somewhere between a handshake and two kisses

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about

Paige Green is a documentary and portrait photographer, whose storytelling approach to photography frequently addresses issues involving agriculture, land use, and food. Her work is featured in nine books and has been published in Glamour, National Geographic Traveler, New York Times Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, GQ, Country Living, House Beautiful, and Culture. Paige lives in Petaluma, CA with a house full of boys.

  • Not in Reidville….but not that far away…..

    I was driving to see some Reidville ladies in a nursing home and I came across this brightly colored building that did not seem to match the others in the neighborhood…..and then I saw the Buddha Statue and the monks and thought of my friend Claudia in Bhutan so I had to stop.

    It is a Buddhist community originally from Laos. They are building a new temple “for everyone,” they tell me…like a church.

    They have three monks and hope to get six more. The monks don’t speak English and I don’t speak Laotian so we just smiled and nodded and took each other’s pictures.

    And then I was invited to eat……wow, it was so good. I didn’t know it was possible to make such authentic Asian cuisine in South Carolina…..”it is healthy too,” they tell me, “it won’t make you fat, like American food.”

    While I was pleased to find this culturally different pocket in rural South Carolina, an area that is not used to change, I was not so sure that the neighbors would be as pleased. But, I was assured that everyone in the neighborhood had been really friendly and many have stopped by to see what they are doing.

    Later that night, I was sharing my experience with some teachers at the Elementary School in Reidville and it turns out one of the teachers lives near the first temple they built. She told me soon after they moved into the neighborhood dogs started disappearing and one day a neighbor asked if she had seen the new cookbook, “101 Ways to Wok Your Dog.”

  • more football

    In case you can’t fully read their chests…..the Nixon Nuts’ message for the week is, “real southern men.”

    So I was excited because I got field access to this week’s Byrnes High School football game, well it wasn’t hard I just called and asked and they said ‘sure,’ but I was excited nonetheless……but can I tell you how humorous it was…..well first of all, right before I went to obtain my permission, I decided to go to the restroom because I wasn’t sure if I would be allowed to come and go from the sidelines……and as a good photographer, I carry all my most important necessities in my back-pockets….film, light-meter etc…..and not to give too many details, but I was mindful as I was pulling down my pants because I didn’t want to loose any of my important necessities from my pockets into the toilet, but I was not as mindful when I was pulling up my pants and before I had time to remember, my light meter was at the bottom of the Byrnes High School’s football stadium toilet bowl. Luckily it was early in the night so the bathrooms were relatively clean……but unfortunately the meter did not work for the rest of the night…….

    So I took my place on the sidelines with a non-functioning light meter and a camera that was made in the 50’s, and I was standing next to the sports photographers with the biggest, fastest, latest and greatest digital camera equipment.

    me-football-5742web.jpg (photo credit: Penny Jones)

    While they were shooting on rapid fire I was changing rolls of film and trying to pretend that I was the coolest one out there because I was different……different is right. I don’t know how many editors will want to send me out to cover the sports events when I can only take pictures of people standing very very still.

    Look, there is a little bit of action in this shot…..but this is it, the rest are pretty abstract.

  • Belton Lane

    It took a few attempts and me having to suck up my pride and call again to make yet another appointment….but I finally got a portrait of a man, who I have come to respect and admire with all my heart, a portrait that is still not perfect, but a portrait that I can live with. The problem is he is really busy and usually late for our appointments so each time, I felt rushed and did not take the time to set it up properly…..but I needed a good portrait of him so we tried and tried and tried again.

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    He is the man behind Walker’s Chapel Presbyterian Church. The man with the boisterous laugh and sweet soul. He shared his story of growing up Black in Reidville with me.

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    And this is the wall behind Walker’s Chapel Presbyterian Church….I call this photo, ‘someone else is late, so what can I do to occupy my time’…..

  • my mom’s grocery list for me

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    high pulp, with calcium, organic orange juice

    iams, indoor, weight control cat food

    whole wheat, cinnamon, low fat eggo waffles

    low fat aunt jemima syrup

  • Remembering 9/11

    The ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) at Byrnes high school remembered 9/11 by honoring the local fire departments with a flag ceremony and doughnuts.

