Winter Holiday Recap
ft. friendship, long walks, a show and a FIRE!
It’s been unseasonably warm the past two months, but it’s finally starting to get into the cold part of winter where I can see my breath most nights. I still think this is my second favorite time of year. Seasonal depression is one of those things I have to believe in blindly because for whatever reason, the shorter the days are, the more productive I am.
This past month has felt like time moving in slow motion but in a good way. I’m happy time has passed so slowly because I’ve felt like I’ve experienced more than a mere months worth of life in the last 30 days.
Tommy Bartlett’s Water Circus / Skyline Diner with Molly!
In doing research for previous posts on this blog, I’ve come across lots of mentions of Tommy Bartlett’s Water Circus, but something that I wasn’t always aware of is that the remnants of it’s existence are still very much accessible and in decent shape for their age. Just before Christmas, my good friend Molly invited me to hang out with her in Pigeon Forge for the day at a cabin, and we took the chance to go check out the ruins.
It’s easy to see why this place was a big hit, especially back in the 1980s when there was far less to do in the area, and while the man-made lake has since been filled in, it’s very interesting just how big of a place this was.
I also took a went on a few walks at sunset and sunrise and found lots of cool things. I have this old folder on one of my backup drives that I recently came across that has a ton of photos from photographers who were active on Tumblr in 2011-2015. Most of it is the same kind of stuff I enjoy taking photos of, just day to day, mundane. Looking back through all those photos from people in small towns all over the world reminded me of something I’ve always known but don’t always put into practice. Documenting your hometown is important.
Even though there are more cameras than ever and more photos and videos that are accessible than ever, you, especially if you are a photographer, are the only person who sees the world the way you do. I love “pedestrian” photos. I love looking at late night on-camera-flash photos of friends I’ll never meet. I love looking at photos of the buildings in places I’ll never visit. It’s important to capture these things, I think.
So much of my work is kind of mundane and boring to a lot of people. Many readers will know that prior to being on Substack, I was active on Tumblr for 6+ years, and I posted landscapes and portraits of friends, just like the people I followed did too. I would get messages there nearly weekly about how dull the photos I posted were.
This is admittedly anecdotal, but when I would get a message like that, I would always look to see what the person messaging me (rudely) posted. More often than not, they were just in a different town or city doing the same thing.
I think a lot about the secret places I know about here and the people who took me there or the interesting buildings that people pass by because they are used to them and how whenever I’m in a new place and I don’t know which spots are “normie” or touristy how happy I am to see new places capture them.
Documentation in many forms has become a thread throughout my adult life and I’m more interested in it every single day.
New Years Eve!
George Mims Field with Abbey!
Fire Erupts in Downtown Morristown
Speaking of how documentation is important…
On January 2nd, a fire started in what we often call the Parks Belk building here in downtown Morristown, Tennessee. The main portion of the building that burned was built in 1905 and had been vacant since 1995, but the surrounding corner of the block was also a total loss in the fire. Over the years, I’ve taken tons of photos around here, and I may one day make an entry to share those, but if you’re not familiar with what the building looked like, I’d like to share a couple photos from just weeks before the fire broke out from a local who has been documenting the town for years.
This is more or less how I’ve always know this building to look. A few changes to the façade on the ground floor over the years, but more or less this is how it’s always been. The building is all brick exterior, though in 1933 when it first became a Parks Belk department store, the neoclassical green metal cladding was added to make it more visually appealing.
I was awake for a few hours on the 3rd before I heard the news, but when I did, I drove over to see what all was going on. The side wall had fallen over into the road, one of the main intersections of town, and even after 14+ hours, firefighters were still putting out small fires and flying a thermal imaging drone to make sure no hotspots were present amongst the surrounding buildings.
I spotted 5 news crews and the fire, it’s cause, and it’s effect on the developer who was taking steps to renovate the building are all well covered by local media. It’s a shame, really, but when I think about why documenting the mundane things, this is a huge reason why I find it so important. You can find more information about the fire from our local paper here, if you’re interested.
TwoxChoices, Extinct, Godsize, Melee and Shogun at The Brickyard presented by East Tennessee Hardcore
Lastly, just a few nights ago, I started off this year with an amazing show presented by East Tennessee Hardcore. THE five heaviest local bands played to over 200 people and the crowd had me with my hands up like a boxer all night. I got to see so many people I know, many I haven’t run into in a little while and it was a wonderful night.
Anyways, I hope you all had a wonderful New Years, I’ll be back later this week (Friday) with a little project I’ve been working on since December!
Well, that’s it for this week! I hope you enjoyed the photos! If you’re looking for tapes, please check out my page on Archive.org for the full list of digitized media. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message right here or drop a comment below. If you haven’t already, please check out this virtual trip to the mountains including the Blue Ridge and the Smokies! or any of my other previous posts here. Thanks so much for checking out this week’s edition of Diptych!
See you soon!
—Forrest
The pictures of Abbey made my stutter come back.
i like the firework photo from nye a lot. hard to believe that so many people were rude about your tumblr photography, bc those posts were a huuuge influence for me when i was getting into photo back in the day!! happy new year keep up the good work :-)