Charleston - Part 1 of 3: The Tourist Photos

I was thinking today as I was looking through my photos at Lick Creek Photography about a particular fondness that I have for Charleston, South Carolina. It has an attractive combination of history and beauty and Southern charm. And it was formative in my travel photography interests.

I did a lot of travel with previous employers, and Charleston came up early in the rotation. I had just picked up the Canon Powershot and was looking for a place to use it, when my boss called me in the office. He needed me short notice in Charleston for a month-long project. I'm there!

Charleston has a beautiful historic district nestled down against Charleston Bay. In my first week or two there I settled in as an evening photo-tourist, learning my way around. Heading down the main drag - Meeting Street - and running into Battery Park, which looks out over Fort Sumter. Here's a house right at that intersection - my "big tree" picture:

I went downtown every evening, learning my way around town, joining many others on the sidewalks - taking shots of the same scenes, but trying to get an interesting angle on them. I came back several times to this wall, for example, trying to capture it:

Up and down Meeting St:

to a theater on a side street:

To the charming pastel-colored houses on the "rainbow" drive along the bay:

to the many churches in the historic district:

up close and far away:

I got to know and love the historic district of Charleston.

The first weekend there I stayed over instead of flying home to save the company money. (Why did I do that?) The weather was nice, so it was out to the beach! Out to the Isle of Palms:

I caught this picture in one of the harbor towns - where I must have disturbed the pelican! - on the way back from the beach:

Next, Part 2, getting closer....