From A Health Scare To A Passion In Photography

Wayne Morgan’s camera work doesn’t come from chasing trends. It comes from a moment when his heart literally stopped, doctors put in a pacemaker, and life got re-routed. That downtime turned into 25 years of learning how to see, how to wait for the fog to lift, and how to bring the Satilla River to people who may never stand on its banks at sunrise. We talk about his Satilla Solitude photography books, what goes into printing and selling local work, and why the Satilla’s blackwater beauty still beats many of the places he’s traveled across the United States, Canada, and Iceland.

We also get into the parts of the landscape people avoid talking about: river trash, environmental damage, and a kids-focused conservation book that shows both the “pretty” and the “ugly,” including an endorsement from Jimmy Carter. Then the conversation shifts to history and mystery with the lost town of Zirkle, a vanished sawmill community with its own currency, rumors about what happened to the town, and an ongoing documentary effort that’s still searching for a cemetery no one can quite locate.

Finally, Wayne shares what it felt like to document the Brantley County wildfires, photographing burned homes and the people standing in the ashes, while also capturing community support and the moment firefighters met local school kids and received letters. Along the way, we dig into practical nature photography tips like fog chasing, reflection shots, lens choices, and slow shutter speed techniques, all grounded in a simple message: practice until you can make the camera do what you see. If you like stories about Georgia photography, the Satilla River, the Okefenokee Swamp, and documentary work that preserves real places, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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Transcript

Welcome And Wayne Morgan’s Story

SPEAKER_00 0:14

Wayne Morgan, good to have you. Appreciate you uh coming in and uh and sitting down with me. Uh I know I I reached out to you uh a couple months ago um about about coming in and uh I see a decent amount on Facebook and commenting and everything. And uh I I've seen you around uh and your your grandson, uh my son, they're they're good friends and everything. And uh I've taken note of your photography and interest and the the county and so forth, so I figured I'd reach out to you and have you on.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

So I appreciate it. Appreciate you calling contacting me.

SPEAKER_00 0:51

Absolutely. Uh so if you would just maybe give us a little background and uh maybe who you know who you are and what your interests are and where you come from and so forth.

Pacemaker Diagnosis And A New Path

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah, my name's Wayne Morgan. I've been doing photography for about 25 years. Uh in 1998, I was having some major health issues with uh blacking out. And uh I actually went to the doctor and they found out that I was having they put a heart monitor on me and found out my heart was stopping for 15 seconds.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

And they told me that immediately I had to have a pacemaker. And 35 years old was kind of young to be having a pacemaker, but yeah. They told me I had to have one, so they put a pacemaker in. And uh so while I was out of work, they uh I spent all early my all all my early years on the Satilla River and outside most of the time. So I just while I was out of work, I started taking pictures. I picked up a camera actually and started learning how to take a pic take pictures. And a lot of people I entered a few contests and won a few contests, and uh so I figured other people must like what I was doing. So I started seeing what I could do with my photography and uh did my Satilla Solitude book. I started working on it and uh that took a took a while, but they done real good. And uh so I finally uh finished the first one. They all sold out, and then I did another one, and most all of those have sold out. So after they got got that one done, I worked I met Don Berryhill. I used to work with Don Berryhill when I was 16 years old in the Satilla on the Okie Funoki Swamp. And Don he was an expert on Okie Fanoki. He mentioned about working with me on a book on the Okie Funoki. So we did a book on the Okie Funoki, and uh they sold out quick. So we did another one on the Okie Fanoki, and they all sold out, so we've sold out of all the Okie Funoki swamp books.

SPEAKER_00 3:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

And uh that was 2,000 books we sold out of.

SPEAKER_00 3:15

And uh so let me so I'll I'll pause you there for a second. Uh got a couple follow-up questions for you. So so 35 years old, uh what what kind of work were you doing at the time?

SPEAKER_01 3:27

I was a uh machinist.

SPEAKER_00 3:29

Okay, all right. Machinist at uh like railroad or at the uh at the time I was at uh Hercules.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Okay, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 3:38

Okay. Um and so was that a the the the heart issues was that uh ended up being uh a it wound up being a uh a few years later they found out it was actually my brain causing my heart to stop.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Wow. It's cause a rare issue called a uh uh ictalacile temporal lobe epilepsy.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

And it it caused my that I had to go to Emery a few years later and they did test on it and found out that my brain was causing my heart to stop. And for 15 seconds and I was having no I was flatlining on my brain on my heart.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

So I had a pacemaker to back it up to cause my heart to kick back on, but so I was having seizures. It was just blacking out, so I was having. So they wound up finally got me straightened out on my seizure medicine and stuff, but so now I'm on seizure medicine, but they won't let me go back to work because of my seizures.

SPEAKER_00 4:42

Gotcha, gotcha. Thank goodness for technology and and medicine and uh uh good Lord guiding us on how to how to correct those issues and everything.

Creating Satilla Solitude Photo Books

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Um so uh you uh you'd mentioned the uh the Satilla Solitude uh books. Uh so just kind of going a little bit more in depth about on on what those books uh uh uh entail.

SPEAKER_01 5:06

Yeah, they're they're books on the Satilla River. I mean, uh I've always enjoyed the Satilla River and uh I just uh started taking pictures of the Satilla River and uh that was my main focus. My granny, when I was little, she drowned in on the Satilla River.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Oh wow, okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:24

And uh so I wanted to do a I figured at 35 years old with a pacemaker. At that point I figured most people I figured I was weren't gonna live long with a pacemaker. That was just my thought. Right. So I said I better get busy working on a f a book. I wanted to do a book. So I mean I'm 61 now, so I figured I I mean I feel I guess I lived longer than I thought should have, but so anyway, I did the I started working on the book and did a thousand books, wound up doing two thousand of them.

SPEAKER_00 5:58

But uh and and are and are all these uh strictly photography books with with with kind of descriptions and so forth? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

And uh Okie Fino Okie Fanoki books are not, they've got a lot of information with the Don Berry Hill did. But Satilla and uh uh all that's mostly photography. There's a lot of information in there with it, but mostly my photography on the Satilla River.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Okay. Um what's your what so which one is the first one you got right there?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

The the very this is my Zircle to Alaska. The uh I'll show you the very first book I did was the uh and I'll show you, but I don't like it. Was this one with my Satilla Solitude? It's got a dust jacket on it. Okay. I don't like the dust jacket. I just don't like it. Okay. That was my first no I'd never done a book before. Dust jacket comes off, it gets loose. Right. It's just a black book. Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Yeah, it just kind of ends up getting in the way a little more than uh so anyway, but that was my first book. All right. So um you mind if I uh take a look at it real quick? Let's see what we got here. So this was actually something that that I I did not know. I did not know that you had these uh these books out here like this.

SPEAKER_01 7:20

Yeah, like I say I I had a pr a thousand of them printed and uh and mostly all those sold out. And uh so I didn't I went ahead and printed another thousand. And I've still got a few of the second printing left, but not many.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

I've got two or three boxes left. But it's mostly just photography. I had to have a little bit of information, just not much. Um I just mostly wanted to show my photography on a Satilla because Satilla River to me, I've been to a lot of places in the United States. I've been to Canada, I've been to Iceland. Satilla River to me is still one of the most beautiful places anywhere.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Very, very unique. Yeah, very unique with the Blackwater.

SPEAKER_01 8:05

Right. And uh I have problem I have issues with people trashing the Satilla River. Yeah. And that is the main issue with me is people trashing the river. And uh that's that's a bad problem.

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Yeah, I I can't stand uh someone that that that litters i anywhere, you know. It's uh it's I I that's something that I never will understand somebody's just absolute laziness and disregard for for Mother Earth, really.

SPEAKER_01 8:32

And for the river to be so beautiful and people go camp at it and leave beer cans, beer bottles, baby diapers. We see too much of that. Right. We just had to clean up this past weekend and it's the same way, and a day or two later it's the same way again, and it's just terrible. I never understand it.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

These are beautiful shots, man. This is uh and so this is 1990 or is this 2000?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

This is probably 2003.

