My sister Sherry is the music director at Paw Creek Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

When Sherry first suggested her idea for a calendar to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the church, I was not sure I could produce the sort of photographs required, especially since I would only have a few days to do the work. The photographs for this calendar needed to be visually appealing, seasonal, and they needed to connect with the long history of the Church. Sherry and I brainstormed a list of ideas for photographs that seemed doable. I did not need to create all 12 images because we could draw on some of my previous work to complete the project.

I had concerns about being able to make interesting photographs of some of the things on the list. Ultimately, I agreed to help because it can be difficult to say no to Sherry and facing the unknown can produce more interesting images than sticking with what you know will work. My biggest concern was still that I would only have a day or so to do the work because my shooting schedule was already very full.

Karen Sisk, a friend of Sherry's and a member of the choir, took me on a walk around the grounds when I arrived the first evening. We were looking for pawpaw, a spring, and anything else we could find that inspired us. Karen and I found several pawpaw trees during our walk; some of their leaves were just starting to change color.


Pawpaw leaves
While on this walk, Karen showed me the cemetery. The cemetery seemed like a good opportunity to make a photograph that connects with history and honors those who participated in that history. When I pitched the idea to Sherry she was afraid others might find it morbid. I explained that it all depends on how you look at it and I could show the cemetery in an inspirational way. The best I could do was convince her to consider the image once I had made it. "Fair enough", I thought, especially since I knew I needed some very rare natural light to make the image I wanted. This kind of lighting tends to only occur around dawn when sunlight breaks through mist. I only had one morning to make the image so my chances were pretty slim.

I arrived before dawn the next morning to scout the location and get set up. I was hopeful because the air was clear and cold and there was a light mist. As the sun began to rise I noticed the light filtering through the trees and spilling onto the ground amongst the head stones. I could not believe my luck, this was perfect!


Paw Creek Cemetery
And the luck did not end there. I needed to make an image of Paw Creek, the creek the church is named for. Paw Creek flows through a very urban and industrial landscape. I have seen many urban creeks turned into garbage filled ditches but I was elated when I saw how well this creek has been cared for. The creek has a wooded buffer and clean water with lots of interesting rocks. The first images I made focused on the colorful fall leaves that had fallen into the creek. We decided to use this image on the cover of the calendar.


Paw Creek #1
Then I made some landscape views of the creek. The best I had hoped for was some closeup details but the entire scene was quite lovely.


Paw Creek #2
I was also lucky to have some clouds on this day because direct sunlight would have created harsh highlights and shadows and would have made photographing this scene impossible.

Finally, I made a more abstract image concentrating on the patterns formed by the white water and the black rocks. We did not use this image in the calendar but it is my favorite images from that day.


Paw Creek #3
Karen also showed me a collection of historic artifacts dating back to the earliest days of the church. I made photographs of an historic candelabra, collection plate, quilt, and my favorite, an historic lemon juicer.


Lemon Juicer
My favorite part about making this image was the look on Sherry's face when I told her I wanted to photograph a lemon juicer for the calendar. It is probably just like the look you have on your face right now. But it does make sense, really. This lemon juicer was used to make lemonade for the church's annual homecoming picnic. It works well as the photo for one of the summer months and it connects with a wonderful tradition at the Church.

All I did was make the photographs for this calendar. Sherry did a lot of research and wrote captions for each of the photographs to connect the images with the month and with the church's history. She also found relevant scriptues to accompany each photograph. She dealt with the printers and found the funds to cover the printing costs. Oh yea, and she went to the store and bought some lemons for me.

Proceeds from the sale of this calendar will support the church choir. They will be making a mission trip to Italy next year and this will help raise money for their trip. If you would like to purchase a calendar they cost $15 plus shipping and can be ordered by contacting Sherry Blevins at sherrybsings@aol.com.