I’ve gotten to work with the folks over at Sloss Metal Arts off and on for a few years and we got together to make some portraits of the crew this past week. Marshall is the Director of Metal Arts and this shot of him in the old Blower Room is one of my favorites from the day. The blower room is massive and was used to force air into two equally massive foundry furnaces back when Sloss was in full swing.
William, June 2020
William, my father in law, photographed June, 2020.
William, April 2020
William, my father in law, photographed in April of 2020.
Beekeeping, social distance style
This weekend we checked in on our bees and we actually got to spend some time with Jill. We’ve all been self quarantining for what feels like forever, but we still made every effort to stay a safe distance from each other.
We learned, in this visit, that our walk-away split seems to have taken (we saw eggs and larvae, which means there is a queen) and that one of our hives that had over-wintered had way too much space and is weak. We’re working on helping them out.
Nourish Foods / Alabama Sawyer
My friends over at Nourish Foods, a national direct-to-customer meal service based here in Birmingham, have been putting together some amazing boxes lately. A recent offering was called the Southern Charcuterie Box and it included not only our honey, but fabulous products from several of our friends.
The cheese board included in the box was made by Cliff at Alabama Sawyer and I work so closely to (and with) them, I couldn’t help but document the process. Cliff was able to hand make ~60 of these boards in just a coupe of days, and with a small on his face, too.
Porch times
With all that’s going on in the world these days, we’ve been staying close to home and spending a fair amount of time on the porch. Lots of dog time spent panting in the sun and a quick haircut for my father-in-law, William.
Southern Foodways Alliance Oral History Project
I’ve been making photographs as part of an oral history for the Southern Foodways Alliance for a while now and they’ve published them, so I’m excited to share some of that work here. The oral history is called Faith and Foodways in Alabama and it examines how people find fellowship in their faith communities and what role food plays in that community, and the interviews were conducted by Michelle Little. I shot the bulk of the stories digitally but I brought along my 8x10 to bring a different perspective and to encourage myself to engage some of the portraits a bit differently.
Father Paul Costopoulos of Holy Trinity + Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church here in Birmingham.
Fr. Paul has long been connected to the Greek food festival the church puts on here in Birmingham every year.
Rabbi Stephen Slater from Temple Beth-El here in Birmingham.
He’s got a fascinating story of how he came to rabbinical life by way of being raised in west Africa by Baptist missionary parents. Quite a road.
This is Lucy Heidorn whom I met at a Sacred Harp singing up at Old County Line Church in Corner, Ala.
Her family has been meeting at this place to host a Singing for a long time—in fact, Stephanie and I were there for the 100th anniversary of the gathering.
David Ivey not only has been attending singings since before he was one year old, he’s also the president of the Sacred Harp Musical Heritage Association. He and his wife travel nearly every weekend to attend singings, including this one at Old County Line Church.
Lucy Heidorn stands with members of her immediate and extended family in front of Old County Line Church, where the family has been singing, annually, for 100 years. We made this photo to go into their archive of family photos which documents their family’s connection to this place and activity.
More from these oral histories to come, soon. To hear interview clips and read the full interviews, find the SFA page here.
Hoar Construction rebrand launch
I’m so glad to be able to share a new body of work made for Hoar Construction.
Their whole philosophy is “always in process” and the process of making this work was a phenomenal collaboration with an incredible creative team and a trusting client. Clarity Studio brought me on to photograph the way Hoar works, from start to finish, and be the visual voice of the rebrand. We spent several days between their offices and job sites to tell the story of the people behind the projects they make and capture the feeling of their commitment to quality and the constant refinement of their process.
We had an overview of how we wanted everything to feel, visually, and I was given the freedom to photograph what jumped out at me (with safety advisers on-hand, of course) and I couldn’t be happier with how everything came together.
My thanks to David, David, Clay, Jessica, and the whole crew involved who made this such an incredible project to work on.
Bonus, my dear friend Bob Miller produced an incredible motion piece to go along with the brand launch. Be sure to watch that below.
Foggy morning
Every winter I look forward to driving this road during the fog. It’s a path a travel almost daily, but it’s the best on mornings like these.
Kathmandu young monks
Thinking about our trip to Nepal last year. We visited a monastery the first day we got to Kathmandu and got to see some young monks early in training. The kiddos in the second shot were in week one of their journey.