SPEAKER_00 9:00

Okay. All right, 2003. Wow. And so uh and again, how many how many total books uh did you end up doing there?

SPEAKER_01 9:10

I did a thousand there, and then I did another thousand with the second printing, which uh I didn't change much with the second printing. I just took the dust jacket off and uh made it a solid. I found out you can do it or do without the dust jacket and made a s a solid and I actually flipped the cover picture. I flipped it around. I like this flipped it the other way.

SPEAKER_00 9:35

Hold your book up there, uh kind of point it towards the the camera there. There you go. There you go. Okay. Yeah, that's nice.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

But and I changed the text a little bit different, put the where I could tell it which when I look at a book I can tell where the where I put the the second printing at. Right. Same way I did with Okie Vinochi. The first Okie Vinookie book, I did it like that. Okay. The second one I put a camera on the front cover. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So I can tell when I look at the book, the two books together. I can tell there's two different which printing is the this is the first print and this is the second print. Okay. So and uh the kids book, uh Dinkney Smith owns the press sentinel and Jessup. Uh uh, he's a good friend of mine. He wanted to do an environmental kids book about me about Case. Okay. And uh so Case was a little little boy there.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Right, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

And uh that's him there.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

But

Protecting The River From Trash

SPEAKER_01 10:45

he now he's he now told me.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Oh yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

So this is basically environmental book on the Satilla River.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

Okay, yeah, go go ahead go ahead and hold that on up there. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

So we showed the pretty of the Satilla River and the ugliness. We got trash pictures in there and uh we got trash, toilet. Wow ugly stuff in it. Uh Jimmy Carter endorsed the book. He wrote a letter on the back of the book uh talking about when he fished the Satilla River when he was a little boy, and uh because Dink knows Jimmy Carter, so he took he's got he took the book by and let Jimmy Carter look at it.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

But it's got a lot of wildlife pictures in it, and it's got some pictures of the trash.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

So that's why I didn't we assess why we did that book. And we ordered 4,000 of these. Wow. And we don't have but just a couple of boxes left of these. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So uh how could how can people buy your books?

SPEAKER_01 11:44

They have to contact me. I don't have a website. You got no website or anything? So I just uh I just they had to contact me. Uh I have them at Jerry J's and Day Hunter. Okay. That's really the only place I have them.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Uh you you you ever post anything on Facebook about them? Yeah, you do.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Every now and then. I just uh but other than that, they just have to contact me. Uh gotcha. The Zircle to Alaska book. It is all this is is a book of places we've been on vacation. I've been instead of going A to Z, I flipped it around with this Z to A. I like it. So that's different places we've been to Alaska from Montana, Wyoming, Alaska.

An Environmental Kids Book Endorsed

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Uh just different places we've been to on vacation. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

So where's where is Zirkel?

SPEAKER_01 12:31

Zirkel's in Pierce County line on uh Oh okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh I've been to we're actually doing a documentary

The Lost Town Of Zirkel Mystery

SPEAKER_01 12:40

on Zirkel. Used to be a town there in 1918.

SPEAKER_00 12:43

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

And uh Ossi Davis lived there when he was a little boy.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

So uh Georgia Filmworks is doing a asking me if I'd come in and work with him on doing a documentary on it. Okay. So uh be one of the executive producers on it. So I told him I'd be glad to because I've been I've been taking pictures of Zirkel for about 20 years.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

So and and and who who is it that's uh that that's producing that?

SPEAKER_01 13:13

It's uh David Luke and uh James Saws. Okay. They're the Georgia Filmworks company. And uh they asked me if I'd come in and work with them on it, and uh so we've done already done a lot of interviews on the place. We're actually trying to find there's one more thing we're looking for is a cemetery at Zirkle. We know there's one there, we hadn't found it yet. Okay. And uh we don't know exactly. I thought I knew where it was at, but we hadn't found it yet. So if we can find that, I think that'll wrap us up on the documentary. Um but uh I don't know where all we gonna they're gonna pitch it to on what they're gonna do with the documentary once we get through with it, but I think it's gonna be a pretty good documentary. A lot of history of the town lost town of Zarko.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

Right. Do you do you know the maybe what the population ended up uh being back in the day?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

It was uh at one time I think there was about three or four hundred people there. Okay. So if if there was, there had to be cemetery there somewhere. I mean, I feel like from nineteen eighteen to nineteen twenty-six, it was like three or four hundred people there. Um so the houses and all was there, and uh all of them started falling down, people started moving away or dying off or whatever, something happened. We just don't know what. Right. I mean, malaria or typhoid fever or something, something happened.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

So you you think it was it was something more than just maybe industry shift from from the sawmill and the we don't know next to it or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 15:02

We don't know for sure. Um we just we heard one time, I mean there's rumors that uh something happened, but we don't know for sure what. I mean, David and uh we don't know the facts behind that yet. Uh I had one guy, Rafer Griner, that gave me one of the coins. He drew me a map before he died and uh asked me that showed me where everything was at, cemetery and uh the commissary, uh post office.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Everything was at, and I still got the map. And uh but uh they put power lines through that area right through where the cemetery was at. Gotcha, so it all kind of destroyed and and uh so but he gave me one of the coins, he said he found it on top of one one of the old houses and he gave it to me. He said when he he was in getting he was getting in bad shape and uh because he bought one of my Satilla Solitude books and he said that uh he said when I die my family's gonna throw away he was a bottle collector. I mean he's so uh he told me he said when I die that my family's gonna throw away everything I got. So so he gave me a coin to look at and I said I had never seen one at the time and uh he I said man it looks I'd never seen one of these. And he said, stick it in your pocket. Wow. So I I still got it. That's nice. And uh I actually got it. But uh yeah, he gave it to me and told me to take it with me. And uh and uh but he had a map of everything that was Oracle But that's one of the coins. But that's two of the coins there. He he gave me one of 'em.

SPEAKER_00 17:08

Wow. That's wild. What is what is that made out of? I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

It's like pot metal, it's thin pot metal or something. I mean, it's and there's another rumor. You see how they're made like one's like a stop sign, and one's like a little notches around it?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Always heard the rumor was that there's there was blind people that lived at Zorko. So they could feel the interesting feel around it and feel what what it was just by feeling of it instead of having to look at it. Because if they couldn't see it, they could feel of it and tell what it was.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

So it says uh one is as good for 50, is that fifty cents? Yes. Okay. And uh was ten cents.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:05

Okay. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

And I heard that once the town shut down, they didn't have any use for the money. One rumor was that they threw the money down the well, and another rumor was that they threw it in the river. Either way, it's been about a hundred years ago.

SPEAKER_00 18:25

So And how and how did he he get a hold of it? Was it something that just passed down from his family?

SPEAKER_01 18:31

He said that he was he when he was still alive, he said that he was actually that some of the houses were still there.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

And and he went to well it actually had fell down, and uh it was laying on the roof of one of the houses, and he picked it up and and that he he'd had that for years and gave it to me. That's wild.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

That's that's probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen right there to be because they have, I mean, they've essentially created their own currency.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

And then supposedly it couldn't be used anywhere else. So it had to be used at Zorko. So it weren't good for anywhere any any other place. Right. So it weren't good for any other town and it had to be used there.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

You know, I think I remember uh who the the who's the uh what is his name? The tree cut saws.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

I I saw him doing uh he was he was dining with us one day.

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:27

So I saw him for Britain Flowers.

SPEAKER_00 19:30

Yeah. Yeah. And I so I think I remember him now talking about about the currency.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah, he came he came dinner with us a couple of days. Uh he might still be gonna dinner with us.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

We usually meet on Sundays down there, and uh but he came down with us.

