I'm not the fat guy on the horse in the second shot anymore, this is me now: A lot of my favorite things are in this shot, see how many you can find.......

The sun comes up in the Southern United States. Its already 83 degrees and the humidity is oppressive. A coricidin medicine bottle slides down the string of an electric Gibson Les Paul guitar. Mountain Jam lasts 33 minutes. George Wallace and Lester Maddox run the show. Ben Hampton painted foggy pictures of old run down houses and barns. William Faukner writes the books. There's fog on the Hiwassee River in Reliance where the Webb brothers tied themselves to the bridge to try to keep the state from tearing it down. Not many people know about the 12,913 Union Soldiers who lie in the ground at Andersonville.Not one tree grows in the Great Copper Basin in 1970, but the "plant" employs over 3000 people. Now, there's lots of trees and no work. You can see a Confederate battle flag at nearly every flea market and gas station in N. GA/E. TN, but this area predominately fought for the Union in the Civil War because they were too poor to own slaves. Such is the duality of the Southern thing. This is what I'm feebly trying to convey. This 24 year old kid said better than anyone I have ever known:

www.wolfgangsvault.com/the-allman-brothers-band/video/whi...

I'm attempting to save some of the fading memories of my hometown, Copperhill, TN. Perhaps one of the most polluted places in the United States at one time, it is now changing rapidly with the closure of the acid plant and copper mines. It was a truely unique and unhealthy place to grow up.

I mostly take pictures of old houses and structures, and sometimes I believe it enhances the photo to skew the horizon. I like it that way. I don't think many of the old ones were built level or square for that matter. I also like to do a soft HDR on old structures because it tends to lighten up areas that would normally be in the shadows. This helps one see what's under porches etc... I also use the Orton Effect sometimes. I think it enhances the beauty of some of these old structures as well. Other than that, I use a meltdown effect on a lot of the old vehicles. I've recently starting using textures as well. I use a Nikon D50 that looks like it's been in a war, a couple of the cheaper Nikkor lenses, a lensbaby 2.0, and a Sigma 10-20 wideangle. I used to have a tripod, but it broke. I just recently got a Nikon D90.

75% of the photos I take don't make it to Flickr. I usually post what I like, and I'm not an artist, so I like what I like. Lately, I've decided to get off a lot of groups, especially the ones with the mandatory comments and the big icons. I'd rather be on groups that deal with the things I like, and have people with similar interests comment on my photos, then I can see other photos I like, and not be forced to comment on a lot of cat pictures. Lastly, please don't invite me to a group where I have to ask the admin if I can join. If they're that picky about who joins their group, then they certainly wouldn't want me....

Since I've been taking pictures of old structures, probably 1/4 of them have already vanished. I will shoot even if conditions aren't optimal because it may not be there the next time I go back.

History Professor, Retired Army, Outdoor person, Horse person. I like old places and old things very, very much.

I am a natural horseman, I'll respect your opinion on your relationship with your horses, please respect mine.

Just a little bit of negativity; If you make me a contact, and I determine that your photostream is mainly sexual in nature, I'll block you. That's not what I'm here for. Also, I am very flattered by folks faving my photos. Actually I don't know why you would with so many tallented photographers on Flickr. But, from now on if you have no icon, you have no pictures available, and you have no profile, and you fav one of my photos, I will block you. Bottom line; don't use my photos without my permission. Sorry, but MY PHOTOS BELONG TO ME. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN USING THEM IN ANY WAY, PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR PERMISSION. YOU MAY NOT REPRODUCE THEM OR BLOG THEM. PERSONAL OR PRIVATE USE IS NOT PERMITTED WITHOUT CONTACTING ME THROUGH FLICKR MAIL. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING MY WORK. If I catch you using my photos without permission, Roy D. Mule will come live with you and you will be doomed to an eternity of taking care of him.

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My favorite photo of all time by Margaret Bourke-White :

My biggest influence, artist Ben Hampton.

This is Backwoods Redbuds. I've owned this print for years: