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Recently I spent some time interviewing people about their experiences in our economic upheaval here in the States. Some of these people work in industries that were directly impacted by the erosion that many have been experiencing.

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This project actually began over a year ago when I had the opportunity to document the gas shortages that had been plaguing the southeast, especially in the Atlanta area. I remember standing in lines that would wrap across an entire Walmart parking lot. Standing in the hot sun and witnessing people fighting over fuel. It was truly something out of a Mad Max future.

What I experienced made me consider what life could be like in the U.S. in the future. How would society change? Or could it adapt to a world with more expensive fuel, or slumping economy that could no longer support the “American way of life.”

Fast-forward about six months. The stock market was in full retreat, and my industry was in full meltdown. Then, at the end of 2008 I became yet another victim of the recessionary fallout. I lost my job, and my ability to maintain my former lifestyle. It was yet another opportunity to not only document what I saw around me, but to really relate to those being affected.

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I hope you enjoy the accounts presented here, and thanks to everyone who participated in this project. Please leave comments on what you thought of the video or how the economy has affected you. I’d love to hear from you.

Fading North Georgia Limited prints for sale thru March.

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huecycle.com – Economics, interviews. from Mark Hewatt on Vimeo.

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“Watch this weeks video for a teaser to upcoming
trips to Hurricane House and Railway Shack.”

Good afternoon, morning, evening!

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I think the humid, hot weather here in North Georgia is starting to fade away. Yay! I’ve noticed that the morning and evenings here in Winder have been cooler and, our A/C has been running less. So, I grabbed my camera and headed out early one morning to take some pictures of a beautiful morning sunrise.

I’ve been passing this field on the way to my daughters school for a couple weeks now, noticing the way the sunlight hit the field and trees. Plus, we have a narrow river that runs behind this field that gives off some great fog early in the morning.

To give you an idea of the terrain, we live on the other side of a granite ridge, this field is located at the bottom of this ridge and this fog/steam rises up out of the stream over the field and into the trees. The sun comes up, strikes the fog, tree line and field creating a nice rose color.

When I shot this particular set, I had to dodge cars and get soaked to the bone in the morning dew. Can I just pause here and ask why the hell people need to speed at 80 mph on the same freakin road as a school? I mean, I was almost ran over crossing the street… what gives?

Sunrise field

I tried a few new techniques for some of these photos. I recently took some tips from Russell Brown on using Photoshop to treat an image (I focused  on burning techniques.) I normally use Lightroom for most of my work because for me it has the best workflow and the interface doesn’t get in the way as much as Photoshop. I think for the most part it helped improve some of the shots, gave them a little more life and dynamic light. I’m not sure I could use Photoshop for all of my work though… I’m still not fan of having too many options when working with my photos, I think it dilutes things after a while.

Taking photos like this are another great example of finding great images and locations without needing to travel miles away. In fact, by going to places that are not a common photography spot you have the opportunity to get some really nice stuff that’s never been shot before.

Enjoy a hot cup of joe! Buy a coffee mug with one of this weeks photos.

Blue Morning Mug by mhewatt

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Watch my video blog of photos with some music:

This event was a riot, with around 10k people in the little town of Auburn, Georgia. We arrived around 3:30 p.m., shot around 200 pictures and then went home to eat a light dinner.

We showed up around 5:30 for the remainder of the event, catching some live “wrestling”, bands and other crazy things. By the time the fireworks had wrapped up and the crowds had thinned we got out around 11:30 p.m. We  shot a total of 400+ photos.