Remembering Rodney Gibson

Rodney Gibson, Max Patch November 2020

The Cosmic Event

There are not too many people I can recount the exact date I met them for the very first time. Nor I have I met many people that are as remarkable and unforgettable this man was. We met Rodney on warm night August 20th 2017 on a little farm outside of Gainsborough, Tennessee. This was the night before the Great American Solar Eclipse.

I was laying on the floor of a empty trailer that had been purposed as a community facility for all the people gathered at this one spot to witness this great event. The trailer had electricity, running water, bathrooms and most importantly wifi. I took some time off that night from camping to work of some photos I had taken so far and button up a few things with work as well.

He just walks up and leans up on his cane he was using at the time. He cocks his head a little to one side and said “Whatcha doing?” in the playful tone of candor he was so good at. I explained to him I was working on some of the photos I had took so far of the farm and clearing out the memory cards for the next day.

We began just talking more and more and more. I like to pride myself to being able to strike up wonderful conversations with complete strangers. This man had me beat in this department and that surprisingly fantastic experience. We migrated to porch and continued talking about all sorts of things. Somewhere in this long banter back and forth it begin to feel like I had been catching up with an old friend that I hadn’t seen in a decade. In this case it was old friends catching up for the first time. He just had the effect on people.

We parted ways that evening looking forward to the next day and the wonder we would see in the sky. I got back to my camp and my good friend Bill asked what kept me so long. I told him I just met someone and had a fantastic conversation. May have even made a few friend from it. Little did I know the cosmic event that had made this chance encounter possible was a grander cosmic event unto itself.

The Eclipse

The next day was a bustle, people running around having a great time. Everyone preparing to….. stare at the sun for a few minutes. It brought out a diverse crowd of eclectic people for a common cause. No one’s ideologies or beliefs mattered. It was just a bunch of cool people getting together to do something most have never witnessed before. There were two young ladies interested in photographing the eclipse as well. So I began some tutelage and set them up to photograph the eclipse as well.

Something charged by the previous night’s encounter with Rodney took hold in me. My initial intentions were to hang out with an old friend, take some pictures of and eclipse and continue on with my journey. Here I am now making new friends, giving photography lessons and not giving a whole lot of care about photographing the eclipse. The people around me became the event, the eclipse was just the excuse. With the my newly appointed assistants photographing the eclipse I decided to do something I never did before with my photography. I started documenting the people at the event. This was a new twist from my norm.

I got our host to gather as many people up before they left the farm to take one big group photo. Old friends had new stories while new friendships were made under the heavens in the middle of the historic day. Rodney and I had exchanged numbers and vowed to cross paths again. Little did I know that would be sooner than later.

Solar Eclipse August 2017

The Week After

Bill and I parted ways, he was traveling north and I was traveling south to see yet another old friend for a week in South Carolina. Reconnecting with an old friend while working remotely during the day while they were at work. Nothing crazy just some needed down time with one of those people you had been through quite a bit with over the years. You know, those friends that have shared the lows and the highs and everything in between.

After that visit I decided to venture back north. I had spent nearly week in one spot. Not photography had been done and I had a lingering feeling that I would try and track down my estranged mother who I had not seen since 2003. That landed me in Hendersonville, North Carolina for a day of dead ends and strange looks. I was still zinging off the eclipse which had changed me somehow. I had just left seeing an old friend who was always like an older brother to me and failed to find my mother. The emotions were a little high and I was sitting at a gas station staring at a map, not knowing where to go next as I had lots of days left before I needed to return home. What to do next?

The Call

My map kept running me through Knoxville and I decided to call Rodney up for the hell of it. As in ways of country folk go, I was in the neighborhood’ish. I had learned that sometimes when you don’t know which direction to go it, just sit still for a while. The universe has a way of guiding you to where you need to be. He told me to come on down, sent me the address. I felt a odd sense of relief now I had a destination even if so temporary to collect myself and figure out the next destination.

Casa de Rodney 2017

Little did I know that this little layover would be an ongoing life changing adventure. I can tell you right now, if you never spent anytime on that porch you missed out. As soon as I set my foot there it felt like I had came home. Still today I never fully understood why, I just accepted it, I just embraced it.

The next day Rodney and I sat on the porch and we watched the morning start. Time seemed to stand quietly still and conversations were had while happy dogs ran amok. At this point Rodney had decided I needed to go take pictures and we needed to go take one of is famous tours of the where he called home. We loaded up in the Blazer and off we went to see his home as he saw it. This was not what the average tourist gets to experience. Though riding around with these two are also an experience to be had as well.

I took a spare camera and handed it to Rodney, just shoot with it! Think about what you are taking a picture of, the composition and capture that moment and he did. Towards the end of that afternoon him and My`Chyl bantered back and forth a bit and it was decided to go to Cade’s Cove. While I have never explored the north side of the mountains before until that day. What was about to happen on that loop would change my life forever.

We pulled into the parking lot of the Baptist Church and we wandered around. My`Chyl had went inside I think and Rodney and I went around back to the cemetery. We saw a deer and obviously old head stones but then this crow landed on one I raised my camera and went CLICK!

While a bird sitting on a stone may not evoke Ansel Adams sense of grandeur. What it did do was give me confidence I didn’t know I had or drive I needed. I posted this picture on Instagram some months later after this trip and I was contacted by someone wanting a print of it. This was the first print I ever sold, I wasn’t sure why but then again who am I to argue why someone wanted to give me money. All I do know if it wasn’t for the generosity and kindness of Rodney and My`Chyl I would not be the photographer I am today!

Over the years we had more adventures and many more hours on the porch. Some days I’d just sit on that porch with a dog in my lap and a cat by my side and just take pictures of hummingbirds. I am pretty sure we discussed most of the problems of the world and determined that it all could be fixed with more laughter and less assholes. But we never quite figure out how to make that happen yet.

See, the thing about Rodney was, if you met him, and he liked you…. He changed you! He was brighter than the sun itself. Then somehow when you weren’t looking, he’d plant some of that light in you. While he may not be with us here anymore, we are now custodians of that gift he shared with us. It is now our turn to go out and be a little more like Rodney Gibson. To love a little bigger, smile a little wider, to laugh a little louder.

There will forever be a piece of him in my heart and my photography.
…and now I’ll probably always hear him say “Ooooh, look at dat!” just as I press the shutter.