Wednesday, September 21, 2005

On Assignment: Prattville, Alabama-Day Two

HankLoRes
"The Whole World Calls Me..." by Wes Aldridge

Tonight, I drove into the neighboring city of Montgomery, of course, the state capital of Alabama. Coach told me about the tie-in of Hank Williams to this city and I knew I had to make a quick visit. Honeycutt had introduced me to Hank when I was in highschool, and the things he showed me I will never forget, even since six years have passed from those days.

This is a statue of Hank that sits in the downtown area of Montgomery. I got there as the sky was fading into darkness. I ended up frantically shooting this with a high ISO of 400 at a slow shutter speed of 1/40th of a second (handheld) with my 50mm lens at f/1.8 to squeeze every little bit of light as possible into the scene before it was lights out. I got beneath the statue and the bronze reflected a little light off Hank's face at just the right angle and brought it to life. I like this one a lot.

I consider Hank one of the greatest American poets that ever lived. I mean, how could you not just connect with lyrics like these:
" Did you ever see a robin weep
When leaves begin to die?
Like me he's lost the will to live
I'm so lonesome I could cry"

Hank and Cash made the country music that I love. It meant a lot to find this memorial to him and get a nice shot to share on the blog.