AMERICAN GIRL (II)

Only in America...

AMERICAN GIRL

Only in America, only in America...

WEEKEND IN NASHVILLE

                  From left, me, Jim Yates and Bonnie Montgomery (photograph by Jim Yates)

Usually I don't post pictures of me, but a couple of weekends ago, I had such a blast visiting my friends Bonnie and Jim in Nashville, TN, that I've absolutely got to leave some kind of visual record here.

When Jim and Bonnie moved to Nashville over a year ago, Jim thought he had to have a band because everybody in Nashville does (including Bonnie). One fine day, Jim was riding his bicycle down Shelby Avenue and noticed the Shelby Avenue Baptist Church. "That's it," he thought, "I've got the name for the band!" And that's how "The Shelby Avenue Baptist Singers" (TSABS) were born.
Bonnie has several serious musical ventures, including her opera (www.billyblytheopera.com) and her folk music (www.myspace.com/montgomerytrucking). "Shelby is my little creature," says Jim, "and I don't want to give the impression that Shelby is Bonnie's main Nashville musical outlet. She endures The Singers for me and has a fine band of her own."
In reality, TSABS has many, many members, as many as people are wise enough to drag their asses to that wonderful city to visit Bonnie and Jim. Tradition dictates that, each time they have a visitor, they'll 1) take a square picture reminiscent of those old gospel albums, and 2) Hosts and guests will record a church hymn. Usually, the guest has to add a special contribution.
I was no exception, and they asked me to add that little something to "Where you there." I didn't know what to do. Had never played that song before; but, after listening to Bonnie play it on the piano, I asked them to give me some minutes to go outside with a guitar and see what I could come up with...

                     (photograph by Jim Yates)

...and what I came up with was a little monster in which I mixed folk style chords with some more Latin/Jazzy ones. It's really an awful way to cook up music, but we sort of liked it (must have been the Jack Daniels...)

                          (photograph by Jim Yates)

                               (Photograph by Bonnie)

Thank God, Bonnie came to the rescue and fixed everything with her wonderful voice.


Jim is the most handy guy I've ever met (well, with the exception of my father). For the album cover picture, he made a soft box with just a card box and two white trash bags (borrowed from his neighbor, in the purest Yates tradition). All in 5 minutes. Here it is, the invention and its satisfied inventor:


And you folks can hear "Where You There?" and all "The Shelby Avenue Baptist Singers" previous recordings and see Jim's wonderfully crafted photographs by clicking HERE

Then, we went to downtown Nashville to just dive and drown ourselves in live music...





If y'all really like music, Nashville is the place to live. No kidding.

THESE ARE FOR MICHELLE

INSPIRATION AND PUSH

I was looking at Paolo Pellegrin's portrait series of Hollywood stars with my colleague Gary Cosby, a guy I admire a lot, both as a person and as a photographer. We were trying to figure out the type of lighting and how Pellegrin used it. Looking at good stuff like that can really bring you down when you consider how far you're from that level of photographic quality, but it can also inspire you and push you to try new things.
Right after our discussion, I went out to photograph Macey Warren, 18, and Jerry Reed, 86, the youngest and oldest Red Cross volunteers in the Morgan-Lawrence County chapter. While I was driving to the Red Cross office, I thought, "Well, they're not Hollywood stars, but this is a portrait and I'm going to push myself to do something new today." So, I completely changed what I had in mind and looked around the Red Cross office to see what I could do. The final results are a far cry from Pellegrin's stuff, obviously. Also, one thing is what you visualize and another what you actually get, but I'm glad I tried. As Gary told me once, if you don't push yourself and try something different in each of our more than frequent portrait situations, you're dead...


Volunteer Jerry Reed, 86, is reflected in a Norman Rockwell poster at the Red Cross office in Decatur.


Volunteer Macy Warren, 18, outside the Red Cross office in Decatur.

NET

I don't know why, but usually I try hard to avoid the net when shooting tennis. This time I decided to include it, and... it's not too bad.

LEFTIES

This season Hartselle has seven left-handed pitchers, from left, Hayden McCaghren, Chad Girado, Houston Cleveland, Josh Chop, Luke Bole, Trace Austin and Ryan Joy.