Help Portrait is a movement of photographers who are using their time, equipment and expertise to give back to those who are less fortunate this holiday season.
I first learned about Help Portrait by one of the guys (Ty Miller) setting up the one here in Dalton through Twitter. While watching the video, which was very touching, and showing it to my brothers and Alicia, I wanted to be a part of it, as did they. The turnout for volunteers was great, and they already had pretty much every aspect of it covered. So we just tried to help out wherever we could be of any assistance. We also brought some snacks for the volunteers and the people that showed up to enjoy while they were there. It was really nice to see everyone work together and work hard to pull the event off. I think there ended up being close to 32 sessions of people show up for portraits. It was awesome and felt really good to see their smiles and see the happiness in their faces as their photos were handed to them. It was definitely a great experience and something that I am very proud to have been a part of. I hope for us to be able to be a part of it next year as well and help bring hope to many more people through this awesome movement.
A few photos from this set
This was Dalton’s newest Starbucks, which was only open for around a year, or maybe even less. Prior to Starbucks building there, there was a Chevron gas station, and if I remember correctly, it sold the location for a very large amount of money. I’m speculating that either McDonald’s (which ironically is pictured in the photo as well) introducing the McCafe, and/or people just deciding that Starbucks coffee just wasn’t worth the price with the economy like it is, contributed to it closing down. It’s a shame that such a nice building, and even nicer location (right off the interstate), will probably sit there vacant for possibly years to come.
Today we rode out into Gilmer County and took some forest service roads out to Bear Creek Trail. Chase and I first walked this trail back around 2003 for work, and was astounded by the Gennett Poplar tree that is about a mile into the trail. We’ve been wanting to go back out here for the sole purpose of seeing the tree again, and this time get some pictures of it. Back when we were doing all of the hiking for work, we never really thought to take a camera along with us, but this time cameras were definitely taken.
Virgin forest is rare in the north Georgia mountains. The Bear Creek Trail contains what appears to be a never harvested section of land with trees so immense that they literally astound even the casual observer. Deep in this section of forest is the so-called Gennett poplar standing some 100 feet high and nearly twenty feet around. The tree is massive, and it alone is reason enough to try this hike. Source
Hike down Sitton’s Gulch Trail in Cloudland Canyon State Park.
A few photos from this set
Every city and small town in America probably has things hidden inside it’s boundaries that are unknown to most, even it’s own citizens. In this case, it’s the Liberty Tree that Dalton was given the honor of receiving that I just learned about.
Today we went for a bike ride that took us over to Cloudland Canyon State Park. I’ve been wanting to check it out but just haven’t made it over there yet. Unfortunately when we left the house at the start of the ride, I didn’t know we were going to stop there or else I would have taken my camera, but we had a great time checking it out for an hour or so. The sight of the canyon, along with the three waterfalls that we saw, is enough for us to try to go and spend an entire day there checking out everything that it has to offer.
A few pictures from my dad’s camera:
The flooding that the southeast has experienced over the past few days made national headlines. Local schools were closed for a day or so, and I’ve heard about a few roads being washed out around here. But I think all the rain and rising water that we got wasn’t nearly as bad as other places, thankfully. It was crazy to hear that Six Flags in Atlanta was under water though, not to mention so many homes, roads, and buildings.
On Saturday we went up to my parents new place to put the shingles on the back side of the house. After a couple of hours of working, mom went to get us something to eat for lunch. She hadn’t been gone but just a few minutes when my dad’s phone rang w/ her ringtone. Before even answering it, I think we all knew that something had happened.
As she was going around a slight curve, a man backed out into the road without even being able to see if there was any oncoming traffic, and she nailed him. Luckily she was wearing her seat belt and the airbag helped soften the impact a bit. She’s still sore from where the seat belt grabbed her, but thankfully had no serious injuries. After an hour or so, the state trooper came to work the accident. He heard both sides and said that the truck was at fault because it is never okay to back into a main through-way.
Today my brother and I attended the media event for the launch of the walking tour for the West Hill Cemetery in Dalton. We attended because we both played a part in creating the map as a project at our work that is used in the brochure, and was recognized, along with our work place, for doing so. The guy that did the brochure tweaked the map a little after I submitted it and made it flow with the rest of the brochure. The meeting was inside the chapel and had quite a few guests that were relatives to some of the stops along the tour. I had never been in this cemetery prior to working on this map, but it has a lot of notable figures, along with their achievements and stories, buried there that played a part in making Dalton what it is today.
The brochure is wonderfully designed and full of history for each of the stops along the tour. It’s supposed to be available in a lot of places around town that deal with the community, and will probably also be in the Georgia Welcome Center at the state line on I-75.
Character is what emerges from all the little things you were too busy to do yesterday, but did anyway.
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© Copyright 2007-2012 Shane Holden
All Rights Reserved.
