Southern Landscape – Appalachian Trail near Gooch Gap

Yesterday when discussing Southern Landscapes, about an urban landscape in Waycross, while today is about another Southern Landscape that I encountered five years earlier. The Waycross image has a formalism to it that I think works well with some urban landscapes and for me seemed suited to the subject. This image is probably just the opposite as a natural landscape.

We were visiting cousins in Atlanta we all drove up to a trail-head of the Appalachian Tail which ends in northern Georgia. Down in Atlanta it was clear and beautiful, but up in the mountain top it was engulfed by clouds which provided a wonderful, if not a bit eerie, Fall walk along the trail. This was the Gooch Gap section of the trail, thus if we continued on, we would have ended up at there, but my cousins were not up for an extended walk this day. I was surprised as how narrow the trail actually was as it required us to walk single file. I was thinking that over time, as well known that the Appalachian Tail is that this would have become a wider trail, and it’s not finished either, still just a beaten down dirt path made by numerous individuals walking it.

I think we did a lot family talking while walking as I do not have a ton of images from this occasion, but this one, along with another, continue to linger in my memory. We had made a stop to take some family pictures and when that was completed, I turned around and saw this, so I made a quick composition/exposure and then we were on our way again. Shortly after that the cloud fog started clearing entirely changing how this area appeared. The subsequent changes I have made to this image creates something that is closer to my memory and feeling of that moment, thus a bit more of an imaginary southern landscape.

And maybe an image that I might submit as a Southern Landscape to the Call for work.

Cheers,

Doug

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Artwork: Appalachian Trail, near Gooch Gap, copyright Douglas Stockdale 2004

Update: Available size: 11 x 14″ (17 x 22″ Sheet) archival pigment on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl, Edition of 5 + (2AP)

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Exhibitions and workshops;

February 20th – March 20th 2021; Photographs’s Eye gallery, Escondido, CA, a solo exhibition of my Memory Pods series (lens-based photography). Artist reception February 20th, 3-7pm and due to pandemic restrictions, you will need to sign up for the reception (only small groups allowed in the gallery at any one time).  Artist talk, virtual on Zoom, February 25th, 5:30 – 7:00 pm (PST), sign-up here.

March 13-14, 20-21, 2021; Developing Your Creative Photo Book, a workshop that I am leading again in collaboration with Los Angeles Center of Photography (LACP). Workshop dates are March 13 – 14th, and March 20-21st from 9am – noon PST. Four days, two consecutive weekends, a virtual workshop on Zoom, with time between sessions to develop your book dummy. Sign-up here.