Blonde In Savannah - 2

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Dolled up for her portrait, the little cutie posed in bare feet. I let the photographer work... And like a voyeur... snuck my lens into the posing space.

Blonde In Savannah - 1

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It's called "Factor's Walk". It runs parallel to River Street in Savannah, Georgia. I walked the old alleyway this afternoon. It's where Craig Tanner and Marti Jeffers will hold a workshop this weekend. Participants will work on street portraits. As you can see, there are plenty of characters to grab, eh?

This little star was prancing about in her TuTu. In Savannah I've found, the street photographer's got lots of low hanging fruit to harvest.

Lookit what you missed Andreas.

Naughty

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Found her in Savannah... Where else?


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Here's the virgin (!) image.

Dixie #10: River Street • Savannah, Ga

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I had to come a great distance
To find these feelings.

And now they have come
A great distance to find you.

They are an old new message
In a new old bottle...

Addressed to the finder.

Dixie #9: River Street • Savannah, Ga

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Hush for a moment along River Street. If you gaze intently as a cartoon-watching child you’ll feel it… an echo… of Bourbon St.

It’s a waft of bawdy Southern culture… the one that comes out at night along the waterfronts of Dixie’s cities – hawking the teasey patina and paint of fading flashy ladies waiting for the sailors.

Dixie #7: River Street • Savannah, Ga

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Dixie #6: River Street • Savannah, Ga.

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Dixie #4: River St. • Savannah, GA

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My friend Craig Tanner's crib is Savannah, Ga. And he guides the fresh eyes of gifted photographers in his workshops around the old South's grand city. Eventually they come to River Street. Unfortunately my eyes are no longer fresh, dimmed by many visits over the last thirty years or so. But like Craig, I'm compelled to take them down to River Street at least once a year to grab images, ideas, and feelings from the characters and color of this crusty seaport.

So? Wuddaya think?


Let me go farther into this image in more detail as a result of some questions from viewers...

I try to conceptualize what I'm after... what I want an image to say. The triptych form is almost cheating... it lets me expand the canvas and to create more sophisticated texture. You know, cram a greater range of nuance into the thing through collage.

So the question I wrestled with yesterday was about "Fresh Eyes" on River Street. And then there is the whole double meaning thing of "Fresh". Plus I was anxious to gently have fun with the wonderful character studies generally seen in Savannah portraits. Lastly I wanted to subtly create a sense of place. But different from a lot of my past takes on River Street...

Particularly studies of the street itself as a character. Click here to see an example

Or if you like, click here to see a number of my prveious years' River Street and Savannah images (including street portraits).


If you've been to River Street in Savannah you know that it is a epicenter for tourists, prol-food restaurants, bars, ancient buildings which once created the enormous wealth of this city that have been repurposed for instantaneous commercial fun, and yeah... a number of shops where ticky is losing a wrestling match with tacky.

So... how to wrap all of that into one image for viewers who lack so much of that context? Huh? Huh? Huh? How to create an image that is fun all by itself, but can pull people who want to take the trip through it to explore the underlying thoughts and feelings?

Hmmm... since this was about "Fresh" eyes... Howzabout I take a gaggle of faceless tourists and mix em up with the saucy eyes of some ticky-shop denizens? What is the feeling of this River Street place? Can you pile together its parts to create something greater? Like a lot of my stuff, its conceived to give you a moment's reward, or more if you wanna hang around for the show.

Long way around... but that's what I was after... when I dropped that gang of menu-viewers between the two other characters of River Street. It's all in the 'fresh' eyes from either side that tie the entire thing into a narrative... Um... I hope..

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And here my friends are the virgin images fresh from today's FlashCard.

Once-Upon-A-Time Window

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It was a window that once looked out upon river boat dandies and dock tarts. Once it rattled from the steamy squeals of paddle wheelers' horns. Then pigeons glided just yards to the gaudy decks of great flat stern wheelers mounded with King Cotton hauled from this place to exotic ports and deep pockets packed with gold.

It was a window that watched once-upon-a-time - disappear.

BTW: I am off on some business to New England for a couple of days. May be away from WWW connection. We shall see if I can post between now and Sunday. If not... and you're new... enjoy last September & October's postings, K? I'd enjoy comments on those long lost images.

Happy Flag Day...

What We Do

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"We are not here to do what has already been done." - Robert Henri, The Spirit Of Art P.12

I believe that each color, each shape, each pixel must be an exact record of what I conceived it to be at the moment I put it there. This is not an accurate reproduction of a place, it is an authentic rendering of an idea, feeling and sense of this place.

And that is all it is a record of.

Retro Vrs. History

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Age is the mother of nostalgia, while disruption is the father of history. So? What happens when these two hook up for a night of passion? That’s what I was out to uncover in Savannah – a city where retro and history have formed a cosy rapport. To a lot of Boomers, retro is indistinguishable from history.

I wonder when the latter sucks up the former?

I’ve noticed that the history taught in our K-12 years is overwhelmingly about political figures (Quick: name the guy who financed Henry Ford’s first factory. See what I mean?). But in reality culture trumps everything. Culture rules. Culture rocks. Paris Hilton went to jail because of culture. Congress failed to pass an immigration bill because of culture. It is culture at any given moment which packs the wallop.

I think the difference between retro and history is culture. People begin to notice that the culture that weaned them barely exists. Which sparks nostalgia and creates a retro market. See how that’s working in Savannah? Huh? Huh?

Or have I got this all wrong? Comments?