Detour: Gainesville after dark

I've mentioned before that I like to drive around North Georgia, Gainesville specifically, when I need to decompress. Sometimes that decompression needs to happen when I'm completely awake at it is also midnight or later. The itch to do something will override my desire to have a normal sleep schedule and off I go, on a drive or to someplace open 24 hours.

A lot of times on those drives, I'll visit things that I love to see or bring people to during the daylight hours, and they look a little different in the dark. Not just because of lighting, but they've got a different feel. Sometimes it's ominous or creepy, sometimes it's a loneliness that settles on it.

One day, I decided I should at least attempt to capture the moods that these things cast off after hours. It started on my iPhone and gradually expanded to me driving around Gainesville at 11 p.m., in the rain, trying to recapture the moments and make sure it wasn't a fluke. 

So here's a few of my favorite places after hours. Drop me a line if you have any future midnight drive suggestions.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve for our next stop, especially with the weather warming up, I think we'll take a look at something in the great outdoors.

Until then, stay curious.

Good ol' Joe. This was actually the first shot I took that inspired me, but it was a phone picture. I re-shot it for this piece.

The Gainesville Midland actually sees a lot of people at night. Every time I've come here after sundown there have been herds of people walking by.

El Big Bunny, surveying his kingdom. The Rabbittown Rabbit is a place I tend to bring people when they aren't from here or are bored and don't know what to do. "Wanna see a 20 foot tall rabbit?" "What? Sure, I guess."

The Burd Center at Brenau University. Ever notice the stained glass isn't a random mosiac? It's a picture.

First Baptist Church looms over Green Street

Grace Episcopal Church - a favorite of mine for their bell tower. I got so used to hearing the bells during my time at Brenau that I have since had some strange adjustments to my internal clock.

The fountain and Pearce Auditorium. It's very yellow in person too, as Brenau has the fabulous old light fixtures lighting the campus.

Usually the Quinlan isn't this dark, but I thought it kind of had a more spooky vibe than usual.

THIS PHOTO. It was the hardest photo to get and I tried on three separate occasions in different locations to get it. I finally did but it's not that great of a picture, nor does it really capture the feel of the Millikan plant in the dark, with it's brickwork and occasional ground spotlights shooting up. It has a really mysterious kind of vibe. Seriously, go drive through New Holland and check out that smoke stack. It's super cool. So when I finally got the shot, it was 11 p.m., raining, and I had pulled over on the side of the road, put my flashers on, gotten out of my car and was standing in a turn lane taking this photo, when I turned around and met a very friendly Hall County Sheriff's Deputy who was checking to make sure I was ok. So if you're reading this, Deputy, I promise I really work for WDUN, I really was working on a photojournalism piece and I'm not just a total nutjob. ;)

Here's the original cell phone photo of Old Joe that inspired this insane project.

The original, iPhone quality, Big Bunny after dark picture.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2016/4/375631/detour-gainesville-after-dark