When I go on road trips it seems like most of the country is being corporatized. It seems like whenever I get to a new town, there’s very little to distinguish it from the last town. Sprawl has taken over and it’s the same pattern over and over. Things are done to stay on brand, logos are the same at every outlet in the country, etc. There is no way to see the hand of a human that created something.
Hand done signs like these took time from someone’s day. They had to gather the materials and then concentrate long enough to do a good job and have something presentable in the end. Something to convey information to folks that need it. Sometimes despite the best laid plans, some folks make misnakes. It happens to the best of us. The last sign was in New Albany, Mississippi. An old bridge had been taken down and was being used to support a bandstand thing. The sign was left alone, and was apparently in place for many years that the bridge was part of a small overpass.
Sign in Water Valley, MississippiSign at the site of William Faulkner’s mansionWait for it….New Albany, Mississippi
I was moving back and forth down an alley to get the One Way sign double exposures and saw these mats behind a restaurant. I thought maybe all the circles and shadows would be interesting, and here we are! I actually rescued this photo out of the photo below that blew out for some reason. A light leak at some point I guess. Anyways… sometimes when things aren’t perfect there’s plenty of good there if we look for it. Bet you didn’t know you’d get some deep thoughts!
Should I have shared the before shot? Comment below!
Just down the street from Tupelo Hardware is this mural of Elvis in his movie Jailhouse Rock. There are murals and wall art like this in many places in the Delta!
While in Tupelo, I had to try for a fun Holga photo of the Elvis mural. This kind of wall art is all over down south! This particular mural is maybe 15-20 feet tall? Something like that. It’s a block away from the Tupelo Hardware store that more or less looks the same as it did when Elvis got his first guitar there at 12 or 13 as I recall the story. Tupelo has Elvis stuff all over. Lots of guitars painted and displayed all around town. Other murals too.
