Fresh Loaf

The Fair Tax rally at the Gwinnett Center had a diverse meeting of people all supporting one idea. As I scanned the crowd, doing my usual people watching, I noticed this family tricked out with anti-IRS paraphernalia. The second I saw these kids with signs against taxes I had to take a photograph. I think this photo sums up the type of support Fair Tax has. The idea sounds great but to see it put to use could be different. It was enlightening to hear there are other types of taxing systems.

(Photo and copy by Addison Hill)

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It was hard to breathe last Tuesday night on the campus of Morehouse College. The election season often felt like someone was pushing our head into and out of water. But then the time came to sit back and watch the tide of electoral votes come in. This community of black men was confident that the right thing would happen. However, no matter how beautiful we saw the potential waves of change, we feared being yanked down by the undertow of history and deep-seated inequality.

Thankfully, the only threat of drowning that we faced that night was the inundation of tears by even the most manly of men — black men who are usually depicted as devoid of emotion.

We have a unique culture on our campus. No matter the individual’s socioeconomic background, we live with a reminder of how far we can fall if we slip on any side of the narrow path. We assume our cool and sometime violent posture to save face in a hostile world. We live embattled from all sides. Hope is not a campaign slogan. Hope has a more significant meaning for us who everyday look at the face of nihilism, sometimes in our peers, sometimes in the mirror. The tension broke when we saw the electoral count tip in Obama’s favor. I have never in my life seen such eruption of pure elation that broke out on the Atlanta University Center campuses. This was not just an election. For us, Obama’s win was a victory for the affirmation of human dignity. And for the first time we took off our “face” and our cool, and some of us cried.

November 4, 2008, 11:26 p.m, at Fredrick Douglass Hall, Morehouse College

(Photo and Text by Wendell Hassan Marsh)

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This image was taken on Halloween on the edge of Henry Ivy Park in Downtown. These girls try to figure out the clues given them during the Undead Invasion scavenger hunt.

The moment was pointed out by my partner. I was hesitant since I felt the image might be a little rude, however, I took it anyway. As he said, butts are always funny

(Photo and text by Stefani Byrd)

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This past Saturday the BET Awards saw a bevy of well-dressed men and women swarm the Atlanta Civic Center. Fancy pants as so many of these people were, every non-celebrity had to walk through the metal detectors. Which is not so fancy. This man was waiting his turn as, right out of the frame, another guy was getting yelled at by several guards for trying and nearly succeeding to slip a camera past them.

(Photo by Tara-Lynne Pixley)

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This week’s Time and Place photo was shot at 11th and Peachtree Street NE. For me, one of the benefits to living in the city is that the mirrored buildings create living canvases that change dramatically throughout the day. I like this photo because it combines that element of the city with another of my favorites — the workers who dangle fearlessly from buildings while they complete their daily jobs. To me, they are heroic. I also like the multidimensionality of this image — how the reflected building forms one world and the surface of the lines of steel form another dimension. The worker, seemingly walking at the top of the reflected building while touching the sky, forms yet another.

(Photo and text by Joeff Davis)

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October 2, 2008, 9:35 p.m. at 502 Amsterdam Ave. N.E.

This weeks Time and Place photograph was taken off the television screen at the Amsterdam Café. When I go out on an assignment I try to previsualize an image before I arrive at the shoot and for this one I was thinking of somebody drinking in front of the television screen with the Vice Presidents debate going on behind them but when I got there that image felt a little too contrived so I started taking photos of just the television screen with a long lens and came up with this Palin shot.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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Thanks to my spousal equivalent, I attend all sorts of racing events that I would never even know existed otherwise. Though I’ve learned to differentiate the sounds of revving engines, get excited about F1 qualifying and understand the varying specifics of stock classes in autocrossing, I’m still not quite on board with the cycling. Being a rather unsuccessful cyclist myself, I fail to see the draw of riding, much less racing, a bike for hours.

This past weekend I went to the Festival of Speed at the Dick Lane Velodrome in East Point. It was hours of different ages, genders, races and nationalities riding around and around, fast, slow and in-between. There were odd games and rules, races with funny names and through it all a cheering, smiling crowd.

I almost get it now. I think. Sometimes all it takes to appreciate something is to surround yourself with people who are insanely jazzed about said thing. Unless it’s politics — that’s a whole other story.

