I am one of the photographers with work included in the current Fellowship exhibition. As such, and as I look forward to my part in August 18th’s “Photography Dialogs,” I’d like to share a tale of two pictures:

Last week my wife and sister-in-law and I had dinner at Crook’s Corner, the landmark restaurant located at the corner of West Franklin Street and Merritt Mill Road in Chapel Hill. After we’d enjoyed our meal, we collaborated on taking a picture; they held the umbrellas (to shield us from the rain) as I operated the camera, a small, digital point-and-shoot model mounted on a tripod. We must have made quite a picture ourselves! huddled on the sidewalk around that little camera.

Above is the result (which I’ve cropped into a square)—

On the right, just outside the frame, is the restaurant’s gravel parking lot; we are positioned across the street. 

It was on this very spot that I stood—with a different camera on the same tripod—15 years ago. Night had just fallen when I made this picture—(the b&W)

Photographs have the capacity to capture moments in time. These two pictures, taken from the identical vantage point a decade-and-a-half apart, illustrate that fact far better than any words can describe.

- David Simonton