We don't get to talk books very often around here. Maybe it's just because I've never brought it up. But when an email from Blair Publishing landed in my inbox about a new book that talked about covered bridges and grist mills in Georgia, I was curious.
The book is called Vanishing Landmarks of Georgia and it's kind of a guide book for curious cats (like myself) who want to see and learn about covered bridges and grist mills in the state.
The book is divided by sections and each entry includes driving directions, a brief history and a few beautiful photographs of each location. It also includes an introduction with some basic facts about how grist mills work and how to use the book to locate grist mills and bridges.
I was able to get ahold of the photographer and author, John Kovarick, and talk a little bit about his debut book.
"While visiting my daughter, I would come down to Georgia and just look for photogenic locations to shoot," said Kovarick. "I stumbled across a few grist mills and covered bridges, so I started concentrating on those.
"After I'd done maybe 10, 15 or so, and had to do the research to even locate them, I realized it might be something that's of interest to more people. Cause I had a hard time finding where these were and I thought 'Well, I'll just document where these are and how I got there' and, being a curious guy, I started doing research on the history of each one. And then I just decided, hey, this might make a good book."
So Kovarick continued to research until he came up with the locations listed in the book. He said his favorite locations included the Georgia Fall Line and the Northeast Georgia region, mostly because there was so much to check out.
"Each one is different and they're really unique," said Kovarick about his subjects. "A lot of people say 'Well I don't really want to go there because I've already photographed bridges before, I've photographed mills' or 'I've photographed rock formations,' but really photography is really dependent on time of day and the quality of the light, one can just move a few feet in one direction or the other - it's perspective.
"So I found when I've went to mills and covered bridges there's a lot of different perspectives one can get and different ways to frame it and different times of day where the light is different. And it's kind of exciting to find these locations and then explore."
You can listen to the full segment that aired on the Afternoon News Wrap above by clicking the play button.
Vanishing Landmarks is available for purchase here or at your local bookstore, and be sure to check back next week when I tackle something else in this wacky world we live in.
Until then,
Stay curious.
P.S. Already planning an extra special Halloween feature.... be sure to send me your suggestions if you want me to explore something or some place specific!
