Myrtle Beach is a big tourist town. But there’s another side to it if you look hard enough.     Is it wrong to avoid the tourist stuff in a tourist town?  These beach towns count on your out-of-state money to keep their city running smoothly. But if you look around there’s plenty of free things to do. Call me stingy, but my Shopping Mode just didn’t activate this trip. We came to Myrtle Beach primarily to spend time with family. Free fun doesn’t get much better than that! The early April weather was a bit nippy, but that didn’t stop me from going to the shore every da ..read more

It took a couple of days to drive to the Atlantic Ocean. Our side mission was to photograph every Dollar General we passed by. A multi-state game. We roll low and slow in the RV, preferring to travel the byways instead of the interstate. The objective is to enjoy the journey. Yeah, it takes a little longer, but the pretty scenery and relaxed pace are worth it. On these back roads, there’s a Dollar General store every few miles. It’s perfectly predictable. So our game this trip was to snap a shot of every one. See if you can find the Dollar General in each photo. Look past the bug splattered ..read more

  I spent the winter photographing nearby businesses. It was a deep dive into the local scene.     There are fixtures in every little town. Places everyone goes to hang out.  Small stores so well known they are local institutions. Often run by families, they are well-loved because the owners have a deep connection to the community and their customers. So before these spots disappear, through competition or attrition, I set out to document them. Each business graciously gave me unlimited access, was patient through multiple shoots, and in return I gave them a stack of photo ..read more

  We didn’t plan to stop at an Australian Zoo or visit a Shaker Village, but that’s how this lovely day played out!   Don’t you love happy accidents – when in the course of one thing you happen upon something completely different! Such was the case on a random Wednesday morning in February. We were headed to an estate auction, taking the back country roads. It threatened to be a slog of a drive – I didn’t realize the auction was almost at the Tennessee border! – but I knew a great Amish bakery along the way. And there, in a shared parking lot with the bakery, was Kentucky Down Under ..read more

They’re big. They’re loud. They’re stinky. Monster Trucks!   Just because I love loud oversized machines, I went to the Monster Truck show at Lexington’s Altec Arena. Tickets were cheap ($30) and I sprung for the extra Pit Pass ($5) which let fans roam around the Monsters and meet the drivers an hour before the show. There were four trucks in the main show, outsized and jet fueled, with enormous tires and fearless drivers. Also in the show were Monster Minis piloted by teenage drivers. The Minis were smaller and less dangerous but still took skill and guts to maneuver. For a fee ..read more

It’s January. It’s cold. And I’m staying home…specifically in my garage.     In poetry, when you publish a book of your poems it’s called a Chapbook. In photography, it’s called a Monograph. Or, more recently, a Zine – meaning a mini-magazine. I’ve made a few zines in the past. Here’s my latest… This is a book of abstract photography. It’s all about form and color and light. You can try to figure out what the object is, but that’s not really the point. I worked in the garage with the afternoon light coming through the windows. It illuminated simple objects into odd art forms ..read more

  We’re back on the Bourbon Trail to visit historic Woodford Reserve distillery.     It’s a winter tradition with our gang to meet up at one of the regional distilleries. There’s so many to choose from! Woodford Reserve, in Woodford County, Kentucky, is an old distillery and relatively small compared to others we’ve visited. The original stone warehouses were built in 1840. Hundred year-old cypress fermentation tanks are still being used. Mmmm – smell the mash! Woodford has expanded its copper stills to a total of six, each with that iconic shape. One of the old stone war ..read more

Love a parade? Me too!     There’s nothing more American than a small town parade.  And whether it’s a tiny burg or a larger city, the format is wonderfully predictable. There’s an easy kind of comfort in these reliable traditions – you know what to expect from a parade, and it always delivers. Any surprising variations will show you what’s important to that town. Bloomfield Kentucky’s Christmas parade had folks lined up on the sidewalks –  kids on the curbs, older folks in lawn chairs. A flag presentation opened the parade. Sometimes military members will present the fl ..read more

  Over the river and through the woods…to Clarksville!     I used to go camping in the woods to escape the city. But now that I live in the country, I want to visit a place that has something interesting to offer. Preferably somewhere I can get around on a bicycle and not have to rent a car. Clarksville, Indiana – just over the bridge from Louisville – fits the bill.  It’s on the path of the Ohio River Greenway, a paved bike and walking trail that runs from Jeffersonville to New Albany. Clarksville is famous for the giant Colgate Clock – which is larger than Big Ben. It ..read more

We spent a spooky Halloween weekend at a couple of historic ghostly sites.       Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill is a wonderfully preserved historic site in central Kentucky. And it’s exceptionally lovely in autumn. We joined a guided Spirit Walk through the village by lantern light. As we strolled the grounds, our guide told hair-raising tales about the Shakers. Well, actually, they were pretty tame stories. The Shakers were peaceful community who disapproved of violent confrontation. Things got spookier at the Shaker cemetery. Especially when we realized the tour group ..read more