last of the great flying fools

 carrie rivers, richard harpole

I recently got to spend the day at Chad Smith's cabin in House, Mississippi, where he and his family will be moving soon. Chad is a unique photographer, in that his camera of choice is a 60 yr. old Vageeswari, from India. Over the course of the day, Chad shot 5 ambryotypes using the wet collodion method. If you are unfamiliar with ambryotpes, it is the process of shooting an image on a prepared glass plate, and preparing with chemicals. This technique came into use in the United States around the 1850's.  The magic of the process, is that you never know what you will get.  Every photograph is truly a one-of-a-kind piece of art work.  Hopefully Chad will let us come back for another visit.  I'd love to follow him around and document the process from start to finish.  Thanks you for sharing your work, and for an an all around great day!

Chad's friend Harpo, also came out for the day, driving up in his yellow Cadillac Hearse.  I think my friend Carrie described him best...  "musician, whiskey drinker, gun slinger, oh and he drives a yellow hearse".  I'd add amazing story teller. 

nature

I'm not usually a big fan of worms in my garden, but this guy had us mesmerized yesterday.  We couldn't resist putting him on the front porch to film.  I wish that the lighting could have been better, but my actor had little patients for this production.  

His size is pretty unbelievable... (5in. long x 1/2in. wide).  I have no clue what type of creature he will eventually evolve into, but I'd love to know.  Any ideas?  His horns remind us of a Chinese Dragon at New Years.   No animals were harmed in the making of this film.  He is now safely back in nature, and free to terrorize my parents plants.

an afternoon in the country {part 2}

We spent our Friday evening visiting my parents farm, and soaking in some of the last lingering moments of Summer.  I love how the light takes on a different glow this time of year, making life seem a bit more relaxed and peaceful.

an afternoon in the country {part 1}

 Friday afternoon, Patrick and I drove out to Causeyville for one last meeting with our Pastor, before saying our I do's.  Brother Ryan is the pastor of the church where I grew up, and he will be marrying us on Saturday. This was our rehearsal of a sort, since we are having a small wedding with just close friends & family.  As we read over our vows, we began wondering if one or both of us will flub them.  We were reassured that this happens all the time.  I'm not convinced that's comforting.  Did you practice yours before hand?  I'm thinking we will...

Instead of heading straight to the church, we decided it would be a nice afternoon to spend driving in the country.  We ended up stopping in at the Causeyville General Store.  I hadn't been since leaving home for college and this was a first for Patrick.  As a child, my parents would bring me here on Saturdays to get candy.