I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Oh So Silly!

My followers remember Mr. Slim from the Mississippi Delta! The story goes as my wife and friends were photography free styling when we came up on an old country store in Greenville, Mississippi. My wife goes inside while I am shooting the old gas pumps outside, when all of the sudden she burst outside and said, "You have GOT to come see this man!" She knows I love faces and people that exude "character". Well Slim was everything I wanted in a picture and more!

I asked if I could take his photo, and the other old men in the store starting "ragging" him. It was hilarious! They were saying things like "Show 'em your good side slim!", or "Show 'em your teeth slim!".  I started shooting and he sat there real still, but then unprovoked he started "posing". Like a supermodel that needed a good shave, he puts his hand to his rugged face and his pose was the shot you see here.

I am submitting this photo to the IHeartFaces silly photo contest. It may not seem as silly as some of the other faces in the contest, but for ole slim, it was as silly as he will ever get!

Nitta Yuma, Mississippi Firetrucks

There's some kinda story behind the items of the pictures I take. A history that I may never know. For example, what fires were fought with this old Ford firetruck? Who were the men that knew how to run it? As I walked around this truck, I imagined the old timers that jumped in responding to the old barns on fire. How did they find out there was a fire? There was no 911, probably no phones to call. Did the family in need have to run down the road and bang on the door? What kind of sound did the siren make?

Next time your driving up 61 North, look off the left side of the road and maybe you'll spot this old treasure. See pictures below or click here for all my Nitta Yuma, Mississippi photos

Downtown Vicksburg

Well, we had a really short photoshoot this Saturday as all of us had to try to get home before 9! So we left the house at 5:30 hoping to catch a sunrise, but the weather really didn't cooperate this time, so we drove around downtown in our hometown of Vicksburg! Still got some great shots and paid attention to some details this time that you take for granted in your own city when you see it everyday.

This was a new site as we drove downtown! The empty lot in the foreground on this photo was where a building has stood for 70 years or so. Well they knocked it down a few weeks ago and exposed this "ghost" billboard of an old "Snowdrift shortening" and Coca Cola advertisement. Best I can tell in my internet research, the Snowdrift shortening company advertised from 1896-1920 or so, so this is pretty old!

Beautiful colors of Downtown Vicksburg

Hope you enjoy, and come visit us sometime!

Jim's Cafe - Greenville Mississippi

Ok, If you've read my blogs, you've figured out by now that I love Southern character and charm. Well when my friends took me to eat at Jim's Cafe in downtown Greenville, Mississippi I felt like I was drowning in Southern Charm. After I placed my order for pancakes and grits, Mr. Jim gave me a tour of the place and talked me through all the various photos on the wall. Here are some pictures of the place. Go and eat there soon! It was fantastic.



The pure colors of the booths, tablecloths and decorative flowers were absolutely southern. I could have sat there all day.



Mr. Jim sells homemade pepper sauce. Our friends bought us a bottle last year and we LOVED it. We bought another bottle while we were there plus a few more for family and friends!



Then finally our food came and it was the best homemade southern breakfast I had had in a long time. That is melted butter in that little cup, and the syrup, oh my that awesome syrup.

Southern Character of the Mississippi Delta - Meet "Slim"

I was driving around the Delta a few weeks ago and stopped at this old country store somewhere around Leland, Mississippi. According to my friends that were with us, the old country store is called Fratesi's, owned by Mr. Charlie Fratesi, and has been out on VFW Road forever. My wife was with me and went inside the store, while I stayed outside intrigued by the old gas pumps. As I was walking around the outside, suddenly my wife almost burst out the door and said, "You've got to some inside, now." She knows that I love to meet people of the South and talk to them, especially "characters" or Southern folks that define southern. Well folks meet my new friend. The man pictured is mostly referred to as "Slim" he said he used to play hockey back in the day. After I asked if I could take his picture, the other guys started laughing and telling him the "Show him your teeth!" It was a day I'll never forget.

Update! 4/26/2012 - Ends up this gentlemans name is Clifton Tarpley. Here is a statement from his nephew - "To say he is a simple man but a good man would be an understatement.  I have fond memories of him taking me on my very first hunting trip out in the woods behind his old home there in Leland. I haven't seen him since I was a child."

