Photowalk on the Streets of Opelika

A few weeks ago, I had been watching some of Matt Day's videos on YouTube. He lives in Chillicothe, Ohio, which he describes as the middle of southern Ohio where, photographically, nothing really happens. It's not New York or Los Angeles, but small-town America. Despite this, he's been photographing the area for years and says he has barely scratched the surface of what is possible. And he's now published a second photo book about the area, so check that out if you get a chance.

All of this hit pretty close to home for me. We have lived in the Auburn-Opelika area for almost 20 years, and like any place, it becomes routine and mundane, almost boring photographically if one gets lazy about it. As a photographer, it often seems like there is nothing left to shoot. However, like Matt Day, every single time I intentionally go out to shoot around town, I always find something new and come back with at least a few images that I feel tell the story of this area.

Hopefully, sometime soon I'll get to work on the photo book of Auburn-Opelika I've always wanted to print. I love how images can tell a story of an area, but only once you get past the tourist highlights, and that really does take years.

Downtown Opelika Photowalk

A few weeks ago, when it was cooler than the 90° we have now, after a rain but with a full thick cloud cover, we detoured our dinner plans to downtown Opelika so I could do an hour-long photowalk around the block. There are endless photographic possibilities in Opelika; it just takes intentionality, observation, and the drive from within to walk around a place you've seen a thousand times before. I don't know why I'm always amazed when I come back with something new, but this was probably one of my favorite walks around town. Sometimes it just turns out that way.

I parked the van at the railroad station, walked across to 10th and Railroad Ave, and essentially walked the block around and back to the van. This whole (half) block area closed after a structural collapse on Monday, March 27, and most places haven't or won't reopen. This was the first time I had walked around since that happened. It left a lot of empty old brick shops with no traffic, but plenty of character. The rail cars reflecting in the windows made for a great self-portrait, but also a cool landscape of the Coors sign.

Opelika Bricks

One of the most fascinating parts of this area, to me, are the bricks. There are so many different kinds and colors, at different points of decay or use. There is everything from natural red brick to the green painted brick of the Irish Bred Pub on the corner of 8th and Rail, to the white painted brick of The Jail House.

Closed Buildings

Museum of East Alabama

The museum was something I had not seen or had a chance to go in and visit yet. I just hadn't been down here since it opened, which I talked about in a previous post. It looks amazing and is very well done from what I could see from my vantage point.

East Alabama Murals

Opelika Downtown

If you are interested in the full high resolution versions of these images they are always available on this Flickr Gallery.

I love the turquoise bricks of the auto store. These colors with the cloud cover were just amazing to me. The contrast between the turquoise and yellow is just a perfect balance. I've already gone back again to Opelika to shoot in a different location, those images will be coming up in another post. See you then.

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