Two exhibitions at Atlanta Photography Group celebrate analog craft and everyday joy

Last week, the Atlanta Photography Group opened two new exhibits for viewers to view: “#filmisnotdead 2026,” a celebration of analog photography, and “Joy and the Everyday 2026,” an exploration of joy in everyday life. Both exhibitions will be on display through July 17, 2026.

“#filmisnotdead 2026” drew submissions from photographers for a show built entirely around what film can do that digital cannot. Selections were made by Michael Behlen, founder and publisher of Analog Forever Magazine, who has spent years championing the work of emerging and established film photographers.

Among the artists featured in the film exhibition is Atlanta Voice business reporter Tabius McCoy.

McCoy’s image was shot outside Patchwork City Farms in Atlanta’s Oakland City neighborhood, part of a longer project documenting Black farmers that he began after moving back to Atlanta in 2024.

“I began sort of going back to looking at my ancestors,” McCoy said.

The photo, taken in 2024, shows a farmer biting into a radish, an unposed moment McCoy said he didn’t direct.

“I didn’t ask him to do that,” McCoy said. “I just kind of waited for the moment.”

McCoy said he had quietly posted the image on Instagram before deciding to submit it to a film-specific show.

“This is always one of my favorite photos, so why not submit it on film?” McCoy said.

He said he hopes the image, like the rest of his ongoing series, challenges assumptions about who works the land.

“If you go look up a farmer now on Google, nine times out of 10 are not Black,” McCoy said. “I want people to kind of see that Black people do grow in agriculture, I want every photo to feel like my grandma and granddad’s photo book.”

Another artist featured in the exhibit is Atlanta photographer Calvin Tigre.

Tigre’s photo on display is a double exposure he never intended to create. He said he bought a camera on Facebook Marketplace that came loaded with an old roll of film and shot over it, not realizing the roll wasn’t blank.

“I thought my photos were messed up, I thought something had gone wrong because they had been double exposed with something else,” Tigre said. “But upon further inspection, I realized what a gift from the photo gods.”

The image layers a portrait Tigre shot of his wife over what appears to be a German castle, captured by a stranger years before Tigre was born.

“My composition and the original photographer’s composition lined up perfectly to create what you see,” Tigre said.

Tigre, who has shot film for about six years, now seeks out abandoned rolls through his part-time job at a camera store and deliberately shoots over them, without knowing what will surface.

“Sometimes it’s ugly, but in a beautiful way as well,” Tigre said.

He said the layered effect is only possible because of how long the original film sat unused.

“The first exposure sat on that roll of film for 30, 40, 50 years until I came along and shot over the top of it, and then developed it,” Tigre said. “So it’s only doable on the analog medium.”

The second exhibition, “Joy and the Everyday 2026,” was juried by Emilia Mickevicius, Ph.D., Norton Family Assistant Curator of Photography at the Center for Creative Photography. The show explores how photographers find and capture joy in ordinary life, whether through a striking view, a quiet street scene, or an object someone holds dear.

Genesis Tillman, a 29-year-old Atlanta-based photographer who documents events in a gonzo journalism style, is showing with the Atlanta Photography Group for the first time. His image was taken at Bimbo Con, an annual event in Asheville centered on queer advocacy and harm reduction.

“There will basically be tables where they’ll pass out pamphlets on things going on in Nashville that a lot of people aren’t really talking about, or even just in Appalachia, or in the country,” Tillman said.

Tillman said past editions of the event have included sport-oriented programming, and this year’s gathering featured wrestling, with a tie-in to the Pride Wrestling Alliance.

“It was really, really cool, and nice to see a lot of people kind of make that happen,” Tillman said.

He said his image speaks to the show’s theme through resilience.

“When it comes to being queer in general, a lot of people’s bodies and livelihoods are essentially at risk,” Tillman said. “Bimbo Con itself was pretty much people just doing a lot more with less.”

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