Woke up early to great “quite light” and spent the first few hours of the day photographing the lake, cypress tress and soft shadows.
Traveling down more back roads following signs to blues festivals that happened 3 weeks ago- I found instead Fosters Corners and Jonathan Hamm. See his portrait coming soon in the gallery. Driving past Fosters Corners Alabama was like taking a trip back in time. It’s an old wood frame gas station/general store with old gas pumps and a couple of wooden benches by the door. As I pulled by I realized I had to turn around and stop. A few miles down the road I found a large enough area to do a 180 with the airstream and  headed back.
As I walked up to the doorway an old black gentleman got up off one of the benches and asked if I wanted to see his snake. Why not, and out came the bucket with a very large Rattlesnake (dead) coiled up in the bottom. Turns out he had beat it to death with a thin plastic pipe while he was picking peas. He was just walking the rows picken when he almost stepped on it. It didn’t mover or rattle and he realized it was even more dangerous, being quite and all so he killed it.
When asked about holding it for a portrait he said he would but only with a large pair of pliers. As I went off to the airstream to get camera and pliers Jonathan came over to me and said he’d hold the snake for a photograph, if I had a leather glove… Somehow this became the photograph and when I look around for the true killer of the snake he had vanished, as all great super heroes do once their task is completed.
I was on our way again. Maine seemed a long way away……

Trees at Lake Okatibee

Lake Okatibee Campground