Savannah Sunrise

I've often written about Savannah, Georgia. The place simply oozes history, charm, and character. There are many wonderful places to stay and an extraordinary array of great restaurants. But one of the most awe-inspiring scenes is the parade of massive container ships that navigate these waters. The Port of Savannah is a tremendous economic engine for the southeastern United States. Day and night, these colossal ships come and go, and the sound of a tugboat horn sends me scrambling for my Nikon. I'm just a sucker for the power of the river and these ships. And this behemoth could have just delivered my new flatscreen TV. After all, Christmas will be here before you know it.

I took this shot early one morning a couple of weeks ago while standing on my hotel room balcony. In fact, it was the morning of my birthday. Despite a very late night of music and "networking", I managed to rise early enough to see this container ship slipping out of port into the rising sun. Getting the image sharp was easy, as the sun was far enough up to force a quick shutter speed (1/500) while allowing a tight aperture (f11) to capture the industrial facilities on the horizon. The challenge was not overexposing the sky while trying to pull some detail out of the silhouetted ship.