Charleston, SC, 2026

I recently assisted my old friend and teaching colleague Reed Hoffmann with a small group photo trip he did in Savannah, and part of the program was a day in Charleston. We drove up early and spent much of the morning walking around the peninsula. First coming out of the parking garage, on arrival, we saw the Riviera, a restored Art Deco theater, and most of the group made some sort of photograph of the building.

Me too. The light was nice and showed off the building details well. But that’s also the same photo every casual observer will make with their cell phone. My question to the group was, “Can you find a different way of seeing this?” Not instead of, necessarily, but also. You can always decide which you like best later, or even change your mind, if you have choices.

After taking the obvious shot of the building, I looked behind me, at the juxtaposition of the reflection of the theater with the merchandise in the shop window. By careful framing I was able to “hang” the clothes from the marquee. In processing the image I flopped the photo horizontally so the text reads correctly.

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