SPEAKER_00 19:43

Yeah. Yeah, I thought about inviting him on here as well.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

And uh he'd be good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah, it's it's interesting. I I wonder how many little towns like that ended up sprouting up across the country and had their own currency and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, because I mean uh whoever ran the town had the I mean you sold your stuff and you had to get the money back. Well, there's a song about that. I don't remember how it goes, but uh I can't remember exactly how it goes, but anyway, you get your money right back.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

So uh Wow That's cool. It's an old sawmill sawmill town?

SPEAKER_01 20:36

Used to be old sawmill town.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

There's nothing there now but a but the dam.

SPEAKER_00 20:41

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 20:42

And I've taken a bunch of pictures of Zirkle. I've seen it from when it was down low to where you can't even see the dam. Right. But there's nothing there now, hardly at all. I mean it's mostly gone. Right. Wow. This is called a lot lost town of Zirkle. Okay, yeah, that's why that's a lot of documentary about it.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

That that's uh pretty cool. Any idea of when that would be scheduled to be released at all?

SPEAKER_01 21:06

We was hoping to be sometime this year. And uh so we don't know for sure when, but we're still been we're getting close to being finished with it. So I'll I'll let everybody know once we get through with it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Actually, that's pretty that's pretty awesome bringing bringing some uh notoriety and some information to the these little small southeast towns and areas and everything.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

So

(Cont.) The Lost Town Of Zirkel Mystery

SPEAKER_01 21:34

like I say, it's to me. I mean, when I first heard about it, my neighbor told me about the place, and uh I thought he was lying, and I went down and he told me how to get to it, and I wrote come to find out it used to be a party place for teenagers youngsters. And I rode down there and found it, and then my man, it was pretty. Wow. Mosquitoes is bad, it can be terrible down there, but it is a pretty place.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

So uh what is it or what was it about about photography um that that kind of grabbed grabbed your attention um there when you when you had when you were down on with work and everything and not able to do much. What what was it about photography that that kind of grabbed you?

Photography Style Awards And No Photoshop

SPEAKER_01 22:18

I just love catching things uh natural. I mean, I said I don't do Photoshop, I don't do I don't do any kind of doctrine of my pictures, and I just love trying to catch things uh however I see them. I mean sometimes I think see things that looks different, I guess. I don't know. Uh I just like seeing things. And I've I've entered a lot of contests, Okie Fanoki Heritage Center. I've won a lot of contests there.

SPEAKER_00 22:47

And uh so yeah, I I think you've had uh didn't you recently have a photo on display at the Capitol or I've won that contest in 2015, 2017, and and 2026.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

I got one up there now.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 23:03

So I won the Georgia Council for the Arts three times. And uh so I've entered that contest five or six times, and then that's I've won it three times out of that. And I had to go to Atlanta and the government that hangs it hangs for a year. Once you take it up there, they leave it for a year, and then you go back and get it, bring it back home.

SPEAKER_02 23:25

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

Um did you ever have any or and have you

Documenting Brantley County Wildfire Damage

SPEAKER_01 23:32

ever had any interest of capturing anything other than kind of uh nature and I don't do people pictures and but this last month or two or three the the Georgia the fires in southeast Georgia have been bad and I started taking a lot of pictures of the fires and it was it I I don't didn't like to, but I mean Bradley County's my home and uh it was bad. So I took a lot of pictures of the Devastation the burnt cars, the burnt uh some of it the houses, the trailers. Uh a lot of that was bad stuff and I I mean I hated it, but I felt like it needed to be done. And uh so they let me ride around with some of the deputies and the county manager and commissioners and stuff, they rode me around, let me take pictures, and uh so I I I took a lot of pictures of that. And like I say, that's totally out of my stuff, but I did take a lot of pictures of it.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Well, I think I think you're right in the fact that feeling like it needed to be documented and and and photographed, uh, and you talk about taking pictures in kind of their natural state, and unfortunately, that's the the devastation is the natural state of the results of the of the fire. The the the largest uh it's not acreage-wise, not the largest in Georgia, but as far as the the the number of homes and businesses and structures that that that were destroyed from that.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Right. And and the bad part about it, I mean the I mean I don't know if people want to admit it or not, but the the section of Brantley County that got hit was one of the poor sections of Brantley County. And it I mean it destroyed a lot of land and homes and trailers and stuff in Brantley County, and it was bad.

SPEAKER_00 25:35

Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, it uh you got a lot of people that were uninsured. Right.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

And they didn't they couldn't afford insurance on it. So I mean it was bad. And uh I hated it.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

So I so I I I don't know, I don't know if you know, uh so I'm uh I'm in the insurance claims business uh industry, and so I I I handle claims and uh so I I had a bunch of claims uh in there and uh and was in there within just a a few days uh after after they started letting people in. And I've you know I've been doing claims for 23 years now and have have seen all kinds of things, but that's my first experience with seeing a forest fire and the amount of destruction and damage that that it can cause. And it's really just mind-blowing um to see the the the results of it and dreams that have come crashing down, so to speak, and uh just uh just heart really, really heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

I've never had to see it before. And uh so like I say I've I actually lost my grandpa in a house fire in 1969, so that's another thing I lost. And uh so that was not um not the reason, I guess, that hurt. I mean, luckily on this deal we didn't lose any but any bodies, nobody died from it. But um, it's just a lot of homes was de devastated, and but we didn't lose any people.

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Yeah. We've had uh a lot of in in tragedy, in disaster, you see a lot of good that that comes out of people, uh softened hearts and just a lot of service.

Help After Disaster And Kids’ Letters

SPEAKER_00 27:25

And uh can you can you speak to that at all as far as the the response that we've seen?

SPEAKER_01 27:29

There's been a lot of a lot of RVs, uh people trying to help out with the RVs and uh uh trying to come in and help. And I think a lot of a lot of us coming in and helping big time, and we're still trying to help, and I'm trying to help some of the the seven of those two. So trying to work with some of them, trying to help raise money. And uh because like I say, it's been it's been bad. And um, I hate to see these people go through it living in RVs that's not compared to the homes they lived in, but right still at least they got somewhere to live in instead of a tent.

SPEAKER_00 28:06

Right. So uh the uh so uh maybe describe, and this is this is getting kind of maybe a little personal, but just describe the feelings that you're having between taking these these beautiful nature pictures and then the the difference in taking kind of the all of this beautiful nature that that that you've captured and then to go in in a situation where everything all of that has been been wiped out and and burned. What's the what what what's the different feeling, the the different emotions that you have?

SPEAKER_01 28:43

It's really bad. I mean it's totally different. I mean to see people standing out there I mean there are a lot of them standing out there crying and devastated and I mean you can understand what they're going through or I I guess you can, but uh it's just they lost everything that they had. I mean, it's just bad. And uh at least a lot of people seem to be coming in and trying to help and uh like I say a lot of the churches and stuff is kicked in and I mean I went around and a lot of the people the churches of uh even from North Carolina and different places that come in and help and um is uh help clean up and sift through some of the ashes and stuff. Clean up some of the stuff and I took pictures of them and it's like I say it's something I had never had to take pictures of, but it's I felt like it needed to be documented.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Yeah, yeah, one 100%. I think I saw one of your posts there where uh I think you had or I think you were part of having the uh the the school children maybe write some write some notes and some of the firemen that that took the opportunity to to go to the schools uh and you were there for that.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Yeah, I asked them, I said, Do you do you think you could we could take some of the firemen down to the schools and uh they uh they thought it was a good idea, so I took three of the firemen. Well, the they was actually from uh Montana, uh where were they from? Missoula, I think it was. And uh so I told them I said, come on. So we loaded them up, took them to the schools, and uh and the the school kids loved it. I mean they just they got a kick out of that and they got to get to meet the firemen and and um a couple of the kids that already had lost their places.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

Yeah. I think you know it's it's it's hard for you know to to to experience those things, but I also think it's really, really good to put people and make make those connections, you know, allowing those school children to see the the the firefighters and the individuals out there that are working uh extremely hard to to try and save you know their homes and save properties uh and so forth. And it it makes it it makes it more real and maybe a little more appreciable for them.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

I mean, like I say, the firemen we took the three firemen from I think they're from Missoula. Is that Missoula, Montana, Missoula, wherever that's at, they uh I took them to Ad Kenson School and Waynesville school, and like I say they got to talk to the kids and uh Waynesville and uh the kids they loved it. I mean they got to talk to each one of them and went to class to class to class. And uh I mean they just went and they liked it. I mean, they loved it to death. They thought it was the best thing in the world.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

That's great.

