A Photo Essay of Historic Oakland Cemetery

A couple weeks ago (on a much less dreary Sunday than today) I visited Oakland Cemetery, located in the center of Atlanta it is the areas largest cemetery and one of Atlanta's largest public park spaces. Founded in 1850 as 'Atlanta Cemetery', it has grown over the years to it's current 48 acres, more than eight times it's original size. It is now the final resting place of over 70,000 people including many civil war dead for the battles in Atlanta and surrounding areas, many of whom are buried in 'unknown' graves.

There are two characteristics of the cemetery that I found particularly interesting and a testament to the social change that has occured over the time since the cemetery was founded; The first is the fact that the older burial sections are segregated into white, jewish, and 'colored' sections. Unfortunately much of the colored section now appears to be empty since due to the lower social standing of the individuals buried there many of the graves were made of wood and have been lost to time. The other noteable area of the cemetery is 'Potter's Field' an open field that was used as a mass grave of sorts for over 17,000 poor or unidentified people over the years.

Here are some of the images I captured while exploring the cemetery. Unfortunately I had to limit the number of photos shared here to twelve of my favorites. I like that when viewing these photos you can't help but notice the contrast of the Victorian-era graves with the evidence of the urban metropolitan area in which they are located such as parts of the Atlanta skyline and a subway train passing through the background of one of the photos...



To learn more about Oakland Cemetery visit the Official Website or it's Wikipedia Page.

Special Summer Photography Package Pricing

I just wanted to make a post to let everyone know that I am offering a $200 basic package for in-studio or on-location professional business headshots, fashion, and portrait sessions.

This is a great deal for anyone who needs modeling portfolios, senior portraits, actors/musicians, or small business promotion photos this summer. The basic package includes a 2 hour session and 5 fully retouched edits. Professional hair and makeup, additional edits, and/or a CD of unedited images can also be added on if desired.

Please email me at info@jasonginman.com with a few details about what kind of images you are looking for and/or any questions I will get back to you ASAP to discuss availability. To view more samples of my work check out my website (www.jasonginman.com) and photography blog (you're on it!).

Haunting Images from Decatur Cemetery (Part II)

Last February, shortly after moving to Atlanta I first visited Decatur Cemetery, the oldest burial site in the Metro Atlanta area. At the time I made a short post here on my blog with some photos and a little history of the location.

Being only a few miles from my home I had intended to return to with my camera under better lighting conditions when the foliage had begun to grow in a bit more... but before I knew it it was the fall again, so I decided to wait until this spring.

This past weekend a little over a year later and after many subsequent visits empty-handed I returned to the cemetery armed with my camera. I took advantage of the shadows that the setting sun had cast around the area and managed to photograph many of the gravestones that I missed the first time around...



Click here to view the original post from last spring with more photos.

Click here to read more about Decatur Cemetery on Wikipedia.

Exploring the Ancient Ruins of Decatur Waterworks...

Yesterday I took a trip to explore the old Decatur Waterworks Ruins near the Atlanta/Decatur border not far from my house. Built in 1906 this former water pumping station supplied the area with water until the 1940s when it was abandoned when a larger water processing plant was opened which supplied a larger part of the metro Atlanta area. It was used briefly during World War II to supply a nearby local Naval Air Station which later became Peachtree DeKalb Airport. Since 2006 the area has been recognized as historically significant by the state of Georgia and has been incorporated into the nearby 'Mason Mill Park'.

I think the combination of nature and graffiti covered debris would make for a very interesting setting to return to for some portrait and/or fashion photo-shoots in the future.



Here is an aerial photo of the facility from the 1940s before it was abandoned: (Care of Dekalb County Parks Dept.)


Bones, my pitbull also accompanied me on this photo taking adventure:

Caitlin

Yesterday morning I had a professional headshot shoot with Caitlin Mangum, a local on-camera reporter. It was a great day for it with good natural lighting. The Downtown Decatur area provided us with many excellent locations to use as backdrops for the photos. I am pleased to say that I think we achieved the balance of business and casual feels that she was looking for in her headshots.

Kenneith

Last night I had the pleasure of working with local singer Kenneith Perrin who has just returned to Atlanta after a performance in LA. He needed some album cover and updated promo photos for his new CD. The shoot was a lot of fun and it was also cool to hang out with someone else who is new to the Atlanta area. We got a lot of great shots on a few different backgrounds and lighting arrangements in the studio. One fun idea we tried was to have him pretend to sing with the lighting equipment set up to provide a 'spotlight' effect. I wanted to share a couple of the shots here on my blog:

You can learn more about Kenneith and hear some of his music at his Reverb Nation Page.

Fun With Lighting

I did a mock fashion shoot last night in the studio with Teagan to test out my new solid black seamless background and barndoor/honeycomb diffuser. I played around with a few different lighting arrangements before settling on this one which I'll probably be using somewhat regularly with fashion shoots from now on. It's a simple setup with the honeycomb on the main strobe at a roughly 45 degree angle with very little fill light.