After a long Day Three, we made sure we visited a local spot for our morning shoot. The cemeteries in Savannah are magnificent, and our favorite is no exception. The gates don’t always open when one might wish, so we had to be prepared to jump out of the cars and set up quickly to catch that first light coming through the trees.
There is one allée that I particularly like, and this is where we take our group.
I couldn’t stand there and not take advantage of the light, so I did a quick grab shot. You know those … when you don’t have time to really work on the composition. In my case, it was while people were finding their positions and setting up their tripods.
No, there was not enough mist in the air to cause those wonderful, diagonal streaks of light coming through the trees, but the light was low, and it did come diagonally across the allée. It also lit up the Spanish Moss that we all love.
Arnie and I could see some in our group struggling. As many of them admitted later, they were overwhelmed by all the beauty. They literally didn’t know which way to turn, because it was all so dramatic and foreign to anything they had ever seen before.
We worked with them, helping them to focus on things that they liked, and as we saw in the classroom critique later, they settled down and started to get into scenes and work them. Sometimes, we had to remind them to look in the other direction, as the light was constantly changing.
The critique sessions are always good. They allow everyone to see what others saw, different approaches, different techniques. In this case, it made them all want to go back, so we planned for that for our final morning location. It happened that way last year … and …
There is a great fort near the city with a moat, redoubts, canons, and rooms where the light sings. Arnie and I kept talking about the light, and it was here that some of our participants really began to see the light. It was terrific!
Our next location was Forsyth Park and its fountain, one of those iconic images from Savannah.
The fountain, however, is not all there is to photograph.
We got there in time to take advantage of the light coming through the water, edge lighting the statues, and adding natural fill to areas.
I decided to photograph the swans from a different point of view … an abstract. I found the head intrusive, as the way the light played off the body, wings, and water was more compelling, especially since the head was in shadow and had no life to it.
It was fun watching the group work scenes. Some got down on the ground to find a different vantage point or isolate their subject from people walking by in the background. Others found a class of students scattered on the grass and drawing.
Eventually, it got dark enough so that the lights came on in the park and around the fountain, and everyone who was interested was all set to capture their version of the classic scene. They learned about settings they hadn’t played with before, and they were pleased with the results.
It was half past wine o’clock, and most people wanted to gather for a last-night dinner together. We collapsed our tripods, put our cameras away and dropped our equipment off at the hotel. It was a short walk from the hotel down the street to the restaurant that put several tables together for us. The evening was filled with good conversation and stories that left us with tears streaming down our faces from laughing so hard. It was a perfect way to end our last full day together.
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