U S 25 South

     Spring, 1991. I had been working as a life model since October of the previous year. I have already mentioned the beginning of that adventure at Armstrong State in Savannah. From 9 April (at the beginning of the Masters) until early June I was the only model for a figure drawing class taught by James Rosen, one of the best teachers of any subject I have ever been privileged to know. During the motorcycle journey from Savannah to Augusta College, I noticed an old abandoned house right by the road. When I began taking my camera to Rosen's class to document a long article I was working on, I realized I had another opportunity in the old house. One day I set up the camera on a tripod, got naked, and produced some art of my own. The sonnet came later, but is a pretty accurate account of my experience there. I also stopped at Magnolia Springs State Park a couple of times, and on each visit found myself the only person there, so I took advantage of the solitude for some more outdoor photos.

                     U. S. 25 SOUTH

Within cudzu cathedrals, rotting frame
And rusting roof still standing in the green
Profusion, what does its survival mean?
My vision seeks, but cannot find a name
For any who lived here in joy or shame.
An impluse strikes; I strip behind the screen
Of vines; in camera's eye alone I'm seen,
A solitary vision of the same
World-sadness that this rotting relic cries
To any ear not deaf to feel its tears.
Irrational, perhaps, to strip and pose,
Framed in the dusty doorway: down the rise
Unseen, unseeing, 'mid his whining gears,
The trucker sheds no tears as on he goes.

This last photo I call "Into the Sun."  I shot it at nearby Magnolia Springs State Park, also along U S 25 South.