PixBlog

Big Ears

2009-02-15T21:33:00.003-05:00

I shot Knoxville's Big Ears Festival for the New York Times. Read the resulting story.

Dorothy Stair

2008-04-02T12:20:00.003-05:00

Dorothy Stair is the president of Knox Heritage, an organization that advocates for the preservation of historic structures in Knoxville.

I shot this a couple days ago for the good people at Knoxville Magazine.

Memphis

2008-03-27T08:55:00.002-05:00

On the roof of Memphis' Peabody Hotel.

DJ and the Cat

2007-12-27T21:00:00.000-05:00

Here's Bryan in his role as DJ for a Christmas party.

And what would a Christmas party post be without a gratuitous picture of Bennie? It would be pointless, that's what.

Big Stone Gap

2007-11-16T19:07:00.002-05:00

I was in Big Stone Gap this week for a NY Times story about two brothers, Thomas and Julius Jones, who grew up there. They are now both playing for different teams in the NFL. They are playing against each other on Thanksgiving Day. It will be only the second time they've played each other in the league. The other time was also on Thanksgiving Day. Coincidence? Yes, of course.

The story's writer and I spent the day with the boys' parents, Betty and Thomas Sr. Both parents have worked as miners, but Betty spent 19 years underground working the 'hoot owl' shift at the Exeter Mine in nearby Appalachia, VA.

The pictures are meant to give a tiny amount of feeling for the players' family and town.

Betty talks to a friend in front of a trophy case at the high school that holds her sons' retired jerseys.

Fall

2007-11-13T10:57:00.000-05:00

Maybe it has been a little too dry this year for a full-fledged Fall Color Extravaganza, but there is some orange out there. This is from southwest Virginia's Powell Valley.

Photo A Week: #18

2007-11-08T21:20:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple outtakes from an assignment I shot today in Knoxville.

Camping Diptychs

2007-10-04T11:23:00.000-05:00

Looking through these pictures of a recent camping trip, I realized I had a lot of pictures that fit naturally together. Odd how the mind works, no?

I could probably find a mate for the straggler below, but why push my luck?

Photo A Week: #17

2007-10-03T17:52:00.000-05:00

Is it still a "Photo A Week" when you do it sorta-monthly? This picture is from a project on tourism in Tennessee's Sevier County, which basically consists of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The streets are packed with airbrush t-shirt stalls, candle shops, and foods guaranteed to stop your sweet heart from beating. This one sold batter-dipped, deep-fried Snickers. Disclosure: Not only have I eaten fried Snickers, I've tried to make them myself using a friend's deep fryer. Delish.

Unita Blackwell

2007-09-19T14:56:00.000-05:00

Before the Blues Festival last week I had a chance to visit with civil rights legend and pioneer Unita Blackwell in her home in tiny Mayersville, Mississippi. She was the first black woman to be elected in Mississippi. She founded the US-China People's Friendship Association. She was awarded the MacArthur Foundation's "Genius" grant. I photographed Ms. Blackwell in her childhood home, which stands a few yards behind her current house. The old home holds a wealth of civil rights memorabilia.

Ms. Blackwell has written a wonderful book about her life. Check it out. And don't forget, Christmas is just around the corner.

Blues Festival, 2007

2007-09-15T10:44:00.001-05:00

This is the 30th annual Mississippi Blues and Heritage Festival in Greenville, MS. I've been to Doe's Eat Place already, so the rest of the trip is bonus. Here are a few pictures from Greenville and the surrounding area. Pictures of the festival to come.

Photo A Week: #16

2007-07-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

A quick note: My webhost recently went offline, dissapeared really. The crash took my website (www.shawnpoynter.com) and this blog down with it. As a result, many of the pictures on this site were lost, that's why you will see many posts without pictures. I'm working, slowly, on getting these back online. In the meantime, here are a couple pictures from my Fuji 6x9 rangefinder.

Photo A Week: #15

2007-05-21T10:49:00.000-05:00

As you can tell from this picture, eastern Nebraska isn't as flat as you might have thought.

Photo A Week: #14

2007-04-26T23:07:00.000-05:00

I'm working on a story about the development efforts in Knoxville, focusing on Old City and the waterfront. I'll post those pictures when I'm finished, but in the meantime please enjoy this photo of a mannequin sitting in a window on Gay Street.

Ex Veteran

2007-04-01T21:57:00.000-05:00

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These pictures of Army Specialist James Webb and his son, Christian, were shot for a New York Times story about the trouble many veterans are having receiving benefits promised to them by the Department of Veterans Affairs due to processing backlogs. The Times found that injured vets are being discriminated against based on where they live and whether they were on active duty or in National Guard or the Reserve. The worst backlogs are in some states sending the most troops, according to the Times' findings.

