What can a single mountaintop reveal about who we are?
For ten years, photographer Jean Shifrin climbed to the top of Stone Mountain with only her iPhone in hand. What she found there wasn’t grandeur or spectacle—it was intimacy. The summit became a stage for countless small stories: moments of joy, struggle, and tenderness that, when seen together, form a portrait of shared humanity.
Her book, Rise Above: On Top of Stone Mountain, collects these stories through quiet, observant photography that lets each image breathe.
The Magic of Small Moments
Some of Shifrin’s most moving photographs come from the simplest encounters. Children hop from stone to stone, their laughter echoing across the granite. A family enjoying their time together on Mother’s Day. Colorful kites flying up in the sky.
At 1,686 feet above sea level, the summit is stripped of distractions. The open sky becomes a backdrop for gestures that might seem fleeting but feel universal. These are moments we’ve all known—play, pause, reflection—and they remind us how much meaning lives in the ordinary.
Stories Etched in Light
Each photograph in Rise Above tells a story without a caption. Firefighters climb in memory of their fallen comrades. A soldier carries the American flag to honor those lost abroad.
Elsewhere, Congolese choir members sing in brilliant costumes, and a man named Kofi balances a long stick on his head as he walks barefoot uphill. These stories are not connected by language or culture, but by something deeper: the shared impulse to rise.
Finding Meaning in the Everyday
Stone Mountain has a complex past, carved with the figures of Confederate leaders. Yet, as Shifrin’s lens reveals, the people who gather on its summit today have transformed it. The mountaintop has become a space of unity, where difference doesn’t vanish but coexists peacefully.
What makes these moments powerful is their ordinariness. Shifrin writes that she never set out to create a book—only to notice. Over time, those simple acts of noticing became a meditation on what connects us: resilience, laughter, remembrance, and grace.In the end, Rise Above captures the small, human moments that define life anywhere. Grab your copy now.
