Shooting Mostly Expired Film

bribrius · Feb 19, 2015

Authentic Southerner said:
thanks for the nomination ! I have always liked that photo...also more for the story it tells... to fill in some context that photo was taken at Merlefest (nothing to do with Merle Haggard although he did perform that year)...an annual Americana/Bluegrass festival in North Carolina...great festival by the way... most folks camp, lots of campfires and picking... the festival sets up "picker's tents" near the entrances with different themes...and folks (often well known performers) stop by and play, sometimes for hours.... I have seen Hippie New Grass guys sitting next to Old Time Mountain Men in overalls and work boots jamming together... it is truly a great scene... I hope this is not offensive.. but as a native Alabamian... those Alabama boys, although very *popular* are known around these parts as more a Holiday Inn Lounge Act than *real* ..... I hope I can embed this video from Merlefest... this is the sort of thing one sees everywhere at Merlefest...
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="Peter Rowan Yungchen Lhamo Mandolin Orange - I m Calling You - YouTube" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

well damn... I don't think I have the skills to post an embedded youtube video...

i started watching it. But i actually didn't like it. :laughing:

Has nothing to do with your photo. Your photo is simple, but represents a lot of people and their story. Which is why it caught my attention.

Authentic Southerner · Feb 19, 2015

Yes I can see your point of view.... I suspect that unless you have been to Merlefest, or are the sort of person who would enjoy Merlefest, that it is difficult to understand what I am trying to say.... Peter Rowan, the big old goofy guy playing with the others in the video... is sort of legendary in the Americana/Bluegrass world... his presence harkens back to the folk/bluegrass revival of the 60s...the first wave of young activist hippies, Foxfire books and a return to roots of Appalachia... He was sitting and playing directly across from the guy in my photo (out of view of course).... It is just that sort of juxtaposition (admittedly not portrayed by my photo) that defines the essence of Merlefest.... As to Alabama the band vs any of the many talented musicians *many would argue that musicians and performers are very different* who play at Merlefest,,,,well the band Alabama sold millions and millions of albums...and their songs are blasted loudly at Bryant-Denny Stadium to 100,000+ Crimson Tide fans almost every fall weekend.....so they are undeniably more popular and more widely recognized as associated with the South... an analogy among painters might be Thomas Kinkade vs Gustave Courbet....

bribrius · Feb 19, 2015

Authentic Southerner said:
Yes I can see your point of view.... I suspect that unless you have been to Merlefest, or are the sort of person who would enjoy Merlefest, that it is difficult to understand what I am trying to say.... Peter Rowan, the big old goofy guy playing with the others in the video... is sort of legendary in the Americana/Bluegrass world... his presence harkens back to the folk/bluegrass revival of the 60s...the first wave of young activist hippies, Foxfire books and a return to roots of Appalachia... He was sitting and playing directly across from the guy in my photo (out of view of course).... It is just that sort of juxtaposition (admittedly not portrayed by my photo) that defines the essence of Merlefest.... As to Alabama the band vs any of the many talented musicians *many would argue that musicians and performers are very different* who play at Merlefest,,,,well the band Alabama sold millions and millions of albums...and their songs are blasted loudly at Bryant-Denny Stadium to 100,000+ Crimson Tide fans almost every fall weekend.....so they are undeniably more popular and more widely recognized as associated with the South... an analogy among painters might be Thomas Kinkade vs Gustave Courbet....

I like the band Alabama (to a extent). I am from the north east though. what do i know about the south? other than a little time in miss and southern georgia. I have no southern culture. If i named off some blues bands people actually into blues would probably tell me they suck. If it makes you feel better, i have a confederate flag in one of my closets i picked up years back. No idea why. I was going to put it up outside for chits and giggles i think (to get a laugh), but my wife told me it wouldn't go over well.

Authentic Southerner · Feb 19, 2015

no worries I think in retrospect my response was a little harsh or rude..so I apologize for that... you unknowingly hit one of my triggers... the band Alabama..hahah... Just like any region, the South is a complicated place, full of many different sub-sets of people, many of whom don't get along very well... I suspect I have more in common with a particular kind of person from Maine than I do other kinds of people who live in Alabama...

the truth is (upon Lenten reflection) that the story a photo tells is the story "heard" by the person viewing it... and sometimes that story matches the story the photographer hoped to tell and sometimes it doesn't.... doesn't make the photograph itself any less or more meaningful....

I graduated from ....as they call it down here... THE University of Alabama... and it is in many ways a great school.... I have a BA in History....but I absolutely CRINGE when I hear U of A referred to as "BAMA" AND when they play that damn Alabama song "Dixieland Delight" at the home football games... of course I am among a small minority of people in this State who feel that way... but hey it is what it is... I have spent some time in the North East and I observed quite a few folks up there that reminded me of folks from back home ...Hahhhh

limr · Feb 19, 2015

Authentic Southerner said:
I graduated from ....as they call it down here... THE University of Alabama... and it is in many ways a great school.... I have a BA in History....but I absolutely CRINGE when I hear U of A referred to as "BAMA" AND when they play that damn Alabama song "Dixieland Delight" at the home football games... of course I am among a small minority of people in this State who feel that way... but hey it is what it is... I have spent some time in the North East and I observed quite a few folks up there that reminded me of folks from back home ...Hahhhh

Uh-oh. First Sharon and her Tennessee Vols, and now an Alabama Red? I'm a northern girl through and through, but I went to college at the University of Florida, so there's still plenty of orange and blue that flows through these veins. We're all going to have a problem come next football season. And I liked you, too. A fellow filmie!

(I kid

)

Authentic Southerner · Feb 19, 2015

Here is another B&W film photo I shot on the great summer trip... a wind farm somewhere in rural Montana... I think this was Kodak PXP 125 and it was definitely 35mm in a Nikon F5...

Authentic Southerner · Feb 19, 2015

and another more recent.... an old 19th century post office in the small town of Mooresville Alabama... shot this with the Minolta CLE and I believe expired bulk loaded TMax 400... a very photogenic spot for sure...I wish I had framed it a little more carefully... but it has been there for almost 200 years ... maybe I can get back by there sometime soon....