Yesterday after class, a few other PJer’s and myself took a short magical journey to Elberton, Ga.

Hailing from a pretty small town myself, I thought I knew what to expect from a small town in Georgia. I drive through so many of them on 441 and 341, I figured I knew what I was getting myself into.

I was pleasantly surprised with what Elberton had to offer. There were so many interesting visuals, and the people there were animated and proud. It’s easy to look at a smaller, less advantaged town and find it unattractive. It’s hard to see it for what it is, a community, that no matter how isolated it may be, operates on as large of a scale as the world’s largest cities.

I had the opportunity to sit in, and shoot the city commissioner’s meeting yesterday. For a couple of hours prior to the actual meeting, the town people came together to offer public comments on the imminent construction of a $400 mil. incinerator outside of Elberton.

For many reasons, there is a large public opposition to this plan. While it was absolutely fascinating to see the small town politics at play, it was hard to not get involved emotionally. I have no poker face. I chuckled a few times, I frowned a lot, and I made eye contact with a lot of people throughout the public comments.

I haven’t played around with the photos yet, but I shot over 700 photos in a three hour period spent in the same room, with the same people. A lot of them are the same, but I caught a few moments, and a few visuals, that will really illustrate what was going on way better than any words or statistics will do. Those will be up later, I’m sure.

I learned a lot and I can’t wait to go back to Elberton on Friday. There are a lot of really interesting characters who have deep, invested histories in Elberton.

Tags: Doc Photo, Elberton, Incinerator, random, school, small town