Savannah, 1978

This ship looks pretty small, by today’s shipping standards, but Savannah was also smaller then. Missing from this view are at least four subsequent skyline-altering properties: the Hyatt, the Convention Center, the Westin, and Plant Riverside.

I don’t remember who the client was, but I was shooting a campaign that included several illustrations of port activity, and getting a hero shot of an arriving container carrier was on the “want” list. Today, just get a drone, but such remote options were not available then, for positioning or operating the camera, let alone having a preview of the composition. Yes, there was a time when you had to make photographs IRL.

Needed a chopper, but no commercial service was available in the area, and not enough budget. There were the Army helicopters at Hunter AAF, but rides on those were generally by invitation, not request. Fixed wing, door off, still a budget issue, but there was one elevated position possible–the old Talmadge Bridge, crossing right over the shipping lane.

The thing about the bridge was…no pedestrians allowed, and it was a two lane roadway with only a couple of feet on the outside of the lanes, so no pulling over and stopping.

I got a driver, drove over the bridge making sure no one was directly behind us, stopped just long enough for me to jump out and flatten myself against the side of the bridge (some open horizontal railings as I remember) while the driver continued on, to wait for a while in the then sparsely populated wildness of the Low Country. After a time, the driver came back across, stopping briefly to pick me up.

I was standing at the highest arc of the bridge where the roadway was a large section of open grating covering the entire width and length of the top. I could see the river under my feet. (I just had a little shiver remembering it.) I also remember a number of cars passing by while I tried to not get hit, them routinely yelling out, “Don’t jump!” Yet, no one ever stopped to see if I was OK, or reported me for being there.

Good light, nice ship, tide, and transit timing, everything came together, got the shot. But then I had to cross the bridge on the open grate, dodging traffic, to catch my ride. (Another shiver.)

For more of Bill’s photographs, go to https://www.billdurrence.com/index