Savannah, 2025

We had some unusual weather for the US southeast coast last week. The first thing I noticed, after the snow, was the quiet.

Partly it was a muffling benefit from the snow, but it was mainly no traffic. No large (or small) delivery trucks, no buses, no touring trolleys or horses and carriages, no cars, no jackasses with their intentionally loud exhaust racing down Broughton Street compensating for some personal shortcoming, no open dune buggys blaring music at top volume (when did deliberate aural assaults on the rest of the world become OK?); just people walking in the streets, photographing the ice-encased Tritons in Forsyth fountain, adapting boogie boards, wading pools and other warm-weather instruments into sleds, making snow angels, and building (mostly small) snowmen. For one day, downtown belonged to the people who live here.

About 30 years ago I was doing outdoor winter photography work with some workshops in places like Yellowstone and the Tetons. I bought some appropriate clothing–long parka, long underwear, gloves and glove liners, wool socks and sock liners, knit caps, knit dickeys, ear muffs, etc. I haven’t needed any of that for some time, but pulled it out and it was all in great shape. Unfortunately, I have not maintained myself that well.

It was beautiful. Then it was dangerous. Then it was just inconvenient, messy, and ugly, the “circle of life” for snow, I suppose.

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