This weekend we took a small roadtrip to Savannah to see my daughter Diana present at the Telfair Museum Jepson Center. She was part of the Pulse Art and Technology Festival, and she provided a workshop followed by a lecture on Fashion and Technology. The Jepson Center for the Arts is an incredible building by architect Moshe Safdie. It was a perfect venue for the event which hosted special exhibits, presentations, and events throughout the week.
I love Savannah and the Southern charm it exhibits. The architecture of the historic district is genuine. The brick paved streets and landscaped squares provide an elegant setting for the many historic buildings. The city is best "digested" by foot, and this was not the trip to do anything extensive. I did drive out to the Bonaventure Cemetery hoping to find some interesting sights. It was around 10:30 in the morning and the light was just not right. I've been to large cemeteries in Montréal and NYC, and Bonaventure was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps a foggy or overcast day would have improved conditions. I did manage to visit the gallery and studio of Bryan Stovall on Whittaker Street near the river. This is one of the few photography galleries in Savannah and has some nice work by many local artists.
After some good family time of shopping and eating, I had one Saturday to exercise the camera. When we woke up it was raining. Given the choice of drizzle or a cloudless sky, I'll take the drizzle. We drove downtown to put our name on the waiting list for Paula Deen's restaurant Lady and Sons for dinner. Then we headed out to the area around Chatham Square for Dorian to do some shopping. Between raindrops it was easy to find some nice architectural details.
From here we headed out on Hiway 80 to Ft. Pulaski NM and then out to Tybee Island. The rain was letting up so we thought the worst was over. Ft. Pulask is an impressive fortification. There are some nice hiking trails taking you to the surrounding marshes. After walking through the fort and watching the musket firing demo we headed out to Tybee. We followed Hiway 80 to the end then made a left to the last cul-de-sac with access to the beach. The rain started coming down hard and it was time to put the camera away. We then made our way to the Tybee Lighthouse, which charged $7 to enter. We passed on that. Across from the lighthouse are some old fortifications which also charged admission to enter. It seemed that everywhere on Tybee there was a machine for charging you to park. I guess that's how these guys stay in business. Overall the island is way too commercialized for me, lots of cheap (but expensive) hotels, condos, and houses crammed along the dunes. It was a good thing that the weather was crummy and no one was on the beach. We returned to the place where we started so that I could try to get some images of the jettys and the shore at low tide. After about 20 minutes the rain started up again and it was time to go. Right now I'm working on some minimalist landscapes so here is the result...
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Dinner at Paula Deen's that night was memorable...fried chicken, catfish, pot roast, limas, black eye peas, creamed corn, collards, mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, and the BEST blue cheese dressing you can imagine (looks like cottage cheese!). And I had to drive home to Jacksonville after that.