SPEAKER_01 32:05

And I was glad they did.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

And uh uplifting of of the spirits, you know, uh I think on both sides for the children and and for the firemen as well.

SPEAKER_01 32:15

I really do. I mean it uh and then I could say when they got through with that, the uh another thing I mentioned to them about maybe give them the firefighters uh before some of them had already gone home because it was already been there for their time to go home. But I give them some um letters to the firemen. Yeah. And uh they weren't seeing some of the letters.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

That's that's awesome. Touching touching the hearts, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

Yeah, some big old guy was reading the uh from South Carolina. He tried to get somebody to read one of the letters, and I think it was uh can't remember the teacher's name, but anyways he tried to read it and uh he said I can read it. And he got about halfway through it and he had about broke down. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Yeah.

Why Photos Matter After A Fire

SPEAKER_00 33:15

My uh my family's house burnt to the ground when I was about seven years old. And uh I will I will never forget the the images, you know, that are that are seared in them into my mind uh from that from that experience. Um and you know, my my parents, you know, talk about that the the worst thing that they that they lost in the home were photos. Photos of the of of you know the childhood and their their you know wedding and dating and or the early uh our early childhood uh days and everything, the the the photographs that that that were lost in that were the were the greatest uh loss to them.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

I think my grandpa was 42 or 45 whenever he died and in the house fire and it burnt the house down. And um so that's how old he was. I say when I was in 1969, Z. But so I d I barely remember him. Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

What's the uh what's the quote, uh pictures worth a thousand words? Yeah. Is that right? Yeah. Is that uh is that an accurate quote? Yeah, I agree with it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

I do. I mean it's I've heard that a lot of times, and it's and I agree with it. I mean it's and uh and I just got a

A Book Request From Kansas City

SPEAKER_01 34:42

call. Well, like I say, we went to Oregon two weeks ago, and I had a call and while we was in Oregon, and uh a lady named uh her name's Donna Ziggenhorn. I had to write it down because I can't remember her last name. But she called me, she's doing a book on Snow White Sands, the follow-up on the Snow White Sands, and uh she was uh want to use a couple of my pictures in the book to do a follow-up with the and wanted to talk with me when I got back from Oregon anyway. I talked to her two or three times since then. So uh, but it's a follow-up to the Snow White Sands book. So she wants to use two or three of my pictures in the book, in her book. But she's uh she's in from Kansas City. Okay. So I talked to her, actually talked to her a few minutes ago.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

And so how how did y'all come across each each other?

SPEAKER_01 35:41

She bought one of my Satilla Solitude books, somehow or another. I'm kidding to her way off somehow. So she was in Georgia, and she bought one of my Satilla Solitude books, and uh, she's kin to the Herons or the Thrifts, I don't know which one. But she liked the story about the Snow White Sands book story, and she's writing a book, like I say, the follow-up to it. So she's doing a follow-up to the story. Wants to continue the book a little bit further.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

And uh and so so what was the Snow White Sands story?

SPEAKER_01 36:18

I read the book a long time ago, but I don't really know uh by Martha Mazel Puckett, I think it is. And uh it's been out of print for a long time, and I got to read the book again to see what it's about. But uh so I got to find out exactly what the book is even about.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Okay. And and do you do you know which uh which which photos she's using of yours or the ones that she's went with?

SPEAKER_01 36:45

We've done been talking about it, so I know she's got two picked out. And uh well, one of them's at Aaron Lake, one of them's the one that won the contest for uh uh Aaron Lake that's was in the Georgia Council for the Arts contest. Okay. That's one of them.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Do you do you have that? Was that included on the drive? It's on the drive. All right, let me uh let me pull that up here, see what we got. So while you're while you're looking, uh my daughter, uh Lily, she she loves looking at photographs as well. And uh and it's it's it's actually people related. She's a very social individual, right? And uh, so she's always getting pictures with her different friends and uh just different memories of life. She's she's 21 now. Um, but uh so we we print, you know, you know, all of our photos are on these things right now, you know. Uh so rar rarely do we have good old photo albums that are sitting around the house like we used to. And so, but we we have uh over the years have printed her photo some photographs throughout the years, and she loves to just kind of sit there on the couch and and flip through and look at them and reminisce a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Started at the back, it should have been in the front. Right.

SPEAKER_00 38:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:05

But that's it right there.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:08

That's it right there.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 38:10

That was in the that's the Georgia Council for the Arts. All right. So that was in the governor's office for a year.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Wow, that's uh that's a beautiful mirror, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

And uh that's the one she she wants to do. She really wants to use that one for so she's gonna use that one in the book.

SPEAKER_00 38:31

Yeah, I don't see. Is this it? That's it right here. There we go. That's it. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 38:38

Yeah, she really wanted to use that one. And uh so she's gonna use that one in the Snow White Sands, or I don't I really don't know what she's gonna call the book, but it it might be Snow White Sands too. I don't know what.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Right. Yeah, yeah, I'm curious, curious as uh about that.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

But a lot of people I've told about it lately, they are interested in it. So she's she said she weren't gonna wait but like 50 to 100 copies. She's already had, I mean, several people here lately from here around Brighton County said they're interested in it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

It's interesting how that fog I is it would you call that fog that that comes off the river like that, or what is how it just it it you know just kind of slowly disappears over over to the left. Yeah, but uh that reflection is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Yeah. And right now there's a tree down there about 75 yards to the right, all the way across the river. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Yeah, that's the good old uh good old sotilla for you. It uh with it rising and and getting so low. I mean, we just went through a drought, uh, obviously. And uh and those anyway, those uh those trees can come come crashing down.

SPEAKER_01 39:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:54

So uh if you would just maybe we'll take this opportunity if you want to pick out a few photos here that you like and maybe just tell us about here a

Fog Reflections And River Light

SPEAKER_00 40:03

little bit. Uh maybe if there's any background story on it or where they're where they're from, where they're located.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

The uh let's see, the second one from the top over there, if you want to look at it, that's that was the that one. That cont that won a contest and at the heritage center. That was on uh Raven Rock Road. That tree's I think both of them trees have been cut down now. Wow. That's the road go in advance. Wilson's off the Raven Rock Road.

SPEAKER_00 40:33

So did so did you take that in black and white? Yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 40:37

And what sometimes I'll take them in color and change them to black and white, but okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

So what time of day is that? It's early in the morning. Early in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 40:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:47

Man. Is there anything that that you when you go out, are you looking for something specific or or are you just you're just going out to explore and if something jumps out to you, you decide to capture it?

SPEAKER_01 41:01

I like fog. Uh yeah. I like foggy mornings. Uh so I'd say foggy mornings is the main thing. Okay. That's that's probably the main thing I look for in the mornings I go out if it's foggy, especially if if I get up and it's foggy, I usually head out if I can and and go look for fog.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Okay. Yeah, they can make some some some dramatic looking photos.

SPEAKER_01 41:30

And there's there's another foggy one on there. Uh go down, go to the two over from that one. Yeah, that one. Yeah, that one.

SPEAKER_00 41:39

Oh wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:40

That's at El Roy's Pond right there at uh right on the Raven Rot Road, right before you get uh two or three miles off of right the other way, back towards 301. That's just a reflection. But that's another another foggy picture.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

And you and are you you on the bank?

SPEAKER_01 42:00

Yeah, I'm on the highway.

SPEAKER_00 42:02

Okay, on the highway.

