A random road trip

My parents aren't the spontaneous type, but a few days ago, they decided to take a random road trip. Having nowhere to be at that particular time, I tagged along. We drove into the Great Smokey Mountains located here in East Tennessee - not a long drive, but scenic nonetheless.

Most people who live in East Tennessee probably wouldn't consider this a road trip, but we haven't lived in the area long enough or been to the mountains enough times to think otherwise. Being the camera addict that I am, I took lots of pictures. Here's one I took on the banks of the river we stopped to look at. Just figured that I would give a quick, little update.

The Eyes on LaFollette - Continued...

It’s been a busy week and I’ve been putting this off so I’m making myself post the continuation of my last entry – finally.

After a rough night of sleeping on the floor, I got up around 9. I took a quick shower and after packing my things, I headed to the continental breakfast at the hotel at the bottom of the hill. There I found a group of classmates eating a meal before the day's events. We enjoyed pleasant conversation over cereal, donuts, fruit and of course, coffee.

Once we were all prepared for another day of shooting, we returned to the hunt for the perfect picture. I decided to the visit the local park. Cove Lake State Park included a network of roads linking tennis courts to campgrounds, lakes and boat docks to swimming pools and even an amphitheater. I drove around looking for any kind of action: people pitching tents, cookouts, or fishermen standing on the banks. As I turned around from a dead end section of road, I saw an all-too familiar black Nissan Maxima coming towards me. It was Ben Moser looking for the same photo opportunities I was. We decided to team up and look for interesting people doing interesting things.

We drove over to the lake and found a couple walking down a paved path, fishermen casting off the bank and boaters paddling around. Ben made use of his 55-300mm lens and audio recorder by taking photos of the boaters and sound from a flock of geese swimming around. We then headed over to the campgrounds. We bravely decided to approach a family cooking breakfast beside their fifth-wheel camper. The family was interesting to say the least. The theme song Dueling Banjos from the movie Deliverance faded from our minds as we walked back to our cars.
At that point, Ben had to return to Knoxville for work. I left the lake and continued on my adventure. Once back into the populated area of LaFollette, I spotted a petting zoo in the mall parking lot. It seemed like a great opportunity to find people petting animals - which can sometimes make for good pictures. There was a family there that had a little boy who was having the greatest time. I shot a few pictures, got their names, and when things got boring, left.

Charlie - the baby Camel

My next destination was back at the gun store. When I arrived, a couple cars were outside so I was hoping for some customers guying guns. Nope. One guy was inside and was pretty much shootin’ the breeze with the owner about black powder rifles. I some picture just to say I did. At this point, I was wondering if staying for Saturday was worth it.

Continuing on, I found Jordan Vest taking pictures at a skate park beside a massive rummage sale. I took at least one great shot of a skater’s mid-air tick before exploring the rummage sale.


Not finding anything of interest there, Jordan and I went to lunch. We enjoyed talking cars and cameras over Wendy’s before heading back to Knoxville.

Jordan Vest behind me on our way to lunch

The Eyes on LaFollette project

These past few days have been quite busy for me. On top of schoolwork and orchestra performances, my advanced photography class has been working on its annual Eyes on LaFollette project.

Every year, Robert Heller's photography class makes the trek to LaFollette, Tennessee to take part in a joint project with the local newspaper, the LaFollette Press. The Press is kind enough to give us free reign on photographs and page layouts on a 14 or 15 page spread consisting of pictures capturing life in and around town.

Starting bright and early on April 3, 2009, our class hit the road north. Driving as many cars as possible, our class arrived at the LaFollette Press around 9am for a short briefing with the newspaper staff and a group photo in front of their building. We soon went our separate directions in search of story ideas and picture possibilities.

Having all my story ideas and leads fall though during the week, I was left at square one - reading the newspaper. As I sat on the floor in the newsroom skimming the paper with three or four other classmates, I saw an article that caught my eye. The clip showcased a man named John Edwards and how he opened a gun store in his basement. "How awesome!" I though. "This combines two interests into an awesome story." Armed with an upbringing that included guns, I figured I could talk my way into this guy's gun store. As it turns out, Mr. Edwards wasn't camera shy at all.

After spending around an hour talking about, looking at, and admiring his collection, I left. I didn't spend much time shooting because his basement didn't offer the scenery I was looking for. (Florescent lights don't lend themselves to good photography.)

Now back at the newsroom, I gathered a few more ideas and after a quick break, I hit trail. My next story idea led me to Ace Hardware. I took some pretty good pictures of people, both shopping and working. While there, I got a phone call inviting me to lunch. A bunch of classmates were heading to the popular eatery appropriately named 'The Dinner." I wasn't feeling the "photo vibe" from Ace anyway, so I left, making no plans to return.


