Photographing the Dead...Well, Sort of!

Living on Wilmington Island places us fairly close to many of Savannah's historic treasures. We're ten minutes from the beach and ten minutes from downtown. Snuggled in between the islands and downtown Savannah you can find the city's largest cemetery, Bonaventure Cemetery. Bonaventure is the final resting place of poet Conrad Aiken, song writer Johnny Mercer, and photographer Jack Leigh among many other notables. It was also home to the "Bird Girl" featured on the cover of John Berendt's book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil before her move to the Telfair Museum of Art. The cemetery, founded in 1846, features grand live oak lined pathways and burial sites ranging from very simple to highly ornate.

If you're making a trip to Savannah, a read of Berendt's book is a good idea.

Dad and I took a stroll around the cemetery so that I could practice using my camera. This summer I enrolled in Candice Stringham's Mastering Your DSLR on A Beautiful Mess. I shot all my images on manual, using this setting for the first time ever. All in all, for a first go, I was happy with a few of the shots. You can check them out below!

Savannah's Live Oak trees are super gorgeous!

Dad resting on Conrad Aiken's 'bench'.

All images shot with my Nikon D3100, still rocking the kit lens- AF-S DX VR Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G.

I love checking out different and unique cemeteries. Both Savannah and Milan have their share of cool burial grounds. Where are other interesting cemeteries?