Recent Entries
December 17 , 2011
BLOODKIN & Friends (featuring legendary Bobby Keys) play Exile/Sticky Fingers era Rolling Stones at the Georgia Theater
November 12 , 2011
600 of the finest horses in the Southeast competing..
October 16 , 2011
Indigo Island and Pinckney Plantation are sweltering under the South Carolina sun as tourists invade in advance of the Fourth of July holiday. But when three cousins who fancy themselves amateur sleuths come upon a long-ago runaway's skeletal remains, the cold case casts a chill on summer fun.
October 15 , 2011
Historic Oakland Cemetery founded in 1850 is a quiet, garden oasis less than a mile from the heart of Atlanta...
October 3 , 2011
The serene atmosphere of Bonaventure Cemetery envelopes you in a world that brings reflective thinking and a sense of melancholy sadness coupled with a strange, but certain sense of joy.
October 2 , 2011
The Epting Events food photography session was full of energy
September 25 , 2011
Those brief, magical moments of a morning sunrise along the seashore
September 24 , 2011
High quality art prints processed with pigment inks on archival paper now offered for purchase
Images from Here and About the Beyond
The serene atmosphere of Bonaventure Cemetery envelopes you in a world that brings reflective thinking and a sense of melancholy sadness coupled with a strange, but certain sense of joy. Each time I visit this place, I gain new perspectives. Reading the stone engravings I realize that not only is life itself short, but so is the time span of mankind. Everything is relative, we live in the moment and are, at times, able to immerse ourselves in our memories and vicariously share in the memories of others. The stellar gears in the sky continue to rotate in a clock-like manner and nothing remains static. We rarely even notice this universal clock-like movement. It is hardly perceptible to we humans who are microscopic in the universal scheme of things. We generally see ourselves in a much larger light.
Various shades and forms of fungus and the rusted, tarnished metal conspire to create impressions that transcend mere words in this tranquil world of the deceased lying beneath the earth in state. The light slips in quietly during the early morning hours and its dappled appearance through the trees and gangly, gray-green moss changes the landscape in subtle ways. What was once a ghostly sculpture of forbidding, dark coolness, becomes a warm and masterful piece of timeless art that seems quite natural among the towering oaks decorated with flowing strands of timeless moss. On the other hand, many of the finely crafted monuments are beginning to show obvious signs of decay and decline. For even stone has its limited time to remain untouched by the never resting elements. Nothing is as constant as change.
The concepts and emotions that I wanted to convey in my images was a vision of how beauty is found at every stage of existence, even in the dull, gray shades of death. When these statuesque stones were left for following generations to view and admire, the grave stones and monuments began to fade and crumble. Nature takes it course and even these large stone monuments vanish with the passing of time. The broken angel wings, missing fingers, and faded stone faces show that all things tangible are temporal. These things are created for the moment and in the case of these monuments, for a limited time period thereafter. Only the spiritual world is infinite in accordance with our finite minds. The active, living minds of we humans who exist on this blue ball of a planet, which will eventually become a cloud of stellar dust, reach out to the beyond. We look for signs and we search for truth. We strike our beliefs in the stone of our souls with the hammer of faith and then one day we pass on never to return to this place in time. We tell others to follow us. We believe we have found the path to paradise. Follow us we say, we have found the way. Then, we go never to return here. We leave stones on top of stones to mark that we were once here in this place in time which is ever changing.
The existence of a world beyond is recognized by the marks of crosses, stars, and words of love inscribed in stone. The concept of eternal life is apparent in the markers that dot the landscape. However, it is obvious that these markers themselves will not pass the test of time. To the people who laid their loved one to rest, life is just a short ferry crossing to a shore of infinite life and light. The sadness is a relatively short endurance of pain for the living. Soon, they too will joyfully join their loved ones on the other side of the river. Everything in its time and everything in its place in the vast room of infinite space. We humans seek to restore order in a complicated universe. We do so all within the confines of our own collective souls. Total belief based on faith that moves mountains, yet cannot be seen with earthly eyes. The tears of death are from the eyes of the living. The dead shed no tears, feel no pain, they are relieved of all sense of hunger. They are now "At Rest" for eternity.
The most poignant, emotionally moving grave sites contain the remains of young children who experienced a brief span of life. These little, angelic lives slipped into the shadow of death leaving a sense of deep despair in the hearts of those that dearly loved them. Those who continued living without their dear angels made their feelings known to the world at the point of the grave. Their young loved ones left long before their time of life had blossomed. Those loving survivors let us know this without doubt by leaving indelible, deliberate marks for all who would come to see. They desired that we know the breadth of their love and depth of their sadness. The loss of young, innocent life whether through the forces of nature, the hand of man, or accidental occurrence, is always one of the deepest, most emotionally scarring sorrows known to mankind.
Other impressions are made by brief epitaphs that reflect the properties of a life well lived and a life well loved. Even today, the songs and sonnets of those who are now gone continue to echo through the air to the ears, hearts, and minds of many generations. Those that lived a stalwart life are deemed as honorable and well thought of. The life of one who strode the straight and narrow are held in high esteem. Likewise, those that were able to amass vast stores of earthly wealth have the ability to leave their mark with large and impressive monuments. So, the rain of the righteous and the no so righteous showers down on all gravestones equally. All of these markers are destined to dust. The memory of many of these souls are long forgotten, but the stone above their coffins remain for a time.
