Sometimes, people elect to grab another day with us and join us for scouting and shooting before the workshop. Such was the case yesterday.

We piled into the car and took off for one of Arnie’s and my favorite locations, one that has always produced great images for us, including many you have seen here in these blogs.

Every year, because of the changing weather patterns, the azaleas and camelias come out at a slightly different time. Last year, a good portion of them were past prime when we arrived in Savannah.

This year, they are gorgeous. Everywhere we look, we see azaleas in hues of magenta, pink, apricot, and some white.

The delicate blossoms of the dogwoods add splashes of conrast to the generally-pink palette. And the Spanish Moss that we all love is everywhere. What is Savannah without Spanish Moss?

After spending some time in our first location, often waiting for the light, as the morning clouds weren’t particularly cooperating, we moved on.

Our second stop of the day was over the border in South Carolina. It was time for lunch and some ice tea before heading over to an area with shrimp boats. In addition to making sure there was no construction going, we needed to ask permission to photograph on a private pier. Mark remembered us from last year and the year before. After all, we had sent him some wonderful portraits of him and his boat that he really enjoyed and appreciated.

“Of course,” he said.

The pier is blocked off to most people, so we feel fortunate to have made a friend here in this little shrimp village.

Our third location for the day was a place we usually visit first thing in the morning, but in scouting, one doesn’t always have the time to visit each area at prime time. After all, part of why we are scouting is to make sure there aren’t any glitches in these places.

We worked with our scouting/shooting participant, and she had a great time and made some really nice photographs.

I was attracted to this Dogwoods here. The lines reminded me of a Japanese painting. That was the look I wanted to bring to this photograph.

I was looking around, and I spied this one blossom, isolated from the rest, with an arty little sprig to balance it. Those who have joined us have heard us say that when there is no known horizon, there is no reason not to twist and turn the camera whichever way allows for the best composition. This is exactly what I did here. With a shallow depth of field, I was free to do what I wanted.

In scouting, there are times when, much as we love to photograph a location, it is not practical for our workshop. This scene is a case in point. It is magnificent in late afternoon as the sun is sinking low. In the spring, sunset is later, and since the shot is best after sunset, it means a very late return to our hotel after the long drive back to Savannah.

For our scouting-and-shooting participant, however, it was a bonus, as she got to photograph in a place she would not otherwise have seen. It was fun for us, too, since we would not return until next year, probably during scouting, since we know it makes no sense to come during the workshop.

It was a really good couple of days for Arnie and me, as we got to photograph for ourselves while checking out our locations. And we had fun with our first-time, BCPA participant. That was a bonus!

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