This week’s Picture of the Week was inspired by yesterday’s 550 mile drive to Columbia, South Carolina. It was there that I had a rendez-vous to pick up Aidan from his three week stay at grandma’s.
I love the Old South! Something about it tugs at my heart’s string and whenever I step into this part of the world a deep tranquility comes over me.Very little of it is pretentious and much of it is honest.
For the past five years during my son’s summer vacation I’ve been driving him to visit his mother’s family in Johnson City , Tennessee . I drive as far as Columbia , SC where his uncle picks him up and drops him off.
As is the norm for me I take I-95 from my home in West Palm Beach , Florida until I reach the Georgia, South Carolina border. It is here that I leave the high speeds, stress and billboards behind and enter a world forgotten to the masses who continue on the interstate.
This forgotten world is one of small, quaint towns where the Kress building remains proudly standing; where country roads are framed in the shade of oak and pine trees; and where fields of corn, tobacco and collard greens await harvesting. It is a world of wooden barns, brick chimneys that defy the decay of time, Spanish Moss and Rebel flags. A place where stately plantations and shanty towns sit side by side as if time had stood still. A place where everyone you come across, white, black, old, young, male or female wave a genuine hello to any stranger who decides on a less stressful approach to their destination.
This PoW is not from South Carolina but from Sapelo Island , Georgia ; another of the Old South wonders. I took it while on a magazine assignment on the Gullah people of the South and it’s one of my favorite images from that story. I’m thankful that this casual Sunday drive (in part at least) reminded me of the majestic beauty still found in the Old South.
(NOTE: All Picture of the Week images are available for purchase at http://tiny.cc/PoW where you can view the ever growing collection. Prints in three sizes and finishes can be bought inexpensively directly online. Start a collection or give them as gifts. Either way they are one of a kind Arruza images that tell a story.)
Technical details:
- Nikon F100
- Fuji Velvia (RVP) film rated at ISO 50