Christmas tree on Mud Island in the Mississippi, at sunset
The most disturbing dog park I have ever seen.
Walkway overlooking the riverfront, sunset
The cars at the Lorraine Hotel
Inscription on the front of Humes High
The front of the deteriorating Hotel Chisca. More here.
People signing the wall outside Graceland, sunset
Memphis, taken from the vantage point of the riverfront
Seen randomly, on a sign outside an auto parts joint
This is a hotel I was slightly obsessed with. Look closely. The sign is lit, there are cars, and a wreath on the door. But look closer. Look at the vines coming up the front stairs, the broken windows. It looks dissolute and yet grand, like an old Tennessee Williams character, clinging to her debutante past. I kept being drawn to this place. I should have knocked on the door.
Rainy dark afternoon on Beale Street
A beautiful building, Beale Street
This awesome-looking gentleman and I had a funny interaction on Front Street and he allowed me to take his picture. Front Street was so empty (well, most of Memphis felt empty) that if you encountered someone else on the road, it only seemed polite to acknowledge it and say, “Hello” or “Good morning” or “Happy New Year.” To fail to do so would be like refusing to acknowledge another human you ran into in the forbiddingly empty Sahara. What, you’re gonna just pass on by through the whistling sand dunes and not say, “Hey, there, what’s up?” Anyway, I was taking a picture, and he had stepped out of a doorway, and found himself caught in my picture, so he froze, I laughed, then he laughed and posed, as though he were at a photo shoot. It was all very jovial. Look at him. I’m happy just looking at him.
Cannon in Confederate Park, early cold morning
The gorgeous lobby of the Peabody Hotel, with the player-piano in the foreground, playing Cole Porter and Gershwin tunes
I have no idea what’s going on here.
Every street you look down has so much of interest.
That restaurant in the “Beale Street in the rain” picture was where Jen and I saw “Fried Strawberries,” and I looked at her and said, “We even fry fruit.”
hahaha I remember that!
Beautiful work, Sheila! Especially love the magic hour and sunset shots of the mighty muddy Mississippi river. You and Memphis are good for each other!
I loved Memphis best in those really early and late hours. Its beauty just cracked open to me.
I can’t wait to go back, Kent!!
Really, really cool photos, Sheila! Love them. Thanks for sharing your Memphis trip with us! Awesome stuff.
Thanks so much. I love Memphis!!