Day: June 1, 2011

“Gone with the Wind” –75th Anniversary

by Stanley LearyPhotography

There are a lot of events in the Atlanta area to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the book Gone with the Wind.

If you’re in or around the city, consider these venues:

— The exhibit Atlanta’s Book: The Lost Gone With the Wind Manuscript (June 4-Sept. 5) at the Atlanta History Center features the final four chapters of Mitchell’s recently rediscovered manuscript (once thought to have been burned by her husband after her death). The exhibit also features the first-ever public display of Mitchell’s writing desk.

— Margaret Mitchell House tours showcase the Crescent Avenue apartment (which she affectionately called “The Dump”) and feature exhibits on Mitchell’s pre- and post-GWTW life, along with details on the making of the movie.
Other GWTW-related doings in Georgia:

— Marietta Gone With The Wind Museum: Scarlett on the Square, June 10-11, will stage a tribute to Mitchell with several cast members from the movie, along with question and answer sessions and a literary panel.

— On June 11, the Road to Tara Museum in Jonesboro will feature costumed storytellers linking the history of the town with stories from the book.

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In 2003 the BBC sent a reporter to the Road to Tara Museum to film for the special on “Gone with the Wind”  It was rated in the top book favorites of all time for the BBC audience.

 

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At first we just posed with the BBC reporter and the Scarlett O’Hara look alike.
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We had a little more fun with their expressions.

Today I would shoot it differently than I did in 2003.  I would want to shoot later in the day to have the lights in the house show up.  I would have more dramatic lighting by not lighting everything as evenly as I did here.

I enjoyed shooting this and remembered it when I saw the latest news about events celebrating the book this year.

Joplin Tornado brings back memories

by Stanley Learylighting
Satellite loop courtesy of Jonathan Finch - click to enlarge
Here you can see my first major tornado that hit my last semester in college at East Carolina University.

I started my career in the 80’s and one of the first disasters I saw and covered for my college paper was a F4 tornado.  There were 16 deaths and 153 injuries. The tornado was up to 3/4 of a mile in width. Portions of East Carolina University were severely damaged. 300 homes were leveled, most in Greenville, NC.  My good friend Jesse Riggs lost family members that night.

No matter how many times you see disasters each time I feel a numbness come over me for the loss of life and property.  You are sad for those who are having to rebuild their lives.

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On November 10, 2002, a tornado destroyed 50 homes. At least seven people were killed in the Morgan County community of Mossy Grove in eastern Tennessee. I was looking for an overall perspective up the mountain when I shot this photo.
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The tornado cut a swath about a mile wide and a mile long.  The hard part when covering these disasters is showing items to give a sense of scale and what is destroyed.  Here I wanted to show the cars overturned for scale and what happened.
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What always amazes me is the quickness of the national media on covering these events.
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What I realized over the years covering these events is that the national media always took the time even in a disaster to get the best lighting for a shot.  Notice the hair light above the reporter in addition to the main light.  This helped to separate the reporter from the early dawn background.
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Just hours before a tornado destroyed this community
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The national media all find similar angles to show the destruction to their viewers.  Here you can see three networks all lined up for their early morning news shows.  I chose to shoot this to show how a nation was mourning for the folks.