Ossabaw Island Photography Week

Join us for a four day / three night photography weekend on beautiful Ossabaw Island, Georgia.

Ossabaw Island is a 26,000 acre mostly undeveloped barrier island. It is Georgia's third largest barrier island and is only accessible by boat. 9,000 acres are high ground and the rest is tidal marshland. It is about 10 miles long and 7 miles wide. It is considered a Heritage preserve and is owned by the state of Georgia.

Human existence on the island goes back some 5000 years ago with Native Americans living on the island, Spanish missionaries as early as the 1500s through the 1600s, English arrivals in the 1700 at first reserve Ossabaw as hunting grounds for the Creek indians but eventually develope plantations and harvest oak timbers for shipbuilding. The plantation era lasts into the 1800s and entered the Freedmen era after the civil war. In the early 1900s land ownership is consolidated and eventually purchased by the Torrey family from the Strachan Shipping Company. The Torrey's built a 20,000 square foot mansion on the north end of the island which is still in existence. A hunting lodge built in the 1880s and boarding house built in the 1910s for the purposes of housing hunters when they used the island for hunting excursions is still in existence and will serve as our boarding and lodging for the weekend.

Your fee will include boat transportation to the island, lodging, all food cooked and prepared by our excellent on-island farm to table professional chef, and tours by truck to different parts of the island. You are also free to walk and explore the north end of the island near the lodging.

Lodging is either in the Club House or the Boarding House. The Club House is a restored 1880s Hunting Lodge and offers comfortable dormitory style bunk bed accomodations. The Boarding House is a restored 1918 Craftsmen bungalow and offers semi-private twin bed accomodations.

We will discuss and plan our agenda on the first night of our arrival with our on-island guide. Photography opportunities include sunrises or sunsets overlooking the marsh, milky way/astro photography overlooking the marsh, a drive to the southend boneyard beach for milky way/astro or sunrise. Wild animals e.g. white-tail deer and wild sicilian donkeys frequent the north end of the island where the lodging is. A hike or ride to the mansion owned by Torrey West family is also possible. Ossabaw is a huge undeveloped island with 9000 acres of old forest woodland and plenty of nature to explore and photograph. While this is not necessarily a photography training week, if you need help with your camera settings, I'll be happy to assist in any way that I can.

It is higly recommended to buy Travel Insurance, such as that available at Allianz Travel (allianztravelinsurance.com) in case you need to make a change of plans within the three week period before the event when refunds are not allowed. Or, If the entire trip is cancelled, we will refund the cost of the trip, except for the eventbrite fees which can not be refunded.

THE DEADLINE TO SIGN UP FOR THIS EVENT IS MAY 6TH, 2025.