Julie Pici Unmasked

Well, I’ve just returned from my first trip to Fredericksburg this year, and never fails - I always come back with cedar fever. (Those of you with allergies know what I’m talking about.)

So, I’m sitting in my bed, waiting for the medicine to kick in…nothing on television…so I’ve downloaded my photos and looked at the prospects. This time, it’s all about black and white.

I wasn’t able to take many pictures this trip. I took some time to myself to stroll down Main Street and visit all of the nooks and crannies that Fredericksburg has to offer. Unfortunately, the nooks-and-cranny stores that I’ve come to enjoy most of all are gone, replaced with a cafe’ or worse, a gift shop. I went into just about every store that Main street has to offer and 80% of them were inundated with stuff you find at market…gifts…nice gifts, but new, and found in just about every “gift boutique” you come across. Candles, candles and more candles…crosses, plaques, iron work…all new and well, ordinary. In one store, I was excited to find a hand-stitched, framed proverb that I thought about purchasing for $23.00. It looks old, it was a great saying (which I can’t remember now) and I thought “How sweet!” I made a mental note to come back to this store and continued my treck to the next store, where I found a hand-stitched, framed proverb, exactly like I had seen in the store next door! Guess it wasn’t old!!! Also, ladies, at many of these cute clothing boutiques, I found many purses that they were selling for hundreds of dollars, only to look at the tag and recognize them as something I could get at Sam Moon for twenty or thirty…Anyway…there was only one real antique store located in the main strip and it was so “quality” (which is my mom’s code word for “these prices are so outrageous and we need to split”) that I turned right around and left. Major disappointment. So, two and half hours and $200 (in clothing) later, I left Main street. I didn’t even take my camera out of the bag.

Ok, so I had a little more time before I had to meet my sister for the movies. What was I to do? I headed down a street that looked interesting and found a large cemetary. Bingo! I know that some of you are thinking “A cemetary? What are you going to do there? There’s nothing there but gravestones!” Oh, but that’s not true. Statues, iron work, gates, posts, all interesting - very interesting to still life photographers like me. I found one gate to a double plot (man and wife) that had a heart shaped lock on it. Now, the iron gate around it was only about 3 feet tall, so anyone could step over it, but I think the thought was that they loved each other so much that even in death they were bound together by their hearts. There’s an amazing amount of artistry that goes into some of these old cemetaries, whether it’s in the statues or the gates. The trick is to find what might interest you.

So, with that being said, here are my favorite b/w photos from this trip. (The color images, not shown, are actually quite beautiful: reds, blues - have you ever really looked at rust in an artistic way before? Consider it.)