Main Street Toccoa and The Currahee Military Museum will be hosting a special exhibit in the Mitchell Allen Room of the Currahee Military Museum September 25 through November 7.
The Presidential Pathways exhibition is made available by the Averitt Center for the Arts in Statesboro, Georgia. Admission is free and will be open to the public from September 25 - November 5. A Ribbon Cutting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on September 25. In keeping with the black and white photojournalism theme, we ask all attendees to wear black and white.
Presidential Pathways is a collection of candid presidential photographs by the late New York Times photographer, George Tames. Tames was the New York Times White House photographer from 1945 - 1985, a career spanning presidencies from Franklin D. Roosevelt through George Bush. Tames was an expert at capturing each personality, each man's strength of character and their political stress. Stephanie Tames has this to say about her life growing up with a photographer for a father:
"In grade school I was the teacher's pet. I wasn't the best student or the most creative. I didn't really stand out. But I did have one thing going for me: my father was a photographer and whenever there was a special program at my school, a holiday play or carnival, my father was there to record it for posterity. My teachers knew - in fact the whole school knew - that they'd get some great photos of the event and maybe end up in the New York Times, the newspaper where my father worked. The New York Times carried some clout, even among the elementary school crowd, and my father did, too. He was known as the photographer of presidents.
But for most of the kids it was the camera bag that fascinated. Long before there were pocket-size cameras, my father's tools were carefully packed in a heavy, black leather bag filled with special lenses and rolls of film that, despite their chemical smell, somehow always seemed to me to be filled with an aroma of possibility.
When my father came to school, he brought his camera bag which to us looked a lot like a doctor's mysterious bag but was less scary, and soon he was pulling out cameras, light meters, and flashes. He directed us to stand just so, pulled tables and chairs aside, flirted with the teachers, and had the whole room topsy-turvy. He told us stories as he worked (one of the Times editors said he could talk the horns off a billy goat) and made funny faces to get us to smile, all the while jumping from one corner of the room or stage to another like a magic leprechaun (he was small of stature, bald, and sported a signature bow tie contributing to the illusion). He adjusted his lens and squeezed the shutter button - zzzzip-click - as he went. Everyone was enthralled.
Just as being the teacher's pet had its disadvantages (all that pressure to be good!); there were disadvantages to being the daughter of a photographer. Photography wasn't just a career for my father - it was a way of life. And it became our way of life, too. My family - my mother, two sisters, two brothers, and I - lived my father's career as much as he did, arranging vacations and family celebrations around world events and newspaper deadlines. We carried cameras, held lights, and helped in the darkroom.
For every birthday, the candles on our cakes had to be re-lit again and again so my father could capture that perfect puff of air bending the candles' flame. By the time he got the shot he wanted, the candles were transformed into a mass of molten wax floating on top of the cake! The first time I had a piece of cake that didn't taste like candle wax was a revelation to me.
Then there was the annual holiday family picture, the first-day-of-school picture (even in high school!), and working as models when necessary. My younger brother and I once had to climb an ice-covered street on our hands and knees until my father got the "right" picture to show how a winter storm had affected the city. Another time, my older brother and I posed as hitchhikers on a busy street for a photo-story on D.C.'s youth culture.
We lived our lives through the lens of his camera, and our home was covered from floor to ceiling with his photographs, not all (or even most) of which were of us. When I was little, there were so many photos of the Kennedy family hanging on our walls that I thought I was related to them!
I admit to being a bit disappointed when I learned that I wasn't a Kennedy, but I got over it pretty quickly, and I was always happy with my own family whenever my teacher asked me if I could bring my father to school to take pictures.
While I knew George Tames as a loving father, a generous man who was eager to include his wife and children in a career he loved, the world knew him as George Tames, photographer, The New York Times. As a young man, he picked up a camera and for over forty years the world interpreted political events through his lens. His patience, understanding and compassion showed in nearly every photograph. These qualities made it possible for him access to behind-the-scenes moments for every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt through Ronald Reagan. It's time to once again share my father's unique insights with the public."
Thursday Sep 25, 2014
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM EDT
September 25 - November 7, 2014
Monday - Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m
Sunday 1 - 4:00 p.m.
The Mitchell Allen Memorial Hall
The Depot
Downtown Toccoa
Admission is FREE
706-282-5055
706-282-3309