www.markholder.org

Winter leaves the deep South a stark, barren place, yet there is beauty all around. Light and texture make the area a photographer's hunting ground in cold weather.

On a mountain road in northeast Georgia, not far from the town of  Dahlonega , stands the chimney of a house long fallen. One wonders what became of the home and those who dwelt in it. This was gold country, home to the first gold rush, twenty years before John Sutter discovered gold in a creek in California. What fortune led to the building of this chimney, and what misfortune led to it being all that remains of a settler's dream?

I recently purchased a small book of photography by Wynn Bullock . I got much more than expected. Not only did I get a book of photography, I received a whole new perspective on the art of photography. Bullock, considered a master of the art, was 42 years of age when he began making photos after realizing the camera records much more than that which is visible: The medium of photography can record not only what the eyes see, but that which the mind's eye sees as well. The camera is not only an extension of the eye, but of the brain. It can see sharper, farther, nearer, slower, faster than the eye. It can see by invisible light. It can see in the past, present, and future. Instead of using the camera only to reproduce objects, I wanted to use it to make what is invisible to the eye, visible. This philosophy places Bullock in the company of such photographers as Ed Weston , who approached the art with an almost metaphysical mindset. That photography is a powerful em...