July photography in Georgia — even on a day that was “only” hot, as opposed to “scorching” or “overwhelmingly humid” — is a challenge. But yesterday’s photostroll was completely worth the effort.
Monroe Light Sign, S. Broad St.
Named after James Monroe, this north-central town is about an hour east of Atlanta; close enough to the city to be called an exurb, it has an excellent selection of amenities to choose from.
Sign to Rinse, 106 S. Broad St.Street frontages, N. Broad St.
Typical of towns of the era, it has an old-fashioned town square and 19th-century architecture everywhere you turn.
Old Monroe City Hall (Roofline Detail), 101 S. Broad St.Classic and Cast (Building Details), 124 N. Broad St.
The downtown area was well-tended — somebody did an excellent job with the flowers — and not only has chairs to savor the ice cream, but a center to appreciate the arts, as well.
Crepes A’wash, W. Washington St.Scoop a Spell, 140 N. Broad St.Monroe – Walton Center for the Arts (Building Detail), 205 S. Broad St.Monroe – Walton Center for the Arts (Garden #3), 205 S. Broad St.
I took the long way on a trip to “The A-T-L,” and enjoyed the visit very much. I hope you’ll enjoy the results.
Update 2, 30 June: I forgot to mention that I’ve reformatted all of the posts for 2026 to match the new style. Posts from 2025 and earlier will have mismatched pullquotes, among other minor items — but the content is unchanged.
Update, 30 June: Fingers crossed, things seem to be working. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you run across anything. Thanks.
Update, 29 June:I broke something yesterday. The images on some posts from 2026 have been disconnected, and I’m not sure why. Posts from 2025 and earlier, and a couple from 2026, are displaying correctly. Working on it. Fixed.
Update, 28 June:The search results return mostly non-clickable results. Hmph. Will fix as soon as I have a moment. Fixed.
Original Post: It’s one of those things: something needs work, but since it’s yours — and not a clients’ — it doesn’t get done.
After a while, it starts to annoy. Still … other priorities take precedent.
But then something happens. In my case, it was the installation of WordPress 7, which caused several problems on the site. Old is one thing, but broken is another. It was time.
The itch finally got the scratch.
The New Foreword, June 2026
The site’s undergone a major reorganization, and as a result, it’s more focused. While there are static pages, visitors are directed to where the updates are posted: my blog, Foreword.
The site features completely new style sheets, which means a more flexible layout, dynamic fonts, and more. As a result, it has better compatibility with tablets and mobile devices — even if it’s still best viewed on a big screen.
The kicker: it’s based on modern code. That means it’s both faster and more private, stripping out third-party services (and their trackers), including search. The site continues to not have cookies, and does not save visitor information.1With one exception: if you use the contact form, a duplicate message is temporarily saved in case of an email hiccup.
Vetrans Super(fortress), Georgia Vetrans State Park, Cordele, Georgia, 2018
The photography sections got a bump, too. They’re now broken down into categories:
Regional Imagery, photography from selected cityscapes, rural scenes, landscapes, and architectural photographs from ten US states (plus several additional locations in the UK)
College Street, photography from colleges and universities, and
Maine Revisited, covering a ten-year span — 2008–2018 — of photography from the great State of Maine, “the way life should be.” While the book has sold out, there are hundreds of additional items to enjoy in the galleries.
And debuting this fall: Frequency Shift, which is macro, detail, and abstract photography from the world of hi-end audio.
Brick Arches, Fort McClary, Kittery Point, Maine, 2014
As often happens with a ground-up rewrite, it’s still a work in progress — there are wrinkles that’ll hopefully be smoothed out in the next few weeks, most likely including things I don’t yet know about.
Kindly let me know of anything that doesn’t work for you.
However, it’s the end of the month, and I have the dozens of saved pages, notes, and photos set aside for this month’s Beautifully Briefed that I must attend to. (That’ll be posted Tuesday.)
As always, thank you for visiting!
