Return to the Scene of the Crime*: South Boundary
“Sunburst on South Boundary” April 2022
*Because I return so often to a few different places around Aiken, SC, this will be a recuring theme throughout my upcoming posts.
Aiken, SC is lucky in that it has one of the prettiest roads in the South right in town: South Boundary Avenue. With its overarching tunnel of live oak trees along it, it is also one of the most photographed roads in the South. I’m sure a day doesn’t go by when someone hasn’t photographed an engagement, a graduation, a baby reveal, the staff of a local business, or just getting the beauty of the trees. Since everyone else was getting photos of the place it became one of the main reasons I did not photograph it for years.
Then I changed the route I took to and from work, and I was able to drive on it a bit on my commute. I started to notice the subtle changes the light had on the trees when I went by at different times of day and throughout the year. In 2019 & 2020 I stopped a handful of times and tried a few different types of photos. But nothing much or very different from what others were doing.
“Bald Cypress in Spring” April 2020
Original “Portal to Wonderland” June 2021, left, and the “redo” January 2022
I should say here, a tunnel of trees like this doesn’t just happen by accident and isn’t let to grow by chance. There is a large amount of community effort involved. One of the reasons this tunnel of trees exists the way it does, is because more then one hundred years ago, prominent members of the community worked with the City of Aiken to create this amazing treescape. It is currently managed and preserved through a partnership with the City of Aiken, Aiken Land Conservancy, Aiken Streetscapes and others in the community. And as a tree photographer in a place designated as a “Tree City USA”, I’m very grateful to their efforts – as I think everyone else in Aiken is.
So, since I am primarily a tree photographer, why was I avoiding photographing these trees? And how did it become one of my favorite places to return to over and over? It comes down to my daughter, Mina. When I was explaining to her why I didn’t photograph South Boundary, she gave me that look only a child can give an unintelligent parent, and said, “Find something different.” Ah, much easier said than done. Because, at the time I only thought there were two photos you could get on the road: a horizontal looking east and a horizontal looking west. Photos that everyone had, thus, nothing to see here, move along. But what if there was “something different” to be found?
“Fallen” July 2021
“Japanese Maples by South Boundary” December 2021
With my new marching orders in hand, I picked rainy Sunday morning in June 2021 to go “look for something different.” And different is something I found in the form of a small puddle on the side of the road.
While walking along the street, I was looking down to avoid the puddles, and not up at the trees. That’s when I saw the trees beautifully reflected in the water. After getting that photo, I thought I had something pretty different. Though, being a little overly critical of my work, I thought I could do better. It was also around this time I decided to buy myself a mirrorless camera. With the new camera, I went back in December. But that image was off for some reason.
Though, that trip got me to stop for a few minutes and look around at other things along the road. Like the way the morning sun was backlighting some fallen Japanese maple leaves. I spent about 30 minutes crawling along the ground looking for fun compositions. Oh, what people walking along the path that day thought of the crazy photographer – not photographing the live oaks. It got me thinking, “Am I crazy?” Or was I starting to see beyond the live oaks?
Maybe not completely, yet. Because, I thought there was still a better version of my vertical tree reflection, I went back over the New Year’s weekend after another rain storm. I lined up the photo, and created what I still think is one of my best photos – also one of my most popular. When I showed this to my daughter to get her seal of approval for being “different”, she said the image made her think of Alice and going to Wonderland. Thus, she also helped me title the photo as “Portal to Wonderland”.
“The Trudge” January 2025 (Some cold resurrection ferns that live on the live oaks on South Boundary.)
Going back to keep working this one photo is not completely the moral of the story. The spring of 2022, a local organization wanted photos from around Aiken. They needed a horizontal of South Boundary, so I got them that. Though, I also walked around and was able to see the sun coming through a tree in a fun way. (The photo at the top of this post,) Since those handful of visits in late 2021 to early 2022, I actually stop by South Boundary a lot. It’s another place for me to look deeper and to experiment at when I learn a new technique.
Much like my “Bald Cypress in the Fall” photo, it showed me I needed a willingness to return even after this one cool photo. So, I started taking time to explore and get to know the road and the trees in a more consistent and intimate way – not just as a drive by. Having a nice local place to continue to explore gives me a lot of freedom. There is no agenda or timeline; there is just exploration, experimentation, and enjoyment. I have only posted a few of the dozens of images I’ve made there and enjoy. You can see more on my website. And there are many more to come.
My challenge to all of us is, that even if a place is “popular”, and others have explored it before us, we have not put our unique and personal stamp on it. If we feel a pull to it, we need to explore it with our own eyes and in our own way.
Thank you, and keep creating what you do.
Patrick Krohn
December 2025
P.S. Just so you know, there are a few more “crime scenes” for me to return to. To be continued…
“Walking Towards It” December 2024 (One of my many experiments with ICM on South Boundary.)