Steven's Look at Life

I am missing photography. I haven't had much time for it in the last couple of years.  My camera feels like a sweet girlfriend I've neglected. Even though I'm regrettably not in love with anyone, I want to feel in love again. While teaching new employees how to take photos, I realized how much the craft can be joyful and full of possibilities.  I've missed my friends and how good it feels to make something cool. Things change. One buddy told me a couple of nights ago that he doesn't even own a camera now. That's kind of a shame. I get to know these other photographers whose work I'm following and it's a thrill when one of them gets an amazing capture.  I can't wait to get to Tigers for Tomorrow with my new lens. Below is a shot I got of the moon last night, hand-held. I am digging it.    It doesn't matter if someone doesn't like my photo or finds some concept to be silly. They have different tastes or they don't "get" me or the

 My daughter and I went to Rome this morning. It's been a while since we've gone on a trip together for some retail therapy.  While there, we visited Mount Berry Mall. I was surprised to see how fantastic the place looks. Yes, half of the stores in that once mighty retail compound are now gone (that's the case most places).  The people managing the place have succeeded in creating a mood during their commercial apocalypse that's somehow optimistic. Instead of leaving sad, vacant storefronts, spaces are covered by huge displays talking about what the community's other attractions are, the city's history, etc.  A far cry from "liminal spaces" that evoke a sense of sadness and suggest decline. I've watched the haunting YouTube videos dedicated to exploring abandoned palaces .  Author and theologian Richard Rohr describes liminal space as: "where we are betwixt and between the familiar and the completely unknown. There alone is our old world left

I could only fit so many images per post, so here are a few more moments from 2022… Lots of great music, as always. Above, Lonnie McKelvey performed at Canyon Fest at the JSU Little River Canyon Center. Below that, Matty Croxton sings soulfully impersonating Teddy Gentry of Alabama at the latest Boys in the Band tribute show at the DeKalb Theatre last month. My camera captured the crowds at these live shows, grooving to the music at the Boom Days Festival and that forementioned Boys in the Band show. I also got a glimpse of music from way back as Sacred Harp singers performed at a restored country schoolhouse. Above, actor Sandra Ellis Lafferty pressed her hands into concete to make an impression of them for the eventual sidewalk commemoration of her achievements as a star of the stage and screen. Below, the Canyon Center's Pete Conroy posed for my camera at a bluegrass concert during warmer months.  A major story of 2022 was Fort Payne's effort to recruit a Food City grocery s

This year was full of memorable moments. These were some of them… I invested a ton of time into creating pages and content for our newspaper and magazine, especially the annual springtime Progress edition.  Every issue in the month of March, a new section was published. A good chunk of it was produced and designed by yours truly.  Demolition and construction were the name of the game in 2022. The old eyesore of a hospital, where I was born, finally got torn down and the interstate construction tied up traffic on Interstate 59 for much of the year. My beat includes covering the Fort Payne City Council. Here we see Council President Pro Tem Lynn Brewer engaging with some younger constituents during the Third Saturday Sunset Cruise-In.  The below photo features Council President Walter Watson and City Attorney Rocky Watson during a council meeting.  One of the most fascinating assignments I covered in 2022 was the presentation by the NASA official in charge of the lunar lander that will p

The holiday display in my hometown of Fort Payne, Alabama has gotten downright dazzling.  The addition of Tiger Lily to the downtown historic district has added a touch of sophistication and class to the whole area.  I did a photo shoot for our December issue of DeKalb Living magazine there.   

  This past summer during the Third Saturday Sunset Antique Car Cruise-In, a man and woman stood on the roadside at Fifth and Gault armed with a bullhorn and told people walking past that they were going to Hell. Women inspired particular scorn for having the audacity to wear shorts in the August heat. I heard that a bride getting married inside the Coal & Iron Building was not appreciative of their effort to save souls by barking hellfire and brimstone at her guests loudly enough to drown out her exchanging of vows.  I walked up and gently suggested that they might be more successful in winning souls to the Lord if they weren’t so, well, direct about their contempt for everyone else. The woman smiled back and said, “Oh, if anyone has a problem with what he’s saying, they have bigger problems than him saying it, because they’re going to hell.”   M’kay…  Street preachers aren’t specific to Fort Payne. During a visit to Nashville this summer, there were proselytizers with megaphones