(Photo by Tara-Lynne S. Pixley)

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This photograph was taken in front of The High Museum, where a gallery show titled History Remixed: Road to Freedom and After 1968 was on display. I couldn’t help but try to get a shot of these two men holding hands walking past the gallery’s sign on the museum, which depicts Martin Luther King Jr. holding hands with fellow peaceful protesters. Alas, I wasn’t quick enough to get the shot. Instead, I decided to simply capture a moment between the two of them.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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Wordsmith’s Bookstore held a fundraiser in Decatur last weekend. I arrived as The Sea Lions, a fantastic local indie/pop band, were just beginning to charge through the second half of their set. The two members of the band both take care of lead vocals and switch guitar and bass usually after every other song. The true charm was that all of their drum tracks were being played off of their iPod. Instead of shooting the band, I decided to turn my camera to the eclectic group of audience members. About half young hipster-folk, and the rest older women and men. Some drawn into the bookstore by the band, some there with the sole interest of saving the bookstore. The vibe was strangely harmonious. No rebellion from the younger folks and complete understanding and acceptance from the older folks. Truly something that could only be found in the neutrality of a bookstore.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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While on assignment for Best of Atlanta, I got harassed by an unreasonably incensed and idiotically aggressive someone claiming to be the owner of a nearby bar. Apparently, taking photos on a rooftop is a crime against humanity.

This was the last photo I took of the night, after deciding that DJ Asagi’s spinning abilities and the laid-back vibe of Cenci was too cool not to take advantage of.

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This wildly efficient (Smart?) car was sandwiched between a semi and The Varsity, well known as being the largest fast-food restaurant in the world. I doubt the irony would escape anyone, but I’m sure we could all learn a big somethin’ from the little guy.

(Photo by Dustin Chambers)

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This week’s Time and Place photograph was shot at the corner of Piedmont and
Pharr roads. An accident had just occurred before I arrived at the
intersection and I shot this photograph through my windshield. For me, this
image is powerful because I can identify with the woman on the cell phone.
She seems to be saying, “Oh shit!” I know that feeling and I know that
expression. Driving around Atlanta on a daily basis I am shocked by the
number of accidents I see. It is unbelievable. Being a newcomer myself,
Atlanta roads are incredibly perplexing and they don’t seem to be designed
with safety in mind. Exits off intersections are confusing and streets
change names constantly. Every single day, sometimes twice a day, I pass an
intersection with a person on their cell phone with this exact same
expression. Slow down people, look both ways and be careful out there!

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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This is a photo of the construction being done on and around the 14th Street bridge, which crosses over I-85. Word is it won’t be done ’til winter 2009. You can get all the info you could ever want on this project here.

(Photo and text by Dustin Chambers)

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Atlanta saw a record high temperature of 98 degrees this Sunday, beating out 1995’s June 8 record by one degree.  This kind of heat is not just uncomfortable, it can be down right debilitating.  So to combat its force, I went to my local swimming pool that is owned by a neighborhood friend, Margaret Harrington. Also in her 90s, Margaret has kept her retro backyard pool open to neighbors and friends for nearly sixty years.  The number of people who she’s taught to swim and dive (including myself) is legendary.
Photographed is Lily, doing what every Atlantan wished they could have been doing this past sweltering Sunday.

(Photo and text by Dustin Chambers)

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This photo was taken during a peace vigil that followed a choral concert at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in downtown Atlanta. The All Saints’ choir performed a stunning suite of music entitled “The Armed Man: A Mass For Peace,” written by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins in 1999. Each of 13 movements takes us into, through and out of war, ultimately denouncing it. Photographed is Carol Miller, a fellow Atlantan and purveyor of peace, who, like many of the other attendees, stood in reflective silence and watched her candle’s flame grow stronger as the city’s light began to diminish.

(Photo and text by Dustin Chambers)

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Normally I try to resist taking a picture of somebody sleeping in the street. Nevertheless, when I pulled into the gas station to buy some gasoline (at $4.09/gallon) and I noticed this guy out of the corner of my eye, it was just too hard to resist. I had just photographed the governor’s Memorial Day service and I had fallen soldiers on my mind. To me this photo is about a guy who works all day in the hot sun, finds a little peace in the shade on his lunch break and is so tired he falls asleep face down on the concrete. There was another guy sitting up eating lunch behind the back tire and another in the passenger seat, but I purposely cropped them out when I framed the photo in hopes of forcing the viewer to create his own narrative.

(Photo by Joeff Davis)

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