Lunch turned out to be a good chance to see what others were working on and get a scope of what I needed to do next. Julian had been at the local radio station all morning; Danielle, Jennifer and Rebecca had been at a few hair salons; and Ashley hadn't shot anything so far. Lunch itself was pretty good. For me, it consisted of a giant, greasy burger and fries chased by sweet tea.

After lunch, I decided to drive around for ideas. I had driven nearly into the next town to the north when I saw a fire station. "Humm, that could be a good story," I said to my self as I pulled into a parking spot out front. I walked slowly up to the front door, hoping not to intrude. When I approached the door, I saw two guys sitting in recliners watching TV. They graciously invited me in as I explained why I was there.

I quickly realized this small fire station was cramped, dark and non-conducive for photography. The fire fighters of Station 3 recommended I try Station 1, the main station in the downtown area. So I did. As I walked up the stairs towards the front door of Station 1, I felt the same feeling of intrusion. Again, I found the fire fighters kicking back in recliners watching TV. By that time, I had my spiel perfected. They agreed to show me around the station and answer any question I might have had.

The longer I stayed at the station, the more open the men became. They took out their equipment from the truck and showed me how it worked. I got a few good shots of them in action pulling that stuff out. They even fitted me with an oxygen tank and mask, letting me get the feeling of what they wear in the field. As I was removing the tank, one of the men asked, "Hey, wanna go for a ride?" Of course I said yes.

I stood outside as the men piled into the fire truck and pulled it out of the bay. I jumped in the front seat and away we went. We drove around town for a few minutes as I was squeezing off every possible shot I saw. Being out of their station gave the men a good reason to visit their friends over at Station 2.


At Station 2, all the men congregated out front and conversed as I shot their pictures from different angles. We spent about 20 minutes with the men of Station 2 before we headed back to Station 1 in town. I kept telling the guys on the way back how appreciative I was they allowed me to shadow them.

So I left the firemen and headed back to the newsroom. There I found Julian, Ben and Professor Heller taking a break. I had told them that I just did a ride-a-long with the fire department when Professor Heller said he's had students actually go up in airplanes at the airport before. Julian, Ben and I looked at each other with the same idea - we're going to the airport.

After getting lost in a graveyard trying to find the airport entrance, we arrived to find an empty tarmac. We made our way inside where we found some men shooting the breeze. One of those guys was the airport manager who agreed to show us around. He told me to pull my car around to the entrance gate for the tarmac. Punching in the code to the electronic gate, I pulled my Trailblazer though and waited for all to jump in. We made our way to the end of the runway. We got out and took pictures of the beautiful valley and the expansive blacktop that disappeared in the distance.

Ben shoots Julian and I as we shoot back. Sounds like a gun fight...

We then made our way to the hangar where we must have taken 200 pictures of a Beechcraft Bonanza "V-Tail." Ben crawled inside and took pictures of the interior as Julian and I stayed outside to capture the details of the exterior.

I then turned to the airport manager and asked if we could drive down the runway. "Sure," he said. We piled back into the Trailblazer and headed toward the end the runway. As I turned the car around, I prepared myself and the Chevy for making a high-speed run. "A/C off - check; windows up - check; oil pressure, temperature, fuel - check, check and check. Lets go."

As soon as I buried the hammer, my leg cramped up. "I can't stop now!" I thought to myself as I pushed through the pain. All my senses heightened except for my sight. I developed tunnel vision as I notice the transmission should be shifting. I looked down to see my tachometer at nearly 6,000 RPM. Once the shift finally came, our momentum grew more rapidly. I looked down again to notice the speedometer reading almost 70 mph. The end of the runway looked miles away so I kept pouring on the power.

Julian was in the passenger seat snapping pictures of my gauge cluster as our speed reached nearly 100 mph. "Ok, this is when you should be applying brakes" came from the airport manager in the back seat. I slowly backed off the throttle and squeezing the brakes, my leg still throbbing in pain. I slowed to a near stop as I turned around to repeat the run in the opposite direction. We completed the second run and exited the runway. We thanked the airport manager graciously and headed back to the newsroom. I kept the fact that my leg was cramping until all but Julian was out of the car. (I didn't want to tarnish my manly facade I just built!)


Once at the newsroom, Julian picked up his car and we were off to our overnight accommodations. We were to stay in a lodge located on a hill behind the hotel that owned it. We parked in the grass out front and moved our stuff inside. We waited a short while on pizza delivered by a journalist from the LaFollette Press. That was followed by a informal class meeting discussing what we had encountered that day. Professor Heller then showed an old film form the 1930s. I believe the title was The Picture Snatcher and involved a story about a jailbird turned photojournalist. As we bedded down for the night, we all thought about our photo possibilities for Saturday. Sleep, at least for me, didn't come easily. The hard, cold floor and the excitement of the day keeping both mind and body occupied.


This is my account of Friday, April 3rd's trip to LaFollette, Tennessee. Check back shortly for the "rest of the story" concerning Saturday's events.