Here is a statement from his niece - "He lives in a dream world and is full of a lot of tall tales. I bet you guys had a good laugh after meeting him. He is a great person and would do any thing he could for you. Did you know that there is a chicken farm right up the road from that store. Its owned by the Carvers. Slim has worked gathering, cleaning and packing eggs for these people for years. He lives in 1 of the Carvers shotgun houses between the store and chicken farm. Has no inside running water or toilet. He still lives like it was the 1940s and loves it. His life is so simple and full of dreams."

Update 7/2015 - Got this note from Mr. Tarpley's family today - "It is with deep regret that that i am letting you know, our uncle Clifton Tarpley passed away .Clifton Lee Tarpley (02 Feb 1931 - 27 Jul 2015) Your photos captured him in all his glory. Thanks for sharing them with the rest of the world. He will be missed."

His niece Debra Colburn wrote me to say - "The World lost a big Dreamer and one of the best Story tellers on Earth.....Rest in Peace Uncle Clifton and go tell the other Angels your great Adventures. Earths lost and Heavens gain !!! I love and miss dearly.  - Your niece Debra Colburn Kinney."

Obituary of Clifton Tarpley

Clifton Lee "Slim" Tarpley, age 84, of Leland, fell asleep in the Lord on July 27th at Delta Regional Medical Center, Greenville, after a brief illness. Mr. Tarpley was born February 2, 1931, near Charleston, Missouri; son of the late Emmett Etheridge Tarpley, Sr., and the late Janie "Jennie" (Williamson) Tarpley. In the late 1940's the family moved from Missouri to the Mississippi Delta near Skene and Boyle. In the 1950s they returned to Missouri, and after the death of his father, Mr. Tarpley, his brother Hershel, and mother moved to Washington County, Mississippi. In the 1960's, they moved to VFW Road south of Leland, where Mr. Tarpley farmed and worked on Carver's Farm until retirement.

Besides his parents, Mr. Tarpley was preceded in death by three brothers: William Henry Tarpley, Emmett Etheridge Tarpley, Jr., and Hershel Randolph Tarpley; and by two sisters: Ella Marie (Tarpley) Sledge and Annie Belle (Tarpley) Colburn. He is survived by one brother, Leo Daniel Tarpley, Sr., of Indianola; five nieces, three nephews, and several grand-nieces and grand-nephews.

Mr. Tarpley, or "Slim" as he was known by his friends, was an avid hunter and fisherman. He was one of the last of his generation, a carefree, loving soul who lived life to the fullest in his simple, carefree way, spinning his yarns to any who would pause and lend an ear. The Rev'd Father J. David Colburn, Mr. Tarpley's nephew and pastor of St. Mary's Orthodox Church, Dayton, Tennessee, will celebrate a Requiem Liturgy for family and friends on Saturday, August 1st, at St. Mary's. Private interment will be in the Leland-Stoneville Cemetery. Well done, good and faithful servant, rest in peace in the arms of a loving Savior.

It wasn't by chance that I happened to come into the store that day. I figure the Lord wanted me to grab Slims photo for the world to see. What made it even better was Mr. Tarpley's family reconnecting to him through my photos. For full resolution photos of Mr. Tarpley goto www.gritsphotography.com and put "slim" in the search box

The Color of Rust

The days of old are rusting away. The deep reds and oranges of the collapsing metals will soon be gone. New corrosion resistant metals and new shiny credit card gas pumps have taken over the landscape, replacing the full service gas stations of old where your greeted with a smile and a handshake as they raise the hood to check your oil. As I've traveled through the delta, I wanted to capture the few old rusty things that I came across. Before long they too will be gone, and in a few decades the word rust will only be known as a paint color.



A old Greenville, Mississippi gas pump with a price of 65 cents.




This old tractor has served its Leland, MS owner well. When I took this photo the owner told me that he still used it everyday.




An old tugboat steam engine stack. Steam engines were replaced with diesel engines almost 50 years ago. The Fayettville steamboat was on display in a Greenville, MS park