David Strackany in Northern California back in 2007.
David Strackany in Northern California, 2007.
David Strackany toured then as Paleo and, incredibly, toured for for a whole year while writing, recording, and releasing a new song EVERY DAY, all while managing his own bookings and only rarely knowing exactly where he’d sleep any given night.
I met him in Birmingham at the late, great Bottletree Cafe and was immediately captivated. We ended up making some photos together later that night and the next day, and a few weeks later I ended up on tour with him along the west coast to document a part of his journey. From San Francisco to Seattle over the course of two weeks, I’d see first hand the amount of effort he put in to his daily practice.
The project that started on Easter in Florida, ended in Washington DC on Tax Day. David and I (and Taylor Bruce) got to tour the white house courtesy of Jared Ragland and the last show of the tour was still one of the more emotional performances I’ve seen—crossing the finish line of a 365 day ultramarathon.
Glad to have been a small part of that.
Billy Reid
Billy Reid always looks sharp.
Ian Curcio
Ian Curcio and Matthew Franklin Carter
My friends Matthew Franklin Carter and Ian Curcio visited Birmingham this week for work so we took the opportunity to share a meal and make some plates. Plus I got to introduce a couple more dorks to the tintype process.
Matthew Franklin Carter
Chef Rob Connoley
Chef Rob Connoley's Bulrush, St. Louis
I recently visited St. Louis for Covey Rise to check out what foraging wunderkind @chefrobconnoley was up to at his new restaurant Bulrush.
Rob was kind enough to show us a local foraging spot and how all this good stuff gets employed. Extra bonus was meeting Lexi, his pup whom he taught to forage with him.
From elderberries to sorrel to chanterelle and a million things in between, they’re digging deep into their ozark heritage at Bulrush, all while keeping their kitchen zero-waste.
Look for the new issue of @coveyrise for some recipes and more about Chef Rob Connoley and his team.
Beverage Director for Bulrush, Chris Voll
“Bald Fact”
Chanterelle-infused vodka
“Only Day-Dreams”
Elephant details, Nepal
Elephant details from March 2019, Gandaki Predesh, Nepal.
A man, a plan, a ham, Allan Benton
This man is responsible for some of the tastiest meats one can find in America. Chefs all over clamor for his aged hams (and, for my money, he makes the tastiest bacon money can buy). And Allan Benton (seen here with wood for the smokers) may well be the nicest man you’ll meet. When we stopped in to Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams a while back—just customers off the street—he took the time to tell us the history of his business and showed us how everything is made, step by step. Nearly an hour’s worth of touring us around and he still made the time to sit for a portrait for me.
Legendary hospitality and legendary smoked meats. They ship to basically everywhere…just sayin’.
Stephanie on the water
We recently had the chance to celebrate a birthday with family up in rural Tennessee and we spent as much time as possible outside, including a little hike down to the water at Tims Ford State Park. Pretty sure Stephanie would live outside if it were plausible.
Michael Curtis's Farmhouse
My friend Michael Curtis is one hell of an architect and I recently got to photograph a couple of his projects here in town. This Farmhouse is tucked away in the woods and it’s just magical and if Stephanie and I ever move I’m hoping to con him into designing it).
Also, we had Missie Crawford on set to put everything in its place and I’m always amazed at her appointments.
Samantha Tore
Just a quick bit of love for Samantha Tore real quick. I got to meet her back in February during the SFA winter symposium in Birmingham and I keep seeing her everywhere I look online, and in print. Her recipe is on the cover of Food & Wine at the moment (it’s a roasted curry tomato pie that, by all accounts I’ve read, is delicious).
Follow along with Sam at @tuktuklex and @browninthesouth.
Automatic Seafood & Oysters...is delicious
Oh man. Last post I mentioned Birmingham Magazine’s Food Issue and I’d be remiss not to post about the feature I shot on Automatic Seafood & Oysters.
Chef Adam Evans made a name for himself in Atlanta and I’m so glad he returned home to Alabama because everything I’ve eaten from his kitchen is amazing. He owns Automatic with his wife Suzanne Humphries who is responsible for everything about how the place looks. She’s an ace designer and the restaurant shows it.
Follow along at @automaticseafood and by all means go quickly to eat there. So good.
