Myrtle Beach, SC

[Peter Lewin]

I will be visiting Myrtle Beach in early November, not a place I would have ordinarily chosen myself since I am not a golfer and a bit old and creaky for tennis. But since I will be there, I would love to do some view camera photography. Anyone have experience with the area or suggestions? Any nearby towns inland that might be of interest? Also, since beach photographs seem an obvious idea, any suggestions about protecting equipment from sand and possibly salt spray?

[Alan9940]

Can't give you any specific recommendations for Myrtle Beach, but if I was planning to use a LF camera near the sea, I'd take a wooden tripod (not much, if anything, affects those tripods), cut a lens size hole in a plastic trash bag, tape it around the outer lens barrel, then pull the bag back over the camera. Never actually done this myself, mind you, but just a thought...

[Keith Fleming]

Peter,

If you plan to photograph on the beach itself, then heed the advice of Alan9940! I remember a vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina in 1996 during which we went for a walk on a breezy day. As we walked, it started getting foggier and foggier--until I realized that it was just my eyeglasses getting coated by salt spray.

Actually, I recommend looking for sites away from the beach in the Myrtle Beach area. I attended a veterans' reunion at a hotel north of the heart of Myrtle Beach, and from the beach the high rise hotels marched to the horizon to both the north and south.

I wish I had more detailed information about photo opportunities in that area.

Keith Fleming

[joem]

In my opinion only. On one of our trips south we stopped for a day and might have stayed longer but it is one of the least interesting places we've ever been. Beach access through parking lots with meters or stay in a beach front hotel, but there are two Ferris wheels.
joe

[CantikFotos]

Visit Atalaya at Huntington Beach State Park, south of Myrtle Beach. This time of year it will be perfect. http://www.huntingtonbeachstatepark.net/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Hyatt_Huntington

[Alan9940]

Oh, and I forgot, put a good UV filter on the lens to protect the front element.

[Peter Lewin]

CantikFotos: Thanks for that reference, I've made notes and will definitely give Huntington and Atalaya a visit.

Alan9940: Good tips, although the net result is that I will avoid taking the camera to the beach. Since I'm flying to South Carolina, I'm restricted to my carbon fiber FLM Traveller tripod which packs inside my luggage, and I don't have UV filters for my LF lenses (I have them for 35mm, but for the bigger view camera lenses, only colored B&W filters). So your advice makes lots of sense (reinforced by Keith) but I simply don't have any of the equipment other than the trash bag! (I have a wooden ZoneVI tripod but it is very bulky and weighs a ton.)

[CantikFotos]

I almost forgot........you have to check out Brookgreen Gardens just across the road from Atalaya. https://www.brookgreen.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookgreen_Gardens https://scpictureproject.org/georgetown-county/brookgreen-gardens.html

[Peter Lewin]

Thought I would give my thread one bump, since we are leaving this Friday. CantikFotos gave me good leads, and Google added one day in Charleston (about 1.5 hours drive each way), Georgetown S.C. as a picturesque town a bit inland, maybe Conway, Little River or even Pawley's Island. The whole "Pee Dee" region sounds interesting, we can cover anything within an hour or so of Myrtle Beach. I've got my "minimum air travel set" sorted out (Canham DLC 4x5, FLM Traveler tripod, a small Sekonic meter, small Congo 180/6.3 lens, yellow/green/red filters, and 3 film holders). So any last thoughts are welcome, especially picturesque areas in nearby South Carolina (as a New Jersey Yankee I know very little of the South).

[scheinfluger_77]

You might think about Edisto, it is about 50 miles south of Charleston and pretty quiet. They don’t cater to the jet set, no miles and miles of hotels. Lots of folks rent out there homes there.