SPEAKER_01 42:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:05

Yeah, that reflec that that reflection is uh is uh is amazing how how you're able to uh capture that. And and I'm assuming so I saw you uh out in Oregon, you were trying to get a reflection photograph, and everything almost has to be perfect, right? No, no wind, no ripples.

SPEAKER_01 42:26

It didn't cooperate because it was reflection, the wind was blowing too hard, we couldn't get the fur reflection in Oregon.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

That's awesome. What else you got here?

SPEAKER_01 42:38

Uh go over to uh go straight over and down.

SPEAKER_00 42:53

So is it 0484? 0484.

SPEAKER_01 43:00

Well that's the cover of my book. That's that one. Oh yeah, okay. And that one I was standing in the river, I was actually at the house and I saw the sunset was gonna be pretty, real pretty. So I took off which is called Strickland Landing, and uh, which is about five miles from my house. And I took off to the river and took off and got to there and just threw everything out of my pockets and ran out in the river and I was standing in the water about about chest deep. Wow and uh started taking pictures and it it changed colors from orange to that color. It went to purple, orange, reds. I mean it changed colors, all kind of colors. And I wound up with taking using that one for the cover of my book. But I got another one, like I say, just a few minutes before that it was orange, just everything orange. It would've it would have been a pretty cover too, but I like that one better. Because it was this color, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:02

Right. And all and so all that that changing in colors is just as the as the sun is setting. Sunset.

unknown 44:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 44:11

Yeah, that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 44:12

Like I say, I was standing in water almost. I barely could hold it over to the tripod because it was uh Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Yeah, uh well it it it was worth it. Obviously, it made the it made the cover of a book there. Um you you ever accidentally dropped a camera or anything? Oh yeah, I have had some casualties there?

SPEAKER_01 44:31

Yeah, I have. I have broke a few cameras, broke the lens off of them. A couple of them.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

See here, what else you got?

SPEAKER_01 44:41

Uh go over to the uh above that one, the one you just showed me. That one.

SPEAKER_00 44:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:52

That's the road going into Heron Lake.

SPEAKER_00 44:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:56

And all that is the dirt road. And uh, but it's I like that road.

SPEAKER_00 45:01

Tell you some oak trees now can make for some beautiful scenery.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

I love that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

Um my uh my my mother, uh, where her property is, she's got oak trees all over the place. Now they with them being in a yard, they turn into lots of work with the leaves dropping, but they make for some for some beautiful photography for sure. And back sets, back drops.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:25

Um I did and I saw where you uh asked about why Heron Lake is called Heron Lake.

SPEAKER_01 45:31

Did actually the reason why I asked that. I mean, I usually I've usually got a reason for it. Whenever I ask a question, I've got a reason for that. And the reason I did that because the lady that was doing the book on Snow White Sands asked me why is that called Heron Lake.

SPEAKER_00 45:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:46

So I I posted that this morning.

SPEAKER_00 45:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 45:49

And and that was why I was trying to find out why. And then uh that's why I posted that about that Heron Lake, because it's not a lake.

SPEAKER_00 45:58

Right, yeah. I well s I'm I've never asked the question, but I I have wondered it why is this a lake? It's just part of the river.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

It's just part of the river, just flows around right there. So it's I mean I mean it's as long as I can remember, it's been called Heron Lake.

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Is it because it's just a good swimming hole or something?

SPEAKER_01 46:12

Or I mean it's always been called Heron Lake. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

So so so did anybody give you a satisfactory answer?

SPEAKER_01 46:21

Yeah, I mean uh some people just say it. I mean because it was called our demus there, and uh uh I don't really know why, but but it's not really a lake. It's just part of the river. Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:36

What about capturing some of these uh

Wildlife Encounters And Contest Wins

SPEAKER_00 46:38

got got a deer here?

SPEAKER_01 46:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

And so how uh what what kind of zoom lens are you are you using and how how close are you?

SPEAKER_01 46:47

I'm probably 50 yards away. Okay, I've got a long lens, 150 to 600. And he's just getting ready, he sees me right there. Right. See how he's got that football. I do back there. He's fixing the run. He's he spotted me there.

SPEAKER_00 47:02

He snapped it just in time.

SPEAKER_01 47:04

Yeah, he's just fixing the takeoff.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

That's a beautiful buck right there for sure.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

He's he's just spotted me.

SPEAKER_00 47:14

Know some people that would like to see that shot up on their wall.

SPEAKER_01 47:16

Yeah, that's why I tell you, if I shot him three or four times, it's gonna hurt him a bit.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

Oh, okay. Let's see here. It's got you a gray gray fox, right?

SPEAKER_01 47:28

Every now and then, like I said, I get lucky. I fox and owls. I love owls. I love bar owls and horned owls, and I can get lucky sometimes and get some pictures of them, and but that's a pretty fox.

SPEAKER_00 47:41

That is. So a couple uh a couple of things there. We've we we've got chickens here, and uh you probably don't like fox. We recently we recently had a bout with a fox uh and he killed seven, say he, maybe a sheep, killed seven of our chickens and and ended up getting a uh little little permit to have the authority to kill the to kill the fox. But he he he had we we kept uh the chickens that survived, we we kept them in the coop because we let them free range a little bit, and uh we kept them in the pen for for a while. So uh we started letting them back out yet. So we we haven't trapped the fox yet or anything. So but and then and then with an owl, my brother and I were uh were going down the statilla uh one day, probably probably 10 years ago. We did a camping trip two nights down the statilla, and uh we came up on this on this owl up in the tree, and he literally just watched us, and that his body never moved with that head. Just yeah, just watching us all the way uh around the bend there.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

I've had borders in my backyard, and and I can say I've and uh I've had red-shouldered hawks, and uh I uh I love watching them and taking pictures of them. I've taken a lot of pictures of them, and uh I love any I've my backyard's got a small pond in it, and I've I've been able to attract probably 120 or 130 different birds in my backyard and take pictures of them. So I've I've kind of kept a record of them. Wow. And uh so I love getting pictures in my backyard of birds, birds and butterflies.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

Yeah, let's see uh let's check out this heron right here.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

That's the one that's in the governor's office now.

SPEAKER_00 49:32

Is it okay?

SPEAKER_01 49:32

That's the one I just took to Atlanta. So I took that at Nokiefinoki. Man, so that's that's the great blue heron.

SPEAKER_00 49:43

Yeah, that's the that's the blue heron right there, right? Yep. That's a beautiful shot. So do you know when they when they uh are in the when these photographs are in these contests what the judges are looking for? Any any idea?

SPEAKER_01 50:03

No idea. So just I think you can enter like three pictures and usually you just pick out two or three pictures and send it send it in and and never know what they're gonna pick.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

So and and does it is it a is it a genre-based, like nature-based, or is it just any any foot photograph?

SPEAKER_01 50:26

Uh I don't remember. I think they have some kind of uh uh rules on it, but I know I won the uh Providence Canyon, the first one in 2015, and it said they wanted something from southwest, they had like a section of Georgia, like northwest, southeast, whatever. Right. And it was like had it had it cornered off which side of Georgia it wanted it from. Okay. So I entered the one from Providence Canyon and it won. And uh so it had to be from like middle Georgia over that way. And that was the only picture I actually had from that part of Georgia, but it won't won. That's talent right there. Uh it or patent or luck, but either way it won. So it was in, it wound up being in the governor's office for a year.

SPEAKER_00 51:17

D do you have that one in here? Uh the Providence Canyon one? I think I do, yeah. We've uh I've taken my family to Providence Canyon one time.

SPEAKER_01 51:24

That's on the left over there, by uh beside the doorknob.

SPEAKER_00 51:29

Uh right there. That's the Grand Canyon.

SPEAKER_01 51:32

That's the Grand Canyon.

SPEAKER_00 51:33

Uh let's see.

SPEAKER_01 51:35

Just below the Grand Canyon.

