Springs Mill, Lancaster, SC, 1995 (60k)

When built, the Springs textile mill was the largest of its kind in the world. Both of my grandparents (on my father's side) worked in the mill.

Railroad trestle, Lancaster & Chester Railroad, Lancaster, SC, 1995 (80k)

I never walked across this trestle as a kid. I was afraid of falling or being stuck in the middle when a train came. Later, I was a little uneasy walking across it at the advanced age of 27. Incidentally, Lancaster County has since built a dirt berm blocking access to the bridge from where this phot was taken.

Truck, Pleasant Hill, SC, 1997 (68k)

An old Chevy permanently parked under the canopy of an abandoned gin about two miles from my grandmother's house. It's owned by a cousin, although I didn't know that at the time. I thought I was just trespassing on some stranger's property.

Lancaster and Chester Railroad, Lancaster, SC, 1995 (58k)

The thirty-mile Lancaster and Chester Railroad still runs between the two cities. It also runs through my grandmother's back yard. When I was a kid, my grandfather and I would walk the railroad in the morning before he went to work.

John Deere Tractor, Pleasant Hill, SC, 1995 (52k)

My grandfather's Deere 3020. He owned several hundred acres for raising livestock and growing cotton, soybeans, and fruit. Now it's all government-sponsored stands of pine trees. After my grandfather's death in 1997, his son understandably sold all the farm equipment, so I'm fortunate that I was able to get these shots.

John Deere Tractor, Pleasant Hill, SC, 1995 (114k)

Same tractor, different angle. Back in 1995, I was using a friend's Pentax K-1000, a great, all-manual camera that produced a wide variety of awful pictures in the hands of a novice like me. I liked this print but it was underexposed; I boosted the brightness and contrast digitally to show the tractor's features without turning the blacks into greys.

Downtown at night, Heath Springs, SC, 1999 (53k)

10pm on a weeknight in Heath Springs, population 800. The Gulf sign has no reason to be there. There's no gas station and the occupant of the building isn't related to Gulf. But the Gulf sign makes the picture for me.

Downtown at night, Heath Springs, SC, 2002

Downtown at night, Heath Springs, SC, 2002

Downtown at night, Heath Springs, SC, 2002

Train Depot, Heath Springs, SC, 1999 (52k)

A restored depot that once served the Southern Pacific Railroad.

Heath Springs United Methodist Church, Heath Springs, SC, 1997 (93k)

I liked the shadow the cross threw on the church.

Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Pleasant Hill, SC, 1999 (51k)

I shot this at less than 50mm to capture the entire building. Notice the converging vertical lines and the face of the church seeming to lean away from the lens. I was at the edge of the road and would've had to back up across the street to shoot at a more proper 100mm or so. In retrospect, I should have. Live and learn.

Wateree River, Kershaw County, SC, 1999 (61k)

My grandmother owns a lake house on the Wateree River (that's really its name - accent the first and third syllables). Duke Power turned the river in to a lake when it built a dam for power generation, and Duke leased plots for lakehouses.

Wateree River, Kershaw County, SC, 1999 (57k)

Same place at sunset.

Flowers, Lancaster, SC, 1999 (157k)

They belong to a friend of my grandmother.