A local graphic information systems coordinator will debut her perspective on the region Thursday as the Hinesville Area Arts Council opens its November exhibition.

Known as The Local Take, the collection will feature landscape and interior photography by Anna Phillips, who’s used to presenting a view of the world that’s marked by political boundaries and infrastructure in her role with the city of Hinesville.

“She offers a different perspective on everyday things,” council Chairwoman Leah Poole said.

The council will host an opening reception 5:30-7 p.m. Thursday, and the display will be open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays until Nov. 23.

Scenes and abstracts from the Golden Isles, Savannah and even Florida coast communities are among the subjects in 32 pieces that range from 11-inch by 14-inch canvases to a 20-inch by 30-inch canvas.

“I think photography gives me a different perspective. Instead of always looking down, I’m able to look at or up at things,” the mapping specialist said. “When you look down, everything’s rooftops and roadways and yards, … but when you are able to look at something, it puts a little more human perspective into what you see on a map, into what lives have been there at one time.”

One color image from Cumberland Island offers a glimpse through a silhouetted vine-clad opening out into layers of brick ruins overgrown with brush. The photo was taken in the Dungeness Ruins on the island.

Another image toned in sepia freezes water drops in time as they drip from a textured fountain in what appears to be a city square.
“If it’s an old scene, it’s usually a sepia tone,” she said. “If it’s a landscape, it’s usually in color.”

Phillips, who has worked in Hinesville for about 10 years, is drawn to history and architecture and the nostalgia that they evoke.
“(I like) Just trying to imagine yourself in that place during the time that was active in that time,” Phillips said. “I like that old-timey look, that old-timey feel.”

“Going Up,” a scene used to promote the exhibit, offers a dizzying glimpse up at a spiral staircase inside of the Ponce De Leon Inlet Light in south of Daytona Beach, Fla.

“That’s the tallest lighthouse in Florida, and it’s probably the most complete compound that I’ve seen,” said Phillips, who ventures to many coastal communities on weekend trips.

Another image, “Looking Down,” captures the opposite view and delicate play of shadows cast from windows on either side of the structure.
Phillips said she hopes the collection demonstrates the beauty that is “just an arm’s length from where we’re at” and motivates people to see the world.

“She seriously downplays her skills, and she’s very talented — when you ask her what kind of camera she uses, she pulls it out of her purse and she says, ‘I don’t even remember what it is,’ and it’s some little tiny camera, but she does a good job with it,” Poole added. “It’s impressive what she’s able to accomplish.”

The photos were taken with a digital Sony point-and-shoot.

“Every time I go look for a better camera, my little camera has still got the bigger megapixels,” Phillips said. “So why it change up?”