Savannah

In the course of a recent visit to Florida, we took a day trip to Savannah, Georgia, about two hours north of where we were staying near Jacksonville. Savannah is the oldest city in the state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah became the British colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia.

Savannah’s downtown area, which includes the Savannah Historic District and 22 parklike squares, is one of the largest National Historic Landmark Districts in the United States. Downtown Savannah largely retains the original town plan prescribed by founder James Oglethorpe.

I had seen the city about 20 years ago and was pleased to be able to return, with a little more time to explore and of course, photograph the historic buildings and squares that have been so well preserved.

My first picture features the Forsythe Park Fountain, a city landmark that appears in many movies filmed in Savannah. Our guide made several references to a particular movie, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil filmed in Savannah in 1997. It seemed as if most of the buildings and landmarks we viewed got into that movie!

The next photograph was taken from the tour trolley. I didn’t catch its name but I did hear it described as very typical of homes built in Savannah in the latter part of the 19th century. Homes such as this one, were often built with 2-3 complementary colours of brick.

Another popular, architectural feature of those times was ornate ironwork. Wrought iron railings were seen as a symbol of wealth; the more you had, the wealthier you were presumed to be.

I’ve inserted a brief slideshow at this point, displaying some more architecture, complemented by the ubiquitous Live Oak Tree. I found these trees very intriguing, a classic symbol of the South. The trees, draped in Spanish Moss are everywhere, most notably in and around the 22 squares that form much of the original city layout, dating back to the 1730’s. The moss is part of the tree and grows out of the same branches as the trees leaves. According to our guide, the tree is called “live oak” because it is never without foliage. It will always have either its leaves or the moss. A tree that lacks both is referred to as a “dead oak”.

I conclude with one last picture of a building, the Armstong Mansion, featured prominently near the beginning of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. The Armstrong Mansion is an expansive granite and glazed-brick mansion which exemplifies Italian renaissance architectural style. It was built between 1916 and 1919. It was owned by George Ferguson Armstrong who was a successful Savannah shipping businessman. It is now a commercial building, occupied by law firms.

I took all the pictures hand held, using a standard 24-70 mm lens, fitted with a polarizing filter. Nothing unusual. I did apply some techniques new to me in the post-processing of the images. All images were treated with a combination of Lightroom, Photoshop and Topaz Adjust, a plug-in applied through Photoshop. Adjust takes you a step further, offering greater dynamic range and more sophisticated tools for enhancing detail and colour.

That’s it for today. A great place to visit, recommend it highly.