FAIRHOPE, Ala. — The Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship will present an exhibition of the photographs of the late Lewis Eugene Garrett (1929-2009).

The opening reception will be held at the Fellowship on July 10, from 3-5 p.m. There will be live music by Dr. Jazz, Jeanine Norman, and refreshments catered by Joyce Burkhart. The public is invited to attend.

Garrett, a native of Guntersville, Ala., grew up during the Depression, and was greatly influenced by the soundstage lighting of the movies. He recalled watching his father paint landscapes and selling them door-to-door to support his family.

He left school in the 10th grade, worked as a painter, paper-hanger and roofer, owned an International Harvester dealership in Baldwin County in the 1950s and later began a career in real estate.

He eventually worked and retired as bursar at the University of Alabama Huntsville.

At age 44 he had decided to return to school and complete his education, majoring in Slavic studies and economics at UAH. He graduated with high honors despite working 40 hours a week while attending classes.

His Slavic studies and photography made the perfect combination when Garrett visited the USSR after graduation in 1978, one year after he bought a used camera.

He consequently installed a darkroom in his home and began entering photography shows and exhibits.

Consummate travelers, Garrett and his wife, Helen, traveled to Holland, Alaska, Portugal, Spain, Sicily, Italy, Nova Scotia, the West Indies islands of Saba and St. Kitts and several times to Oaxaca and surrounding areas in Mexico.

Garrett was a past president of the Huntsville Photographic Society. He taught photography classes for several years at the Academy for Lifelong Learning at the University of Alabama Huntsville, and exhibited his photographs all across the United States, including the Yellowstone National Park Visitors Center.

He was included in several national publications.

He received awards from the Huntsville Photographic Society, the Tennessee Valley Camera Club, the Alabama Historical Society, the Northeast Alabama State Fair, the University of Alabama Huntsville Art Department and others.

Garrett’s favorite work was done in black and white, but he produced works in color as if it were black and white, using “tonal contrast to augment inherent color contrast.”

He got his ideas and inspiration “primarily from things around me,” he wrote.

Once after attending a Civil War re-enactment, he captured the image of a young boy in costume sitting on a cot, looking bored out of consciousness. It was titled “What Price Glory,” which subsequently won five awards.

His “Barn No. 4” received four awards and was published in The Best of Photography Annual.

More than 100 of his works have won awards locally and nationally.

He delighted in putting on travel slide shows, both in Huntsville and upon retirement at the Nix Center in Fairhope.

The exhibition is titled "If we leave now, we would be there by morning: a Collection of Travel Photos,” and it will be on view Saturdays, from 3-5 p.m. through Sept. 5.

Some of his works can be seen at www.pbase.com/gene_garrett.

The Fairhope Unitarian Fellowship is located at 1150 Fairhope Ave., across from the Baldwin County Satellite Courthouse.