SPEAKER_00 51:36

Just there we go.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 51:40

That's it. Yep. Man. Some red clay right there now. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

Yeah, I entered that one and uh we went to that Providence Canyon. They had a sign that we got there late. It said close at five. We got there about seven. It just got through raining. Gates were wide open, nobody was there. I drove right on in and uh walked up there and took several pictures off the fence there and drove out. There weren't nobody there, and I that was him. That was the one I entered, and it won.

SPEAKER_00 52:13

That's awesome. We had a fun uh camping trip there. They got some uh pretty cool hiking trails up in there and and getting down in there and I keep saying I'm gonna go back.

SPEAKER_01 52:21

I never did go down. I just I just took that one from the top. I gotcha. I never did go down.

SPEAKER_00 52:25

Yeah, yeah, it's uh it's neat. Kid kids had a had a blast uh walking around down in there, everything. So the the little Grand Canyon.

SPEAKER_01 52:34

Little Grand Canyon, Providence Canyon.

SPEAKER_00 52:35

Yep. So I've uh I've been to the Grand Canyon once, uh, so looks like you've been there as well.

SPEAKER_01 52:41

Yep. Um there was a little guy, old guy sitting up there on the top on the ledge, and uh we I called him Carrot Top because he had red hair, and he was sitting up there on the edge on the ledge, and I don't know who he was. But uh he was just sitting up there looking off on in the Grand Canyon.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure you're sitting up there just kind of meditating and thinking and pondering, uh gazing over that, God's creation.

SPEAKER_01 53:12

Yep. Grand Canyon is huge now.

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Yeah. Uh I we took a we took a scout group out there. Um see, it's probably been probably been 15 years ago or so. We took a we took our scout troop out there. Uh we we actually went up through Tennessee, Kentucky over to St. Louis, all the way out to Colorado, did some white water rafting out there, and then went down to the Grand Canyon, uh, camp there. And uh I tell you, there were four adults and about 15 boys. And talk about being nervous do not get next to this edge over here. Uh because it's uh as you can see in that photo, it's near about a straight drop there.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

It's a long way down. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:00

But that was uh that that that was a really cool uh experience there and and seeing that for sure.

SPEAKER_01 54:08

Let's go over to uh above that leaf. See where the leaf's at go in the one above it. Got middleways of the screen there.

SPEAKER_00 54:21

Uh okay, I gotcha. That's Iceland.

Travel Photography From Georgia To Iceland

SPEAKER_00 54:28

That's Iceland? Okay, wow.

SPEAKER_01 54:31

That's Northern Lights. Yeah. We went there in September two years ago. My son Kyle, he's he's real big in the he's real good in the photography. And he's real good in the nighttime photography too. And he told us, he said, if we go, we need to go this time of the year to September, and he knows more than I do about that kind of stuff. So we went in September, and he was right. About three or four nights of the that week we saw Northern Lights. And it's it's amazing to see the northern lights. I mean, it's imagine with all that green pouncing around and dancing around and all that.

SPEAKER_00 55:14

Do you do you know enough about the northern lights to know what what creates that that that image there? No. No. I don't either.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

But it but you say it's a certain time of the year that uh and uh and I know certain times it'll come on down into the disaway. I mean it'd come on down into Montana and on down into lower down, but yeah. But uh but he knew Kyle was right. He said if we go if we go to Iceland, we need to go that time. And we was he was right. We was got we got there at the right time.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Wow, that's nice. Um how much traveling do you do specifically for photography? Or or are you traveling and then saying, okay, I'm gonna while I'm here, I'm gonna take some photographs?

SPEAKER_01 56:08

Usually about once a year we try to figure a plan to go somewhere. I mean, I uh like your Oregon trip.

SPEAKER_00 56:16

Was that a was that a photography trip?

SPEAKER_01 56:19

Well, we wanted to take the grandkids. Grandkids had never been on trips like like we've been on to take pictures of stuff, and I wanted I wanted them to see some of the stuff that I've seen. Right. So I wanted them to see some of the stuff, and I'd never even seen Oregon, so they got to see some of the stuff I hadn't ever seen. Right. So that was good. I mean Oregon's always wanted to see Oregon or Washington State. And hadn't been to that, so uh I think I got an Oregon picture on there. Uh maybe not. Let's see. That's Canada. That's Canada. Canada's another pretty place, huh?

SPEAKER_00 57:08

Man, that likes blue, man. I know. And you say and you say you're not you're not uh photo like photoshopping or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 57:19

No So how much uh

Gear Costs Lenses And Slow Shutter

SPEAKER_01 57:26

in order to in order to capture shots like this, what kind of a what kind of equipment do you need about like maybe maybe a better question is is uh what kind of investment do you do you need to be able to really kind of I mean this is all I mean I've got a Nikon D7100 and I got a uh I usually have when I go on places like this, I've got a short lens, like a Nikon D7100, which is with a 16 to 70, 16 to 300, and I got always take a long lens with me, which is uh 150 to 600 for wildlife. So uh it's probably a thousand dollars for one and a thousand dollars for the other one. So probably two thousand twenty five hundred dollars total for what I got now. You can spend as much money as you want.

SPEAKER_00 58:20

Right, yeah, just like anything.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

You can you can spend ten thousand dollars on them, but I can't I can't, but I'd like to be able to. I've heard I've heard people spend ten thousand dollars on lenses and cameras and stuff, and I'd I'd like to see if they any better than what I've got, but right, right. See if they're that much better than what I've done, but uh just to see. But I hadn't I hadn't ever been able to do it.

SPEAKER_00 58:47

See, I was looking at one down here, uh where's that?

SPEAKER_01 58:55

That's a zircle.

SPEAKER_00 58:56

That's circle, okay.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

That's just a slow shutter speed at Zirkle. That's when the phone was spinning right and uh coming off the dam.

SPEAKER_00 59:07

Matter of fact, is this a uh is this a recent photo? Or no? That's been a few years ago. It's been a few years ago. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:13

But that's like I say when the phone was coming off the dam.

SPEAKER_00 59:15

Okay. I got it.

SPEAKER_01 59:17

Certain times of the year or whatever, the the phone will be coming off. And that's when it's kind of full. This was low here.

SPEAKER_02 59:26

I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 59:27

When it's when it's pretty full there and the the foam's coming off the dam. Right. So it's swirling. So I just did a slow shutter speed so the foam is swirling around and around.

SPEAKER_00 59:39

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 59:39

And I just set it up where it it catch the swirls and uh it does good like that as long as the wind's not blowing. If the wind's blowing it, everything in that's blurry, and the limbs and the leaves and everything else is blurry.

SPEAKER_00 59:56

Okay, right.

SPEAKER_01 59:56

So that messes everything up.

SPEAKER_00 59:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

But as long as everything's still and the the water's on the thing blur uh moving, that works out good.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:08

Yeah, that uh that slow shutter speed, um, when you when you slow it down, what's it so just kind of explain to me what's what's happening when you when you slow that down.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:20

It just slows like I said, it just slows the uh shutter down.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:26

Okay. So so it's allowing uh I guess more more light in at the time and to to to create that effect?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:34

Just just yeah, just lets it whatever's moving in the in the in the frame, just lets it move longer.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:41

Okay, okay, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:42

I gotcha. And um and you can and I play usually I play around with it. I'll I'll if I don't like what I'm seeing, I'll play around with it and just keep adjusting on on my camera until I get it what I like what I like.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:56

Nice. Let's do a couple more here.

