Diary of a Philadelphia Photographer(Part 11, Downtown Winston-Salem, August 13, 2024)

Last week, I visited Winston-Salem, NC for four days to attend an artists' professional development conference. I swore I wouldn't snap any photos, but I couldn't help myself...

Dear friends, I hope you all are well and thriving wherever you are. I had the most amazing week in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and I decided to dedicate this week’s edition of In My Photographer’s Toolbox to Day One of my trip.

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On Wednesday, I’ll share images from Day Two, and wrap up the series next Monday with images from Days Three and Four. Thank you as always for following along!

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Everyone knows that Winston-Salem is the city that gave us, among other things, tobacco products. But did you know that it was the birthplace of Krispy Kreme donuts (I kid you not)? I also learned that it was named the state’s City of Arts and Innovation in 2014 and from what I saw, it’s a well-deserved moniker!

Winston-Salem was a great choice for a conference focused on artist professional development and I plan to return there at some point to dig in a little deeper into its vibrant arts and culture scene. Let me know in the comments if you have a personal or professional connection to North Carolina in general, or Winston-Salem, Greensboro, High Point or some other town in in the metro area.

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Monday, August 13, 2024

I took an early flight from Philadelphia to Charlotte, arriving sometime after 8am (yes, 8am. Those who really know me, know that I am NOT a morning person. Needless to say, I was a bit discombobulated and needed some caffeine to get my body and mind going. It was going to be a long day). I walked from the gate to the food court area to get my bearings straight.

Luckily Charlotte’s airport is pretty easy to navigate so I was able to find the ridesharing area fairly quickly (looking at you PHL, ATL, O’Hare and other airports that seem to delight in making travelers chase their tails), called a Lyft to take me to downtown Winston-Salem and started my journey.

I love nothing more than a good rain and we rain into plenty of it on the road. Taking the opportunity to snooze a bit, I leaned back in my seat and dozed off. I have to admit that I was dreading the car ride, because I’m not a fan of long car rides, but it went fairly quickly, clocking in at about an hour and 20 minutes. Ironically, it took longer for me to get from Charlotte to Winston-Salem than it did for me to get from Philly to Charlotte, but I knew this going in.

Exit 232C onto the Salem Parkway.

Partial view of Winston-Salem’s skyline. I had no idea where I was directionally. I wouldn’t figure this out until I got to the hotel.

View from the hotel window, looking out toward the old RJ Reynolds smokestacks, now a part of Winston-Salem’s Wake Forest Innovation Quarter…some say that it’s fueled gentrification and displacement. Out with the old, in with the new…who benefits?

The hotel had a stunning collection of North Carolina-themed art and photography books. So after I checked in, I sat down with a cup of coffee and thumbed through several of them including this classic.

After taking a moment to decompress after my long journey, I went back to my hotel room, showered, got dressed and headed over to the conference venue. Afterwards, on my walk back to the hotel room, I snapped a few photos, wishing I had more time to explore, but wanting so bad to crawl into bed and get a good night’s sleep. Here’s what I saw:

Detail from the Memory Wall of Love and Peace (1999) by the late artist Gregory Warmack aka Mr. Imagination. It reminded me of the mosaics of Isaiah Zagar (Philadelphia’s Magic Gardens, etc.). Read more about this stunning work here - NOTE: the mosaic is actually on 421 Trade Street NW, not SW as reported on the website.

Welcome (the entrance to The Royality, an art cafe steps away from the Memory mosaic. Unfortunately, it was closed).

Just Be (such a lovely message to this weary visitor). Window display from the Just Be gift shop.

So much beauty and whimsy in such a concentrated area… I wished I had more time to explore beyond the conference. At any rate, I’ll return Wednesday with Day Two. Thanks for reading!