Continuing Work, Working with New Partners

So now that I have expanded the Forgotten Pieces of Georgia project to include mini-documentary films as well as still photos, I have been asked by the Sparta Ishmaelite, which is the local newspaper in Sparta, Ga, to do some original content for their paper in the hopes of fostering a sense of community again in their small city. Over the last few decades, in addition to losing the Sparta Furniture Factory, there has been a LOT of increased tensions between the citizens and the local government. I have not gotten the entire “skinny” on the issues, but I believe from …

A Bit of Good News!

So a while back I had photographed an old cotton gin building that sits along Hwy 81 in Walton County, Ga that had been sitting rusting away for quite some time. Well last weekend As we were driving back from my Loganville house in Gwinnett County, we drove down Route 81 and low and behold, the building was purchased by a local man who has started his own auto repair business in this old cotton gin. Now I spoke with him briefly and got permission to photograph the outside of the building as it is now, which is amazing! He …

Expanding the Project

So as I am wrapping up my Bachelors in Digital Photography at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, I just finished my e-Portfolio class and as part of that class my Professor and I decided it would be a good idea to expand this project’s web and Social Media presence. Originally I only had a Facebook page for this project and a single portfolio of images on my main Liam Photography website. So now my project has it’s own Instagram, Twitter, Website and Youtube Channel and I finished and uploaded my video on Sparta, Ga in Hancock County. What this means …

Sparta Furniture Manufacturing Company

This week as part of my Sparta, Ga project I completed my Youtube video on the city. Sparta is the County Seat of Hancock County and was once a very prosperous and thriving little city. Founded in 1795 Sparta became a large part of Georgia’s cotton industry. The building shown above was originally the Sparta Cotton Warehouse which sat along the all important rail line, but with the arrival of the boll weevil in the 1920s the cotton industry was decimated. The building was later bought in the 1950s and turned into the Sparta Furniture Manufacturing Company. The new company made …

Sparta, Ga in Hancock County

This week’s blog post is on a town that is near and dear to me as someone who comes from a large family of small business owners. Sparta, Ga is located in Hancock County and is actually the county seat. In the early 1800s Sparta and Hancock County were the cotton capital of the world. They remained at the top of the cotton crop world up until after World War I when the boll weevil epidemic decimated the cotton fields and the cotton industry died out. Today driving down Broad Street, the main street in the town shows rows of …

Central State Mental Hospital – Milledgeville, Ga

One of the spookiest places I have come across in my travels for my Forgotten Pieces of Georgia project is the Central State Mental Hospital in Milledgeville, Ga. This facility was opened in December of 1842 and is still partially used today. The complex includes 200 buildings on 2,000 acres and at one time was the largest mental health facility in the world. The hospital was  run by Dr Thomas A Green from 1845-1879 and the care of patients in those days was a “family” environment. During his tenure, Green ate with the staff and patients and abolished all rope …

Stancil’s Store – Ball Ground, Ga

Today’s blog post is on the now shuttered Stancil’s Store and Amoco station in Ball Ground, Ga. Stancil’s opened in 1912 as a general store, and sold a little bit of everything. They were the local gas station, hardware store and shoe store. They pretty much carried a little bit of everything that a family could need from dry goods to firewood, coal and most small appliances for the home. The signs on the outside of this decaying building show that they were the local Red Wing shoes and boots store and from what locals have told me, they were also …

Dashburst Magazine Article

Back on August 6th of 2015 a new Social Media site for photographers and other creative types did an article on my Forgotten Pieces of Georgia project in their digital magazine. I was totally honored and blown away that they wanted do to a feature story on my work and that they made me a featured member of their community. As one of the first photographers to sign up for their site, and someone who posts weekly blog posts on photography and photography related items, being a featured members means that when new members sign up, I am one of …