Finding Shots In Churches And Old Homes

SPEAKER_00 1:01:02

Uh where's that?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:06

That's in a Smyrna church and uh Raven, I mean in a lesson, Raven. I was actually taking pictures of the doorknob the other way in color, and uh I turned around and looked behind me and the lights was kind of the reflections of the rays were coming through the windows. So I turned around and took pictures of the rays.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:26

Yeah, so that's that's just something of uh an example of something just grabbing you, just grabbing you.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:30

Right, like say the uh because I had the doorknob picture the other way, and I'm standing right in the middle of the church, and I turned around and I said, There's a rays coming through the church, so I turned around and took pictures of that. That's awesome. That doorknob, I can say that's the same doorknob right there with the brand on that one.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:54

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:55

Because I was actually taking pictures of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:02

So so what's uh so what's happening right there with that door? Is it is it polished or I mean what is it because you've you've got the two different it's just a ceramic doorknob. Okay, yeah, so is it so it is ceramic, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:14

And I've actually sold several of those. Uh Doctor's office in Brunswick bought uh one or two of them, and I've actually sold a few of them. And uh it's just p some people like 'em for some reason.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:25

Right, yeah. Yeah, that stands out. And is that something that like like where did you get the idea to take the picture of the doorknob?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:36

I just saw the doorknob and I just said that looks unique. And right. I mean, you can see where the doorknob used to bolt up above it, and it slid down, the screws has come out of it, and spider webs are on the hinges. So I was taking pictures of it, and I see I turned around and looked behind me and saw the rays coming through it, so took pictures of that that too, so I got two pictures in the same in the same setting.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:04

Right. That's cool. All right. Um any others you want to uh point out? That house right there. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:21

Okay, this one here. Let me explain this one. All right. I've taken pictures of this old house a bunch of times. And this is what they call the Gibson house in Wayne uh Waynesville. This house don't have any electricity.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:35

This is Waynesville. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:37

And uh I was I've I've been to I've took pictures of it a lot of times, and and this time here I was taking pictures of it and all of a sudden I started seeing a light come on in that house. And it started getting I mean, it was spooky. There's a cemetery right behind me. It's late in the evening, and uh I think it was in the evening, it might have been in the morning. Either way, I was taking pictures of it and I mean it it made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was it was spooky because there's n there's no I know I know there's no power on it because it's been like that for a long time. And uh but there's the sun was coming through the window on the other side. And I know what that what it was, but it's just the sun came through the window and just gradually went through the through that front door and gradually moved away from it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

That's cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:35

And it just looked just like somebody flipped the light on in that door, right? And then moved away from it. And that was a spooky, spooky picture.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:44

That's what you call kind of being in the right place at the right time. Uh and and that's probably uh the the case with with a lot of uh photography, just kind of kind of like the uh the the sun rays coming through uh that that barn there. Yeah, well not barn, but uh uh what'd you say that's a church church, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

Yeah, Smyrna Church. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:04

And that's cool, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:07

Yeah, because just a few minutes later it was gone. Right. I mean it just gradually just went right on, it went right on away from it.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

Yeah, it's interesting with with you saying that, um, you know, you think, okay, there's 24 hours in a day, right? And and then for probably, you know, approximately 12 of those hours the the sun is shining. And so um, but when you see something like this, you see how quickly that sun or our rotation around the sun is actually actually occurring.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:39

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:39

Um, for it to kind of show up and then and then disappear.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:43

But I've taken pictures of this house a bunch of times, and that's the only time I've ever seen it do that. And like I say, that was that that was spooky. Especially when I'm standing about fifty foot in front of a cemetery. I mean, there's a Gibson Cemetery right behind me, and then Oh not really. Whatever you call it all. You'd be scared of me. But that air was spooky. I mean that was kind of spooky. That's neat.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:16

All right, let's uh let's see, let's do uh let's do one more. What you got? You got some butterflies, you got uh Ford truck there. Some more deer.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:36

In the middle.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:39

Okay, yeah, wow. That's a pretty cool shot with that house up there off in the corner. Showing the overall the overall view that that house has.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:02

I think there's that was in a movie. And they said it and they had a little kiosk thing on the thing, and Kristen come told me that she went over and read it and she said it uh I think it was in ninety three or ninety five. They was having a wedding party at that I don't know if it was on that bridge or either down below it. That uh a rocket fell from the top, which is six hundred and sixty-something feet high, fell down and wet the whole entire wedding party. It didn't kill nobody.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:37

Thankfully.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:38

But it splashed and when it fell down and splashed, I think it m it must have fell down to the bottom. Right. And it wet the whole entire wedding party. Goodness gracious. But that's a long way. Yeah, it is. Looks like it. But you it's hard to get anybody without without getting anybody on that bridge. So I had to keep waiting and waiting and waiting until they until somebody got off the bridge and I could get a quick picture of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:02

There's constant tourists and everything just coming through. Yeah, that's a good shot right there. Is it 680 feet?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:11

660 or 680? Okay. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:16

Well, that's awesome. Um you're uh you you got any um uh maybe s stories about about Brantley County, kind of growing up in the area, anything anything that you'd want people to know about?

Brantley County Roots And Dirt Roads

SPEAKER_01 1:08:34

I just know like I say I've I've grown up in Brantley County. I love Brantley County. Uh I know there's a lot of negativity about Brantley County, I guess, but I mean I wouldn't live anywhere else. Um it's just uh I hate what happened with the wildfires. I know. Um I don't have any plans of ever leaving Branton Accounty.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:01

I just I just I don't I mean I know it's it's growing. Which I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. Right. I know we got I guess five hundred something miles of dirt roads. Some people say they wish that we didn't have that many miles of dirt roads, and I don't agree with that. Obviously, I like my dirt roads.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:24

That's right.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:25

I mean, I don't uh I take a lot of pictures of dirt roads.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:30

And uh so Yeah, I think uh dirt roads can be inconvenient sometimes, but I think dirt roads also help build a little bit of character too.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:39

Yeah. But I say it's uh I've been like I say I was raised here as a little boy. I've had all my aunts and uncles and a lot of my uncles have been around since I was a little boy that they fished and played music and everything is when I was a little boy.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:58

And uh I just uh I I I I think one of the things that I really enjoy. So I I grew up I was I was born in Columbus, Georgia, and my family settled here. Uh they're both my parents are from from the area, um, but they they moved back, they did some traveling or you know, moving around the state of Georgia and stuff with work and everything, but ended up coming back here when I was three or four years old uh and lived in uh Pierce County for a little bit. And then when I was five, uh moved to Brantley County. And uh so I I grew up here in Brantley County uh and you know, I moved off for a little bit with college and so forth, served a mission for my church for a couple years out in Nevada, and uh having those opportunities to live in other places, I knew that and and I ended up getting a job in Atlanta and was in Atlanta for a couple years, and I I did my darndest to get back here as quick as I could.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:04

Yeah, I I won't flag me there now.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:06

Nah, and so and thankfully back in 2006, we were able to move back to the area. Uh, I actually moved to Werck County in 2006 and then in 2007 bought this property here and uh moved a single wide out here and lived in it for about a year while we while we built the house. And uh it's been it's been great. Uh so grateful for the opportunity to to raise our children in Brantley County. Uh one of the things that I love is is just the the small town. You've got the you know lots of faith, you know, lots of faith-oriented individuals. Uh, you know, the the school system is is really good. Uh, you know, in Brantley County, and I know Hoboken, they've they've won some uh academic awards uh and everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:53

Right. Yeah, and uh in July I'll be married 42 years. And uh we've probably lived right where I'm at for I actually bought my house when I was I think I was 17 when I bought my house. It was a little tiny, they called it the dollhouse, one little bedroom.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:11

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:12

And uh I've lived in the same place.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:14

Ever since, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:15

Ever since. And uh it's that's the only dirt road. And I say I would not want them to pave my road for nothing. I mean it it gets bad sometimes, but I have no desire for them to pave it. But I'm three miles out of town, and that's that's close enough to town to me. Yeah. Um like I say I'm about five miles from the river or three miles from Nehana.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:40

So if if somebody is looking to get into photography, uh what's your what's your advice?

Advice For Aspiring Photographers

SPEAKER_00 1:12:50

What's your uh any tidbits to to to give somebody that that wants to get into photography and really maybe pursue it?

