I'm about to make a gross over-generalization here: Photographers are "nice" people. When you are holding an instrument that some cultures believe captures the soul–and maybe if the operator is especially good…at least the essence of the soul–you've gotta have some element of snake charm about you. Back in the day, I used to travel with those guys (and a few gals in the mix.) I'd walk into a room with a reporter's pad and you'd think "60 Minutes" had arrived on the scene. I'd turn around mid-interview and everyone in the place was putty in the photographer's hands. Everyone was his/her new best friend. The waitress. The janitor. The grandmother….Damn.
Though we've never traveled together, Jerry Atnip would be at the top of my list of those nice guy/gal photographers. Mr. Clean Jeans. Not a specka dirt on his own soul. A deeply spiritual, unassuming man who quietly lives his faith. And a portfolio–a career span and breadth of subject matter–that seriously rocks. He's among my top fave photographers in town–big guys, nice dudes–whose work wows and woos me. Others include John Guider, Bob Schatz and Jack Spencer. (Pssst: Don't let Jack's gruff-tough exterior fool you. I wrote the first cover feature of him back in the pioneer days of NashvilleArts Magazine. I know.)
Atnip's done it again–created a stunning new body of work, only this time he's turned his camera toward home. The South. Nuanced backroads and highways, where, as he describes in his latest book–Gone South: A Collection of Images From the American South–39 heart-snatching photos where "past and present exist in tandem."
"The Journey with Grace" featured Atnip's work documenting Nashville's homeless in 2009 here, here and here.
Images shown above: Atnip as captured in the characteristic moody style of the no less amazing Jack Spencer. When I first saw this photo of Atnip on his Facebook profile, all I could say was: "Dude!" Seriously. Second image, above, No. 190 from Atnip's Gone South: A Collection of Images From the American South. Last image, No. 144, ditto.
Gone South is available in standard and limited edition. The limited edition version (only 200 copies,) includes a signed/numbered print. Both editions can be ordered at jerryatnip.com.
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So, my conscience just got it's rearend kicked. You see, I didn't name any women photographers up there. And I have a lot of local women photographers whose work I love as well. Children, family and portrait photographer Rebekah Pope, was my collaborator on our book, From Heartache to Hope: Middle Tennessee Families Living with Autism. "The Journey with Grace" has featured the work of Wendy Whittemore, Stacey Irvin (here and here) and also Tamara Reynolds. Three of Tamara's photos grace my condo's wall of photographs. So, I just learned the girls are having a show: "The F Stops Here." Irvin and Whittemore join other women photographers in this juried show Sat. December 10, 6-9, Studio East. You go, girlfriends. You rock, too. Totally.