Top image: (Signs of) Bolingbroke, Georgia, 2018
1
With one exception: if you use the contact form, a duplicate message is temporarily saved in case of an email hiccup.
The first photostroll downtown this year involved some new gear, an extremely sharp and astonishingly compact wide-angle zoom from Sigma. I’ve wanted something wider that the 35mm-equivalent that is my daily driver for a minute now, and this absolutely fits the bill.
It also gave me an excuse to see a couple of new and updated spots in Macon:
Rosa Parks Square (Memorials and Seating), Poplar and First Sts.
First up is the refreshed completely redone Rosa Parks Square, now with extensive hardscaping, seating and more — a much needed change to one of the most important areas in the city, right next to the City Auditorium and downtown’s Hotel 45:
Rosa Parks Square (Circle), Poplar and First Sts.
Also completely new is the Otis Redding Center for the Arts, a refreshingly contemporary building with its own new landscaping and gardens:
Zelma Redding Amphitheater (with Statue), Cherry St. and First St. Ln.
It’s a pleasure to be able to get a huge amount of detail, landscape, and space into a single photograph; the wide-angle itch is well and truly sated. Better still, when asked to focus on details, it shines very brightly indeed:
Cherry Blossom Festival Decor (#1), Parish Seafood, 580 Cherry St.
It does retro well, too:
St. Joseph’s Catholic Church (Spire), 830 Poplar St.
So, ask me how I feel about this upgrade. Well, how ’bout this:
I Heart Downtown (Sculpture), Second St.
Sigma got this lens just right. Including the seven posted here, a total of 30 new photographs have been added to the Downtown Macon (2022-2026) gallery.
Note: Once you’re in the photo gallery, the new items are near the middle of the stack — look for the retro photo from this post and it’s the photos that follow. Remember that you can click on any photo to enlarge to a single photo with locations/titles and next/back controls (or run a slideshow). If you’re in a downtown Macon mood, don’t forget the 2008–2018 and 2020–2021 galleries as well. Thank you!
It’s been a while — too long, in fact — but with a completely new storage and editing system in place, it’s time to get back to taking, editing, and posting photographs from Middle Georgia and beyond.
This time, it’s the nearby city of Forsyth, specifically its historic train depot. Interestingly, Forsyth was the first city in Georgia to get passenger train service, in 1838, and the lovely station wears its years well.
Tracks and Train Depot, E. Johnston St. and Railroad Ave., Forsyth
Both the depot and its features are examined, in general and in detail:
Forsyth Train Depot (Roof and Chimneys), 104-114 E. Adams St., ForsythForsyth Train Depot (Train Car Detail #3), 104-114 E. Adams St., ForsythForsyth Train Depot (Train Car Detail #5), 104-114 E. Adams St., ForsythAntique Fire Truck (Detail #7), 104-114 E. Adams St., Forsyth
And, ever watchful:
Forsyth Train Depot (Bronze Dog Sculpture), 104-114 E. Adams St., Forsyth
This is my second try at a fall photostroll in Helen, a German-themed town in the Georgia mountains north of Athens, and I’ve got to tell you: Helen and I are not getting along.
Technically, it’s my fault. But I feel the relationship may have soured; I just might neglect to make a third attempt.
Unicoi Bridge into Helen, Georgia
In late October, 2019, I was there with an unfamiliar lens and although I took a stack of photographs, the vast majority of them were junk. I got eight — eight! — worth putting up. Again, my fault. But not at all the results I’d wanted.
This week, I was back. I had two beautiful fall days to make up the deficit.
Flags and (Brew) DecorLove Lock Bridge (Railing #1)
Day one saw 68 photographs taken with my favorite 35mm, but I could tell almost immediately that it wasn’t going the way I wanted. It was flooded with tourists — expected and okay, frankly, but not built for wider shots. “No problem,” I said to myself. I’ll enjoy some schnitzel, have a good night’s sleep, and clean up with the detail shots in the morning.
Bling Bling Blink Tourist BlindChristoff’s 76, Munich St.
Alas, not only did I get out of the wrong side of the bed, my back somehow got out of the other side — I wasn’t walking anywhere. Crap.
Bridge Lights, Main St.River Overlook, Eidelweiss St.
Worse, upon examination back in front of the big computer, I wound up with less than superlative results: only 30 of those 68 got posted.
That little town — more a hamlet, really — is called Deepstep, and I’ve marked it for a stop since. On the way home from Augusta (part 1, part 2), I finally had the opportunity.
Alonzo G. Veal & Son (What We Don’t Have, We Can Get), 9665 Deepstep Rd.Veal & Son Building Detail #1, 9665 Deepstep Rd.
What a great little spot.
Gate and Field, 9665 Deepstep Rd.Outbuilding and Pine, 9731 Deepstep Rd.
The gallery’s only eighteen photographs, but absolutely a worthy addition to the newly revised Middle Georgia group. Those galleries cover everything from Pine Mountain in the west to Sandersville in the east, Madison in the north to Dublin in the south.
Indeed, I’ve rearranged pretty much all of the Georgia galleries:
The new Georgia gallery group: five items instead of three, all featuring rearranged contents.
As mentioned yesterday, I’ve been meaning to get to downtown Augusta with a camera for years. Actually, that not correct: I’ve been meaning to get to downtown Augusta . . . period. I’d never been there, despite living 130 miles away for almost two decades, despite having been nearby, despite — well, you get the idea.
Statue at James Brown Plaza, Broad St. and Augusta Common
So it was a pleasure to get to the home of Woodrow Wilson, James Brown, Jessye Norman, and countless others — and see a city a lot like so many others in the American South, a city that’s struggling with identity, history, vacancy, gentrification, and so many other issues prevalent in the 2020s.
The Confederates and the Albion, Broad St.
One of them is the continued presence of a huge Confederate memorial, a shame in a majority-Black city — and just in front of the Lamar Building, soon to be luxury apartments. What message are Augusta, and its new luxury residents, sending?
Miller and Lamar, Broad St.
Nonetheless, the day’s efforts resulted in some satisfying images, from architecture to neat details:
Augusta Cotton Exchange Building #1, 32 8th St.Miller Theater (Entry Detail), 708 Broad St.Edgar’s Above Broad (Logo) Sign, 699 Broad St.
Augusta is a riverfront city I’m looking forward to returning to. In the meantime, please enjoy a total of 128 photographs in the newly-posted gallery.
Together with Columbus and Macon, Augusta is one of Georgia’s “Fall Line” cities, and is home to more than 200,000 people. Located on the eastern edge of the state on the Savannah River, it was founded by James Oglethorpe in 1736 on the site of a Native American river crossing.
Augusta has long been on the to-photograph list, but it’s just far enough away from Macon to make a quick, unplanned trip difficult — so this past weekend, when another trip was cancelled, I took advantage of the available time and made it happen.
Blue Against Blue Against Blue, 943 Ellis St.
Of course, rather than a quiet Sunday downtown, I ran headlong — no pun intended — into the Augusta Ironman marathon. There were crowded street corners, intersections closed aplenty, and a combination of competitors and supporters everywhere.
Boll Weevil Cafe and Sweetery, 10 James Brown Blvd.
Nonetheless, it was a beautiful early-fall day in Georgia, and over the course of several hours, I really enjoyed photography in downtown Augusta — as usual, without people in the shots.
Decorative Facade, 103 Macartan St.
Excepting, of course, The Godfather of Soul:
Spirit of Funk Mural, 190 James Brown Blvd.
The photostroll also included the Riverwalk, a stretch both at water level and atop the levee — doing my best to stay out of the runners’ way, moving around to the chants of “water!” and “ice!”
Fountain at Riverwalk Enterance (#1), James Brown Blvd.Savannah River at Augusta, Georgia
The first 64 photographs — part one of two — have been posted to the new Augusta gallery. Stay tuned for the second part, along with a bonus gallery and some housekeeping news, tomorrow.
