As a boy growing up in Lilburn, Phil Lovell spent many summers at his grandparents’ fishing cottage beside Lake Burton. It was the beginning of a lifelong attachment he came to feel for the lake and the nearby picturesque hills of northeast Georgia.
So smitten was he by the region’s beauty that he set out to capture it, at first with his grandfather’s 1970s-vintage 35 mm camera, and later with more sophisticated equipment as he polished his craft as a photographer.
Just the same, he had a soft spot for obsolete equipment, said a fellow photographer, Ed Edwards of Clayton, even unwieldy Speed Graphics, the standard newspaper camera of the early 20th century. “And Phil knew how to use them,” Mr. Edwards said.
Mr. Lovell photographed special events such as weddings, political campaigns and fundraiser promotions. However, friends described him as a free spirit whose principal subject was nature. “He specialized in waterfalls and rare plants,” Mr. Edwards said.
Barry Brown, a Stone Mountain author-historian, said Mr. Lovell collaborated with him on a book published in 2010 by the Georgia Department of Economic Development titled “Crossroads of Conflict: A Guide to Civil War Sites in Georgia.”
“I was co-author with Rich Elwell, and Phil took wonderful photographs as illustrations,” Mr. Brown said. “The book won a number of awards, and Phil’s talent was a contributing factor. In one memorable half-page picture in the book showing the mill dam on Vickery Creek in Roswell, Phil caught water in motion as if it were frozen.”
Phillip David Lovell, 34, died Aug. 16 at his Clayton residence. Cause of death has not yet been determined. His family plans a celebration of his life at 1 p.m. today at Mama G’s Restaurant in Clayton. Flanigan Funeral Home & Crèmatory in Buford is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Lovell loved exploring America’s eastern mountain ranges. Recently, he wrote that the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was his favorite place, adding: “I know of no other place better suited for capturing the very essence of pristine, unfettered mountain scenery.”
Several times during his 20s, Mr. Lovell went abroad with other Habitat for Humanity volunteers to build houses for needy families. These also were occasions for him to take pictures in exotic locales. “The photos Phil took in Nepal, New Zealand and Fiji were extraordinary,” Mr. Brown said. “Phil was more than a photographer. He was an artist.”
In April 2010, Mr. Lovell was staying at the Lake Burton fishing cottage when a tornado demolished it. Shaken but unhurt, Mr. Lovell photographed lakeside homes nearby and e-mailed them to neighbors who were unable to reach them and gauge the damage done, said his sister, Marla Beasley-Lovell of Stone Mountain.
Survivors include his mother and stepfather, Sandra Bexley-Plott and Lonnie Plott of Lilburn; his father and stepmother, Earle G. Lovell and Catherine Lovell of Canton; another sister, Anna Lovell of Canton; his brother, Jeremy Lovell of Canton; his stepbrother, Brent Plott of Lawrenceville; and his grandparents, Harry and Harriet Bexley of Atlanta.
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