North Carolina – Form, Texture & Space

Foxfire is the term for bioluminescence of some species of fungi or moss on the surface of wood. This is not to be confused with Firefox, the web browser a lot of us use, which has no bioluminescence at all. It was called in the past ‘fairy fire’ as it was a magical unexplained source of light in the forest.

A day-long heavy rain fell in the mountains of North Carolina as Winter was trying to decide it was time for Spring, and in that day’s twilight, the trees seemed to glow with ‘fairy fire’. It was quite remarkable and permeated the forest. As I stood admiring this phenomena, I pre-visualized a black and white image that was lit by this glow.

The photograph was made with a medium format Mamaya RB67.

Foxfire is also a group founded in 1966 to preserve and develop the public’s appreciation for Southern Appalachian culture – it’s history, people, and traditions – through artifacts, oral history, and programs that interpret, document and celebrate the region – it is located in the Northern Georgia mountains in Mountain City, which is about an hour east from my log cabin in Blue Ridge, GA. https://www.foxfire.org/

Stony Point, NC – 1993

I first became aware of Stony Point, NC in 1993 on a drive from Charlotte to Banner Elk. Old NC90 winds northwest on the way to US321. You parallel the train tracks past sleepy hamlets from a bygone era.

On my first trip through this small town in northwest North Carolina in 1993, I was startled to find this ghost of Jim Crow still visible on an abandoned brick building. It appeared that the place had once housed an upholstery company and a used car business. Though the signs on this building were all faded, and the building had experienced a fire in it’s past that had collapsed part of it, yet it still stood as testament.

Shocking in 1993 to still see signs like this in the south, I pulled over in the late afternoon and got out of my car to set up my medium format camera. The surroundings were completely empty. Though I had the feeling of eyes peering out from curtains in the nearby houses. I have been chased off of places before by irate property owners so my guard was up, as well as the hairs on the back of my neck as I quickly made this single image.

Flash forward twelve years later to 2005 and I am traveling near Stony Point and decided to see if the building still stands. Surprisingly it was. But this terrible reminder of history was finally demolished in late 2008. Good riddance.

Stony Point – 2005

Category: North Carolina

Foxfire

The Ghost of Jim Crow