I practice photography regularly. I wander with my camera and take photos of whatever I find interesting, but particularly I love street photography, most of which I do on actual city streets. I’ve been taking plenty of photos since I started traveling mid-September but looking back there are hardly any street photos that appeal to me. When I got to Savannah about a month ago, I felt like I was in a slump with those.

As I explored the city, I realized that the main downtown area, known as the historic district, is laid out pretty neatly in a flat grid, with a number of squares all over. The area is eminently walkable and walker friendly. I quickly settled into a routine. On workdays, I work at a coffee shop, then on my lunch break I walk for an hour or so stopping for lunch somewhere along the way. On the weekends I’ve spent most days walking around the historic district for several hours, meandering all over the grid wherever my eye directed me. I stop to get a bite or a drink and then go at it again. As a result I have been practicing everyday, to the tune of twelve to fifteen hours every week. This is the primary reason that I’m no longer feeling the slump. In other words, practice, then practice some more, and keep at it. This is probably the oldest advice for creativity but it’s good to remind oneself of it.

As I was thinking about this I started to examine what else contributed to my experience. One thing I noticed is the variety in areas I frequented. Variety usually works well. On this grid there are distinct neighborhoods with activity in each and easy access from one to another. The ones I traversed the most were Bull street, Broughton street, River street, City market and Ellis square. Each has its own personality. Bull street has a number of historic landmarks and is the central north-south road that passes through several squares. Light can be tricky as there’s lots of shade from oak trees, but at the same time that gives interesting highlights and shadows. Broughton street has tons of businesses and people out shopping and dining. Light is good as most of the buildings are no more than three floors high. River street is the main touristy area and runs along the river. There’s also a parallel riverfront plaza. At this time of the year, the street is mostly in the shade as the day gets going, however the plaza gets good light until the afternoon. The City market and Ellis square area is touristy as well, but Ellis square is a newer square without the oaks and with no highrises blocking the sunlight so the light there is pretty good until evening.

And then there are the people. Savannah is quite touristy in this part so there are a variety of people everywhere. In fact most of the people I’ve seen and interacted with have been visitors. I don’t know the ebb and flow of visitors here but there are definitely a bunch here with the holiday season. On the day after Christmas I noticed especially that people had new clothes and accessories on them and were feeling good.

In less than a week I will head out of Savannah. Looking back I’m pretty happy with my experience. I have had a great time and some of the photos are even turning out to be decent so keep an eye out for more street photography from me.

Happy New Year!