Mr. Webb, who received a Bronze Star for his service in Iraq, ended up homeless in Decatur, Georgia, while waiting for his disability check to clear the backlog. Three weeks before these photos were taken he moved back into his parents' house in east Tennessee. He was sharing a room with his son, due to a lack of space in the house.

But instead of digressing into a rant about politics, which would only end up frustrating me and boring you, I'd like to talk a bit about how the top picture was made. The goal was to illustrate the two sharing a room. The photos needed to be turned around quickly, so the picture had to be a portrait. I was relieved to see Mr. Webb wearing an Army t-shirt when I got to his house. That made a not-so-subtle tie to the story, which I'm all for in pictures where nothing else links to the story's main theme. It wasn't until I had positioned the two on the bed and framed them with Sponge Bob that I noticed the son was wearing an Old Navy shirt. That, for me, makes the picture a little more special. Details like that add an extra layer of meaning to what could otherwise be a boring headshot picture. They say it's better to be lucky than good. Agreed.

I shot some other pictures, a tight shot of Mr. Webb (above) and some stuff outside, but the one of them on the bed was the best fit for the story. When I packed up my lights and gear, I drove around trying to find a wi-fi hotspot so I could ftp the photos to the paper. After what seemed like a lifetime of searching, I found a local hotel that let me use the wi-fi in their lobby. Finding a wireless hotspot in a small town is no joke. Again, it helps to be lucky.

Square Format

2007-04-01T20:47:00.000-05:00

Photo A Week: #13

2007-03-31T17:02:00.000-05:00

Drainage pipe in eastern Kentucky.

Construction Site

2007-03-30T11:10:00.000-05:00

This is the future site of a local car dealership. Mostly I wanted to show off the new rounded border I made in Photoshop. It's taken me a lot of time, spent mostly being jealous of other rounded borders I've seen on the Internet, to figure out how to do it. But now it's on.

Singers

2007-03-25T21:13:00.000-05:00

Taken during an assignment to shoot then-Tennessee-senate candidates Harold Ford Jr. and Bob Corker. Corker ended up squeaking out the win.

Photo A Week: #12

2007-03-25T15:30:00.000-05:00

Hwy 15 in Eastern Kentucky. One of my most traveled, yet least favored, stretch of road in the world. Also one of the most beautiful.

Photo A Week: #11

2007-03-21T15:38:00.000-05:00

I'm calling this one 'Old Tire and Fence: And Junk Behind the Fence: A Story of Hope.'

The quality of this picture is a little suspect due to the ganky film scanner I'm using. It's actually a flatbed scanner with an attachment for scanning medium format film. So it's not that ganky, all things considered, but head-to-head with a dedicated film scanner it is destroyed.

I think I'll post a head-to-head review of my scanner vs. a professional scanner. I'll scan a frame on mine, then have the same frame scanned at the lab. That would be interesting to at least one person. And that one person is me. See you next time.

Rural Values Project - Hazard

2007-03-02T14:06:00.000-05:00

Photo A Week: #10

2007-02-21T00:04:00.000-05:00

This post is self-explanatory. There are no hidden meanings or visual metaphors. Nothing subliminal has been airbrushed (Such a 20th century phrase, what with Photoshop and all. Who has the time, or the equipment, to airbrush all these photos? It wears me out just thinking about how much work that would be. Have you seen the airbrush guys in Gatlinburg, TN? It takes them forever to paint one stinking unicorn head on a baby doll T) in the table-top surface.

I'll just add that I've taken to eating fruit lately. Also, I think eating apples with coffee is generally a bad idea. Take my word for it on this one.

Cornbread-tacular

2007-02-07T20:05:00.000-05:00

In keeping with New Year's Resolution # 339, I present to the jury my fourth attempt at making cornbread (the resolution was to master the process). Note the circles. These are made by onions and are the tell-tale sign of my blatant attempt to reverse engineer the Davis family recipe. Enjoy.

WARNING: Trying to eat this bread through your computer screen will only end in disappointment and, quite possibly, humiliation.

Photo A Week: #9 - Yo La Tengo

2007-02-06T14:23:00.000-05:00

Here are some pics of Yo La Tengo playing Knoxville's Bijou Theatre.

Lambchop lead singer Kurt Wagner. Lambchop opened for Yo La.

The Bijou is a beautiful old theater in downtown Knoxville.