Visit to Savannah

glbeas · Jan 21, 2006

I am going to be in Savannah Feb 22-24 for the Allstate Band competition with my wife and horn playing stepson Kevin. Are there any Apuggers in the area to meet or recommend anything new to shoot? We've about wore out the fort and the beach at Tybee and want to see something else interesting. Old architecture would be fun but I'm not sure where I can take a LF camera and get away with it.

donbga · Jan 21, 2006

glbeas said:
Old architecture would be fun but I'm not sure where I can take a LF camera and get away with it.

Gary,

I've shot all over Savannah with LF cameras with no problems. Everyone except the tourists will think you are an older SCAD student. Have you been to Laurel Grove or Bonaventure Cemtery?

If you have the time hire a boat to take you to Wassau Island.

Don Bryant

Donald Miller · Jan 21, 2006

I've shot with LF in Savannah with no problems...in fact I found the locals to be great people who enjoyed engaging me in conversation.

The architecture is great there.

If you have time for a bit of a trip south from Savannah, Jekyll Island is a fun place.

glbeas · Jan 21, 2006

donbga said:
Gary,

I've shot all over Savannah with LF cameras with no problems. Everyone except the tourists will think you are an older SCAD student. Have you been to Laurel Grove or Bonaventure Cemtery?

If you have the time hire a boat to take you to Wassau Island.

Don Bryant

Thanks Don, I'll have to check them out. My wife has heard of Bonaventure but Laurel Grove didn't ring a bell. Whats Wassau like?
Donald we've been all over Jekyll, fun place! I've got a couple of shots in my gallery from there. I've noticed theres a few plantations around the area, one day we'll want to look them up as well.

donbga · Jan 22, 2006

glbeas said:
My wife has heard of Bonaventure but Laurel Grove didn't ring a bell.

Then by all means visit them both, you won't be disappointed. Too bad that Jack Leigh passed away a couple of years ago, if not you could visit his gallery on Olgelthorpe and see his wonderful black and white work.

glbeas said:
Whats Wassau like?

Very primative. It is probably the least disturbed of the barrier islands, uninhabited except for one family that owns a smal parcel on the back side of the island and the park ranger that lives on the island. If you go most likely you will have the island all to your self. It's a hard environment to make photos in and you will need to work for your shots with a large format camera.

mgb74 · Jan 22, 2006

The squares, the old iron fences, the old cemeteries.

jp80874 · Jan 22, 2006

We liked the maritime museum http://www.shipsofthesea.org/. The collection of very large models (8-10 foot) is housed in a beautiful building, Scarbrough House, which was built in 1819 by a local architect. The restoration of the building is wonderful and an easy LF subject. The collection of very large scale ship models would be an great subject if you can gain permission to shoot. If no permission and you enjoy naval architecture it is a wonderful visit without photography.

We loved the fountains in the many squares mentioned above. There are regularly scheduled tour buses traveling a route of scenic high points. You can ride until you see something you like, get off evaluate subject matter, get on the next one with a transfer and continue. When you have selected what interests you, go back with car and gear and shoot.

Enjoy,
John Powers

colrehogan · Jan 22, 2006

There's an old Civil War fort down there, though I seem to recall it being an island. Haven't been since 1981. We went down to see the Juliette Low home. She was the founder of the Girl Scouts.

glbeas · Jan 22, 2006

colrehogan said:
There's an old Civil War fort down there, though I seem to recall it being an island. Haven't been since 1981. We went down to see the Juliette Low home. She was the founder of the Girl Scouts.

Yep, Fort Pulaski. I've taken every camera I own there except the 8x10 and wore myself out. Great place to spend some time.

photomc · Jan 22, 2006

Have only been a couple of times, and managed to get into Savannah for a few hours. The cemeteries are very nice, and interesting. Always found the alley behind the buildings along the river walk really nice right at dusk and after, as well as the cobble stone road (wet looks best to me). And of course the bridge that spans the Savannah river is interesting...all that said, have never been there for fun, always work so never got to try any photography there....lucky you.

glbeas · Feb 21, 2006

Bumping this, I'll be in Savannah this weekend if anyone is going to be wandering loose in the area. I'd love to visit with whoever is around.

doughowk · Feb 21, 2006

An earlier poster mentioned the Jack Leigh Gallery. I was there in December & Gallery still exists, for info . I have his The Land I'm Bound To which is both a beautiful collection of photos & an interesting viewpoint of Savannah. Wish I could get there this weekend.

glbeas · Feb 21, 2006

We need to invite these folks to Apug. I notice in the contact page Ben Beasley, Master Printer and Assistant Director. Be interesting to meet him and compare family trees.

JeffD · Feb 21, 2006

Let us know how the trip goes, Gary. I was going to go down Sat., Sun., and Monday, but the weather was so bad, I cancelled. Look like it should be nice while you are down....

glbeas · Feb 21, 2006

Surely you can't just sneak out for a weekend jaunt Jeff?

glbeas · Feb 24, 2006

glbeas said:
We need to invite these folks to Apug. I notice in the contact page Ben Beasley, Master Printer and Assistant Director. Be interesting to meet him and compare family trees.

We stopped at the gallery and had quite a nice chat with Ben. There were some platinum prints on the wall that were to die for, can't remember the name of the photog, but it was done with darkroom enlarged dupe negs from medium format.
I left Ben with an invite to join us and I hope he does, this gallery seems to be purely analog B&W work at this time, and very beautiful stuff.

We also got a tip from a local on the Savannah Wildlife Sanctuary just across the river in South Carolina on Hwy 17. It's a retired rice plantation with canals and wetland areas covering it and a four mile loop of a road through it to observe the wildlife. We saw a huge crowd of waterfowl wintering there and about a half dozen gators that had come out to sun themselves in the extra warm weather that day. I was able to include one small but good looking specimen in LF shots on Tri-X and some old Kodak HIE. I'm going to love that one when I get it back and soup it. The reeds would have been great for texture shots but the breeze was constant and unrelenting. Sounds like a return trip is needed for when the air is calmer. This is a great place for small and medium format with long long lenses for the wildlife.

Imke · Jul 5, 2006

Darn, missed the post, too!

I live here, anybody coming to the area, send me a pm! Greg, how is Kentucky treating you?

Imke

glbeas · Jul 6, 2006

I'll keep you in mind Imke, you probably know the area much better than I do for shooting. And if you ever get lost and wind up near Atlanta, make some noise so we can find you.

Visit to Savannah

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