Benjamin Paul Camp

Where photography is more than just lights and shadows.

This is a photo essay on Tara Boulevard. Starting at Exit 235 on I-75 South, Tara is an 11.5-mile highway. Tara ends at the southern border of Henry and Clayton counties at the intersection of Talmage Road and Tara Boulevard. Once in Henry County, the road continues as Georgia 19 and Georgia 41, which split at Griffin, Georgia.

I grew up near the intersection of Fayetteville Road, Flint River Road, and Tara Boulevard. I vividly remember staring out my window at night as a kid, watching all the cars go by. Sometimes there would be a police car or ambulance, and the room would fill with red and blue lights. The low roar of traffic was always present, and I eventually grew to like it. Thinking back, I’m reminded of a poem by Henry Wordsworth Longfellow:

And Deering's Woods are fresh and fair,

And with joy that is almost pain

My heart goes back to wander there,

And among the dreams of the days that were,

I find my lost youth again.

And the strange and beautiful song,

The groves are repeating it still:

"A boy's will is the wind's will,

And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”