The images created here are also intended to reflect the ever changing aspects of life in a very unlikely place. From the dark to the light, life itself never remains that same, only our perception of it as seen through temporal eyes make it that way. Each day, each moment is brand new and nothing is the same as it was before, only our perception of it seems somewhat the same. During our short lifespan, these stones will seem to last a very long time. In reality, they are there for only a brief moment.
See all the images in the Grave Obsession Gallery
The serene atmosphere of Bonaventure Cemetery envelopes you in a world that brings reflective thinking and a sense of melancholy sadness coupled with a strange, but certain sense of joy. Each time I visit this place, I gain new perspectives. Reading the stone engravings I realize that not only is life itself short, but so is the time span of mankind. Everything is relative, we live in the moment and are, at times, able to immerse ourselves in our memories and vicariously share in the memories of others. The stellar gears in the sky continue to rotate in a clock-like manner and nothing remains static. We rarely even notice this universal clock-like movement. It is hardly perceptible to we humans who are microscopic in the universal scheme of things. We generally see ourselves in a much larger light.
Various shades and forms of fungus and the rusted, tarnished metal conspire to create impressions that transcend mere words in this tranquil world of the deceased lying beneath the earth in state. The light slips in quietly during the early morning hours and its dappled appearance through the trees and gangly, gray-green moss changes the landscape in subtle ways. What was once a ghostly sculpture of forbidding, dark coolness, becomes a warm and masterful piece of timeless art that seems quite natural among the towering oaks decorated with flowing strands of timeless moss. On the other hand, many of the finely crafted monuments are beginning to show obvious signs of decay and decline. For even stone has its limited time to remain untouched by the never resting elements. Nothing is as constant as change.
The concepts and emotions that I wanted to convey in my images was a vision of how beauty is found at every stage of existence, even in the dull, gray shades of death. When these statuesque stones were left for following generations to view and admire, the grave stones and monuments began to fade and crumble. Nature takes it course and even these large stone monuments vanish with the passing of time. The broken angel wings, missing fingers, and faded stone faces show that all things tangible are temporal. These things are created for the moment and in the case of these monuments, for a limited time period thereafter. Only the spiritual world is infinite in accordance with our finite minds. The active, living minds of we humans who exist on this blue ball of a planet, which will eventually become a cloud of stellar dust, reach out to the beyond. We look for signs and we search for truth. We strike our beliefs in the stone of our souls with the hammer of faith and then one day we pass on never to return to this place in time. We tell others to follow us. We believe we have found the path to paradise. Follow us we say, we have found the way. Then, we go never to return here. We leave stones on top of stones to mark that we were once here in this place in time which is ever changing.
The existence of a world beyond is recognized by the marks of crosses, stars, and words of love inscribed in stone. The concept of eternal life is apparent in the markers that dot the landscape. However, it is obvious that these markers themselves will not pass the test of time. To the people who laid their loved one to rest, life is just a short ferry crossing to a shore of infinite life and light. The sadness is a relatively short endurance of pain for the living. Soon, they too will joyfully join their loved ones on the other side of the river. Everything in its time and everything in its place in the vast room of infinite space. We humans seek to restore order in a complicated universe. We do so all within the confines of our own collective souls. Total belief based on faith that moves mountains, yet cannot be seen with earthly eyes. The tears of death are from the eyes of the living. The dead shed no tears, feel no pain, they are relieved of all sense of hunger. They are now "At Rest" for eternity.
The most poignant, emotionally moving grave sites contain the remains of young children who experienced a brief span of life. These little, angelic lives slipped into the shadow of death leaving a sense of deep despair in the hearts of those that dearly loved them. Those who continued living without their dear angels made their feelings known to the world at the point of the grave. Their young loved ones left long before their time of life had blossomed. Those loving survivors let us know this without doubt by leaving indelible, deliberate marks for all who would come to see. They desired that we know the breadth of their love and depth of their sadness. The loss of young, innocent life whether through the forces of nature, the hand of man, or accidental occurrence, is always one of the deepest, most emotionally scarring sorrows known to mankind.
Other impressions are made by brief epitaphs that reflect the properties of a life well lived and a life well loved. Even today, the songs and sonnets of those who are now gone continue to echo through the air to the ears, hearts, and minds of many generations. Those that lived a stalwart life are deemed as honorable and well thought of. The life of one who strode the straight and narrow are held in high esteem. Likewise, those that were able to amass vast stores of earthly wealth have the ability to leave their mark with large and impressive monuments. So, the rain of the righteous and the no so righteous showers down on all gravestones equally. All of these markers are destined to dust. The memory of many of these souls are long forgotten, but the stone above their coffins remain for a time.
The images created here are also intended to reflect the ever changing aspects of life in a very unlikely place. From the dark to the light, life itself never remains that same, only our perception of it as seen through temporal eyes make it that way. Each day, each moment is brand new and nothing is the same as it was before, only our perception of it seems somewhat the same. During our short lifespan, these stones will seem to last a very long time. In reality, they are there for only a brief moment.
See all the images in the Grave Obsession Gallery
