post was open; I didn't go inside, but I took a number of pictures of the outside. I love how this place seems virtually unchanged from how it must have been forty years ago. It reminds me of many of the places you see as postcards in Tim Hollis's books.


Just a tiny ways down the road is Tallulah Point Overlook, where I went to wander around for a few minutes and take pictures:





Here about a dozen visitors enjoy the view of Tallulah Gorge from Tallulah Point's covered porch:


I bought a bottle of muscadine cider, a Sioux City Sasparilla, and a Moon Pie to fortify myself for the road and headed back home around 2:00. I was home just in time for supper.