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December 09, 2018
Photo JaiGieEse has released two new photo books. In these books you can explore the history of a Southern family via images from a treasured keep-sake and embark upon a photographic odyssey through some of America’s iconic fortresses.
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The first of our two newly-released books is the The Thompson Family Album. This is a very personal project, as it has to do with the history of our own family. The images within this volume come from an old family album, and they span decades of the Thompson Family’s history. Many of these images are those of folks whose names are known, and many others are of as-yet unidentified people.
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In the very early 1800’s, Harmon Thompson, having secured a land grant, moved from his home in Robeson County, North Carolina, to Marion County, Mississippi. Harmon and his wife, Jane Ward Thompson, settled on their newly-acquired land, about nine miles north of the small town of Columbia, on Williamsburg Road. Harmon and Jane brought ten children into this world, one of them my great-great-grandfather, William James Thompson.
Life was generally quiet in the southlands where the Thompsons lived, but there were those occasions when the calamities of the world intruded - including the tumultuous times of the American Civil War - often referred to by genteel Southern folks as the “Time of the Late Unpleasantness.” Later years saw peace return to the Thompson homesteads, as the family continued to grow and prosper.
As it turned out, even in the sparsely settled lands of deep south Mississippi, there were often encounters with photographers, some in their established big-city studios and others who apparently traveled about, stopping at homes, farms, churches and schools to “capture the likenesses” of the simple folks with whose paths they crossed. These enterprising photographers made use of the earliest forms of photography - ferrotypes (tintypes) and ambrotypes (glass-plate negatives), images captured with large and bulky cameras perched atop sturdy wooden tripods.
Many of these photographs were carefully preserved, and eventually, a goodly number of them made their way into a family album. This treasured book of images was passed down from father to son and mother to daughter over the years. Eventually, it came into possession of one Henry Edgar Thompson, my grandfather. In his later years, Mr. Eddie bequeathed the album to his third daughter, my aunt, Rachel Thompson Rowley. By this time, the old album was showing its age. The book’s binding had literally fallen apart, and the Thompson family’s memories had come to reside in a box of loose images. This is how I first encountered the Thompson Family Album.
So that these priceless images might be preserved, Rachel graciously allowed me to take possession of the loosely-packed album long enough to scan the images. The now-carefully restored images from the Thompson Family Album, along with others from the family’s collection and a selection of my own images, are presented within this book.
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Our second new title is FORTRESS: A Photographic Odyssey - One man’s journey through some of this nation’s iconic fortresses, as told with modern imagery and historic photos, maps and drawings.
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I suppose that it all began in the days of my halcyon youth. Then, my family often vacationed on Santa Rosa Island, Florida - at Pensacola Beach. On the western tip of Santa Rosa Island is a taciturn old brick-and-mortar 19th Century fortress - Fort Pickens. The old fortress, along with several other similar emplacements, was built to guard the entrance to Pensacola Bay against foreign invaders. Pickens played a not-so-well-known role in the beginnings of the American Civil War, and she continued to make herself known all the way through World War II, until Pickens was deactivated, to become a silent sentinel - and a tourist attraction.
When my father - a teacher, coach and school administrator - learned of the presence of Pickens during our first vacation to Pensacola Beach, he decided that we ought explore the old fortress - and so we did - the first of many such adventures that have lasted through to my adulthood.
Something about Pickens spoke to me, and in a very penetrating manner. This old fort, which had been built as an instrument of war, an early form of deterrence, if you will, became, to me, a place of enduring peace and solitude.
As I strolled the cool quietness of Pickens’ casemates, chambers and ramparts, I discovered that the troubles of my everyday world seemed to fade, as if Pickens were fighting them off with an invisible barrier, in the same manner as she’d once fought off invaders with the thunder of cannonades and the incessant crackle of musketry.
And so, like my father before me, I began to seek out these old fortresses, to explore them, camera in hand, hoping to capture, at least in small part, the essence of these time-worn and battle-battered structures. Herein, I hope to share a few small fragments of my adventures.
Please note that this effort is NOT intended to be a definitive study of fortresses - seacoast or otherwise, but rather a simple journal of my explorations. The great bulk of the photographs found within this work are my own. I have employed a selection of historical photographs, drawings and maps, in an effort to better tell the story of these amazing places. Such images are duly credited.
I’ve engaged in considerable research in order to more accurately tell the tales woven into the history of each of the fortresses I’ve visited, as well as illuminate the experiences of the men who lived, died and fought in these forts.
I have also tried to illustrate the roles these fortresses have played in our nation’s history. One significant example is the way that Federal rifled cannon cratered a solid brick and mortar outer wall at Fort Pulaski, forever ending the era of Third System fortresses.
These venerable old masonry forts were eventually displaced, for a time, when fortification engineers once again turned to more projectile-resistant earthworks, which could be quickly repaired, almost overnight, using little more than shovels, buckets and manpower.
But the age of steel warships forced the development of more durable seacoast fortifications, with more solid emplacements constructed of steel-reinforced concrete. These new batteries were equipped with stronger, faster-firing and solid-striking projectiles. For a time, these fortifications served the nation well - until larger warships were developed, which could stand off outside the range of the shore batteries and pound them into rubble, And then came the advent of warplanes and missiles, and it became clear that the age of fixed fortifications had irrevocably come to an end.
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You’ll find order links for each book at the end of the listing for each book. These links will take you directly to our specialty printer/publisher’s page, from which you can place your order.
Unlike most of our offerings, these books are not sold with free shipping. The printer/publisher will take your payment information and your shipping information and they’ll ship the books to you for a reasonable shipping charge. There are four shipping options from which to choose. When ordering books for ourself, we’ve generally selected the cheapest option - shipping via United States Postal Service, and in every case so far, we’ve received our order in considerably less time than they suggest it will take.
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September 09, 2024 1 Comment
September 09, 2024
You should know that my earlier releases can still be had. Those titles include:
Fortress: A Photographic Odyssey -as always, is available in it's original deluxe hard-cover format, and we’re at work on an eBook editio, as well as a lower cost print edition.
The Thompson Family Album is now available in a lower-cost print format, as well as the previously available deluxe hard-cover, and we’re working on an eBook edition there, too.
September 09, 2024
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