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    The Reidville Fire Department remembered 9/11 by putting up a 16ft by 12ft American flag off of the ladder on their ladder truck, well they tried to put it up…it went up, then fell down, then went up, then was brought down for adjustments, then went up again and then two hours into the attempt, it was brought down because it was just too windy.

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  • Jason Wilson and the Flying Pig

    Officer Jason Wilson is one of the four officers in charge of the Reidville area, but only one officer is on duty at a time. Originally from Louisiana, he has been working in this area for 6 years. His favorite place to stop for food and drinks is the Flying Pig.

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    He likes the area because of the country and town mix but he chose not to live in Reidville because he likes to have his work and life separate. Which is probably good because he describes himself as a treehugger, a conservationist and a pagan, traits that are not common around these parts….needless to say Sandra Gowan, Reidville’s town clerk, calls him a heathen. But Jason says, “It is nothing personal. I am here to do my job, I am not here to be liked.”

    Lately the biggest issue around here has been stealing copper, especially from air conditioning units, but otherwise it is a real good area, Jason says. The job security is nice too, “The only thing you can count on in life are death and taxes and that we will always need cops.”

  • Dorothy but everyone calls me Dot

    “I was a fighter when I was a little girl. I fought everyone and won too, even though I was smaller than most of them.” Dot Blackwell moved to Reidville when she was 6 years old. Reidville was lonely, she tells me, there were no kids in town. She moved away after she married the first time and two husbands and a new boyfriend later, she has no desire to move back. It was a good place to grow up and she likes to visit her family but she has moved on.

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    She is standing in front of her father Doc Lowe’s old service station. It was ‘the’ place to go for many years. Men used to like to come in and stand around her dad’s wood oven and catch up on gossip and wait for her mom and dad to fight. She got her temper from her mom.

    Her children don’t have to worry about her she tells me. “I have my Berretta and I will use it too.” Her children make sure to call before stopping by.

    When she was pregnant with her first child Chuck, she used to like to come down and take apples from her dad’s store and smell the gas fumes in these garages. But today the gas fumes are gone and the old store has been converted to a restaurant called the Family Dog.

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    Nancy Bishop opened her restaurant a year and a half ago. Cleaning up years of oil and grease was a lot of work but apparently she did a good job of converting it because the locals who come to see the new spot say it looks nothing like it did when Doc owned it. Although it is the only restaurant in Reidville, business is slow, but Nancy isn’t giving up yet.

  • Burning Love….

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    The Reidville Fire Department has been the meeting place of love for many in this small town.

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    Jason and Meredith, both firefighters and EMT first responders, held their reception in the station Saturday Sept 8th, 2007.

  • Go Rebels…..

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    Byrnes High School’s Nixon Nuts.

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    Byrnes High School Nixon Chicks.

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    Byrnes High School Nixon Stadium with Byrnes High School Rebel Fans.

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    And don’t forget the Byrnes High School Rebel cheerleaders….

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    Combine all these ingredients with a Rebel victory and the Jones Family is going home happy. Sam’s kicks helped the Rebels beat Dr Phillip’s Panthers, from Florida, Sept 6, 2oo7. The game was televised on national TV.

    Where did Byrnes High School get its name? From James F. Byrnes who was elected governor of SC in 1950. He is remembered for his attempt to improve the impoverished African American schools in order to convince the Supreme Court that the separate but equal laws were working.

    The Byrnes High School mascot is the Rebel, however due to the controversy over the significance of the Rebel, they are no longer allowed to have an actual mascot at their games. Sam tells me, to him a Rebel is a football player and it has nothing to do with history.

  • Town Hall in Reidville, SC

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    This is Sandra Gowan, the town clerk, and Mayor Gene Snow. And in Reidville, the fight is on and they are begrudgingly leading the fight because the fight involves the “Z” word…..zoning.

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    Reidville as it has been known for over 200 years is on the brink of being swallowed by subdivisions. Countryside lost. People are upset. No one wants change but no one wants zoning laws. In this county people want to be left alone. Do not try and tell someone what to do with their land…..but don’t put a subdivision next to my house either…..we want to keep the cows……but we want the right to claim the money that we can get for selling our land. The nation is in a housing crisis, but not in Spartanburg County. Developments are popping up on every corner. The old people are dying and the kids are selling.

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    It is a common story but in Reidville, the fight is on.