SPEAKER_01 1:12:57

As a a as a career, uh potentially probably practice. Practice, practice. I mean I've I went I when I first started, I wouldn't I didn't know enough about the F-stop and shutter speed and all that. Right. I took a I took a one-week class over at Coastal Community College in Brunswick to learn how to how to actually use my camera because I didn't know how to do it. And uh I did that and uh but other than that, I mean it's been a lot of trial and error. Right. Learn how to learn how to use it and learn how to take pictures and people pictures is where the money's at. I mean this is not where the money's at as far as I'm concerned, but this is where the passion's at.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:45

This is where the this is what I love doing.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:51

Well, if you've got if you've got all your needs met and and everything, and you're I think you're I think you're you're good to to pursue your passion. Yeah, uh for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:01

I mean I've seen a lot of people that can make money and do it with people pictures and stuff, and probably do make money with people pictures. It's just I have no desire to uh to do Photoshop and I mean I've had I've done one wedding one time and that was the last one. The lady said she wanted to look skinny. She didn't like me. She wanted me to make her look skinny in the pictures, and I gave her the pictures and said, take them and do what you want to do with them. I'm not doing that. I'm not sitting going through every picture to make you look skinny. Right. She weren't fat anyway, so it's not my my my forte. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:39

Yeah, yeah. Well, I was gonna say the uh the the rivers and the mountains and the trees, they they they they don't talk back and say, I don't like that picture you took of me.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:49

Exactly, exactly. You can take a picture of a bird or a squirrel or a deer or whatever, they're not gonna say I don't like that picture. That's right. People will. So it's just not my thing. So I mean, I mean, like I say, I've I've won a lot of contests, I've had pictures on a lot of magazine covers and books and stuff. It's just what I love doing. And this is my passion.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:17

Well, that's great. I uh and and we need we need every aspect, you know. Uh and just take take the photography industry, for example. You need your uh wedding photographers, you need your sports photographers. You do. Um, you need your you need your uh your studio photographers, yeah, you need your documentary photographers, and you need your nature photographers. Yeah. Uh so I I think there's a there's a place for for for everyone. And um I think you've done a done a done a wonderful, wonderful job. You know, I uh I've I've seen you, you know, over the years, but I honestly didn't realize the the uh the amount of uh work uh and production that that you actually have um to to to display and and share and and sell and everything.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:11

So uh I've really I think a lot of people don't realize how much work goes into into taking doing it. Right. I mean it's it's a lot of work, but uh but like I say, it's I mean as far as the sports pictures, I've got grandson, you know, Case, and I do and Canon, I've done a lot of pictures of them taking pictures of ball stuff, but it's that's for me.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:36

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:38

And their nanny. So I can do that, but that's that's that's just for me and them.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:48

Right. Wow. Well, um, do you have any anything else that you that got on your mind? Anything else you'd want to want to share with uh with individuals that take the opportunity to listen or hear or or watch the this episode?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:05

Uh no, I guess that's all I got for right now. Okay. That's all I can think of.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:13

Okay.

Generosity Fear And A Teacher’s Impact

SPEAKER_00 1:17:14

I tell you what, we'll close it out with uh have you ever heard have you ever heard of uh Tales? It's a little it's a it's a conversation starter. And uh I actually meant to do this at the at the beginning. So that so there's this uh little conversation. Uh it's called Tales. And they have you know, they have a family uh section, they've got a couple section, they got a friends, and then just kind of life stories. And basically it's it's a conversation starter. You know, we we spend so much time looking at these things uh nowadays, and that we we've almost lost the art of conversation a little bit. And it's one of the reasons I'm doing this podcast and uh just trying to you know share people's stories and their talents and everything. But uh, but what I'll do is uh is I'll pull a couple of these and uh and ask you and and see what you got on on the answer. So these are these are these are random, okay? So uh first one here, what is what is one of the most generous things someone has ever done for you?

SPEAKER_02 1:18:22

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:24

Gets you thinking a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:26

It does. You're really making me think now.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:30

And it don't it doesn't have to be grand.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:33

You know, I mean uh a lot of times this the simplest things can be the can be some of the greatest acts of kindness and one of the main things that I that just when you just said that that I it's been a long, long time ago, just weird, but uh Miss Carolyn Lewis was my school teacher in uh or Short really my school teacher in fourth grade, third grade, fourth grade. She picked me to go in her gifted class. And I couldn't understand why. And I still don't understand why there was a lot of in her class it was that was a gifted class, it was a smart smart person class.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:30

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:32

And all the people in her class was smart. I didn't think I was smart. I still don't. I guess that'd be yeah. Because we got to go to her uh her uh her house that was out in Hickox. I actually got a picture, I don't have it on there now, but that's up her driveway with trees. That's a driveway with uh a lane with trees on it beside it. Anyway. But I took pictures of her lane several times. She passed away several years ago. But I guess that would be that would be something.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:12

And it is uh so it's you know interesting you you you say that and you bring that up again. Um and I I think especially for uh for for children, you know, uh and anybody really, you never know what somebody is is dealing with as far as you know confidence issues, you know, uh self-reflection and and things like that. But that I mean that obviously had a a huge impact on you and making making you feel like you know you belonged. That's great. Appreciate you sharing that. Um I'll give you I'll give you one more here. Uh you had mentioned earlier about uh not really getting spooked and things like that. So the the quay and these are again, these are truly truly random. Uh so just pulling them straight here. So it says, what is the scariest thing that has ever happened to you?

SPEAKER_01 1:21:07

And like I say, that's that's probably gonna be that house thing. That's probably gonna be the scariest thing that I mean that's that's I don't get spooked too easy and too often, but that's one thing that actually made the hair on my arms and my back of my neck stand up, so that had that had to be it.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:27

Nice, man.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:29

Uh I can't think of anything else.

Gratitude Purpose And Closing Thoughts

SPEAKER_00 1:21:32

Uh well, again, I I appreciate you taking the time to uh to come in, sit down with me, and uh share your your talent uh with me and uh everybody that'll take the opportunity to to listen and watch. And um I I uh I I appreciate it. My my you know, you talked about wedding photography. I had a have a sister who who did wedding photography for a long time, and she talked about how hard it was, uh, you know, and I think just like anything, if you want to be really good at something, it's gonna require time, oh yeah, effort, uh, and just the the the investment, uh overall investment of doing something and having something worthy to share. And I think you've got something worthy to share there and grateful for what you uh what you have done with it and grateful for the your in uh input with the with the documentary um coming up about Zirkel and the and the future photography and sharing and everything that you do and just the uh the the community effort and uh and influence uh that you have out there. So greatly, greatly appreciate you and thankful for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:38

Well, like I say, I've I mean I've had a lot of health issues, and I've just I mean that was re I guess the reason why one reason why I got into this and then I just felt like I was short on time. Felt like I didn't have long to live for to start off with, and I'm 35 to 61 now, so I guess I had longer than I thought. That's a good thing. I mean maybe that maybe one way to look at it for me is maybe that helped me live longer. One yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:10

One yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:12

I mean it it kept me going and I mean it still keeps me going. I mean it's I mean it's whenever I get ready to go take pictures, I mean it's it's an incentive for me to go do something. I mean it's yeah 'cause I don't I don't slow down. I mean I get ready to go, I go. I mean and Kyle's even my son's even more at it than I am. I mean he gets up one or two or three o'clock in the morning to go take pictures. I used to do that, but I don't he's just climbs mountains and everything else now, and the more than I do. Like that bridge we had on there a while ago. He climbed it and I didn't. I said, I'll sit here and look at it from here. You go in. So he did all that.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:55

Well, I think we all need something uh something passionate in our lives that we can that we can pursue and and go after uh because I I do believe that it it helps out with just the overall stresses of life that that we that we find ourselves up against and uh it gives us gives us reasons to to keep going and to and to push through and something to to to look forward to and and and we all need that in life for sure. So well, alrighty. Um for everybody, uh Mr. Wayne Morgan, thank you for coming in and until next time, y'all keep on striving.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:25

Thank you for having me, yeah. Absolutely.