NATCHEZ — Funk music reverberated in the air, patrons milled on the expansive lawn and vendors sat eagerly waiting to make a sale.

Historic Jefferson College was alive with people during the Copper Magnolia Festival.

Salongo Lee sat back in the shade, surrounded by his photography, and was eager to share his story and his vision.

Lee was a photojournalist for 15 years, working in Miami, Atlanta and California.

After spending so many years taking pictures of people, he was ready to concentrate on the more abstract.

“I don’t want to shoot any people,” Lee said. “Now I don’t have deadlines, I can shoot what I want.”

And Lee’s focus is unique.

“Right now, since I’m new to Mississippi and the South, I find things that have a regional appeal,” he said.

So, he drives around Mississippi and Louisiana to find all things abandoned and long forgotten.

This could be a truck that has been left behind for so long, weeds shoot through the truck bed and stretch 10 feet high, or a trailer that has been around for so long, it’s hardly noticed and the grass is cut around it.

“Nature will reclaim everything, and that’s kind of what I’m looking at,” Lee said.

This yet-to-be unveiled line of photography will be shown at ArtsNatchez in January, Lee said.

Several tents over, Joey and Debbie Lincoln sat behind a massive collection of unique birdhouses, all jutting their copper-topped heads from the ground.

Debbie Lincoln said she got her inspiration when she was picking up her nephew from his friends’ house and she saw a similar birdhouse in the yard.

When she remarked to the friend’s mother that she liked it, she gave Debbie Lincoln an offer she couldn’t resist.

“She said, “Take it, make one,’” Debbie Lincoln said.

That was 10 years ago, and the duo has been making them ever since.

“We usually go to genuine arts and crafts events,” Joey Lincoln said.

Antebellum homes and school functions draw them in to sell the birdhouses as well.

Working like a well-oiled machine, Debbie Lincoln said she picks up the material and cuts out the copper while Joey Lincoln puts it all together into the finished product.

On the front lawn, decked in black vests and scurrying around, were the Master Gardeners selling their plants.

Master Gardener Elaine Gemmell said the gardeners will start planting months, or longer, in advance for the sale.

“Some crepe myrtles (were) started one year ago, two years ago,” Gemmell said.

Patrons could buy a whole plant or could buy a cutting to begin their own planting.

“In the fall, this plant sale, we offer perennial plants that will make it through the winter,” she said.

Also, the Master Gardeners brought in two speakers to give lectures on gardening, which Gemmell said was a large appeal.

“One of the main purposes of Master Gardeners is education,” she said.