Holly and I have been to Charleston on vacation a few times now, and it seems every time I’m there, I end up photographing the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge. In a way, it’s a bit like “the tree” in Cades Cove near the Dan Lawson place. I’ve shot it I don’t know how many times (I was there until after midnight last night in fact), but I keep going back there because I like the structure of it, and I know I can come away with something interesting. Same thing is true for the Ravenel bridge. Now, that said, I’m not sure I’ve found the best place to photograph the bridge from yet (heh, more reason to go back, right?), but needless to say, I was really happy with this location.

One of the things I like to do when visiting a city is find “the” spot everyone goes to for that postcard shot of whatever that place is known for. For one, it gives you as a photographer a starting point, and I’m personally okay with coming home with my version of the landmark shots. Lets be honest, these places are generally landmarks because they’re awesome. Secondly, I inevitably will stumble on an angle or a something that my eye likes better. When doing this, I will use both Google maps and the Photographer’s Ephemeris app for Android. What that second app does is allow you to drop a pin on a map, and it will show you where in relation to that pin, the sun will rise and set (and the moon too!). All this is exactly how I found the location where I took the above photo.

One of the popular places to photograph the Ravenel bridge from is the Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park. However, after consulting the Photographer’s Ephemeris app, I found that the sun would be setting off to the side of the bridge from that vantage point, but what I wanted was the sun setting behind the bridge. After some scrolling around I found a parking lot on the other side of the bridge, that had a trail along the water. Bingo! We drive by one evening to make sure the road wasn’t a private drive, gated, or anything like that, and then returned a few evenings later to catch the shot above.

So there it is, my secret to finding my favorite spots… at least until I return the next time! 🙂

–Dan Thompson