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September 23, 2001

"What's Up?" 

People who know me remember that I like cars and especially muscle cars, though I have never owned one. I smile at the old big engine Mustangs that are still being driven down here. At one time, I could close my eyes and tell by the engine what kind of car was coming or going. The Buick Dyna-Flo was easy. After all, I grew up in South Carolina listening to "Darlington" and heard on the radio (yes!) the skills of Fireball Roberts (baseball gave him that name). So you will understand how I felt when I heard what was coming around that nasty, nasty, sharp curve that I was right in the middle of with my camera to my right eye. Oh Yeah! It's a V-8 and they can't see me! What a way to die! Well, my will is made out. Didn't know I could jump backwards that fast! I heard the downshift. He knew the curve was there. It was a "I do not know what" car, green and low. I did not have a clue!

Tracking down another saddlebag house - these excursions to find (still studying southern vernacular architecture) are getting dangerous. I've been to several nearby and some not-so nearby counties. The "Big Find", however, was right here! I've read that my work is about nostalgia. It is not. It is about "drawing" with my camera and documenting old, former, slave cabins, turned tenement houses instead of drawing with oil pastels. I have discovered that people live in some of these houses that have not dramatically changed. The saddlebag has a chimney in the middle with a door entrance on each side. Two families, separated by a wall, share the chimney. Originally, all cooking was done in the fireplace. Later the kitchen was added and the indoor plumbing. One isolated farmlands, the saddlebag houses are being torn down because of fire hazards, sale of land, progress, taxes, and all sorts of other reasons. But right here in Athens on MLK JR Drive (right up against the street - no sidewalk room) are houses with some families or one occupant still living in them. I love houses and always have! I use to draw them and cars. I found an old sketchbook with a drawing of a Studebaker. 

Something strange has been happening! I have photographed old houses and cabins that appeal to me and it was not until I found out what exactly a saddlebag house is that I discovered all of my early photos of abandoned and lived in houses were saddlebag houses. So, when that "little voice says let's go" I pack up and go, not always knowing where. From the truck phone, I call Carson Plumbing and tell them that I'm off to approximately what county and the time. I take along a small booklet of house photos to help explain what I'm asking permission to "shoot". One time, well actually twice, as I raised the camera, a woman came out and leaned on a rail and put to the side what I thought was a very tall broom. The lens "said SHOTGUN". When this happened, words tumbled out in a steady flow gracious, self-effacing, pleasing of "I had a chimney just like that back home." I promised to bring back photos to her and I did.