Geoff Hobbs captures everything from coastal lighthouses to shipping containers with his suite of Tamron lenses.

By Jenn Gidman
Images by Geoff Hobbs

Geoff Hobbs got his first camera at age 7 and hasn't stopped taking pictures since. For a long time, however, he admits he didn't appreciate the craft as much as he does now. "I love photography, and that's just grown over the years—I think it shows in my images more now," the South Carolina photographer says. "I'm so thankful I've been able to make a living at this for more than 40 years."

The lenses that travel with him around town in Hilton Head or up and down the Eastern Seaboard: his Tamron AF 11-18mm Wide-Angle, the 18-270mm VC, and his most recent acquisition, the SP 24-70mm VC lens. "I do a lot of architectural photography and high-end real estate, so the 11-18 is a must," he says. "And the 18-270 is such a sharp, versatile lens. But I can't rave enough about the 24-70, which is phenomenal—it's my go-to lens now. With these three lenses, I don't even have to think about my equipment: I know my images will always come out sharp and vibrant."

One of Geoff's favorite photography subjects are the lighthouses in his hometown or off the coast of Charleston on Morris Island. "I love walking around, even though it's been chilly down here lately," he says. "On the day I took this image off of Morris Island, it was 28 degrees and windy—pretty brutal for South Carolina. I took a three-exposure HDR photo here, trying hard not to overdo it. I like my HDR work to look very realistic. I also bumped up the saturation levels in post, which is why the sky is so blue."

When he wants to capture his favorite lighthouses at dusk, the Vibration Compensation (VC) feature on his 18-270 and 24-70 helps Geoff keep his images sharp in low-light situations. "I was meeting my wife for dinner at the marina, but I had a little extra time, so I ran down to try to get a sunset photo," he says. "I have to use slower shutter speeds in low light like this to create the image. This photo is a five-exposure HDR shot, handheld, shooting from 1/30 of a second to half a second. I wouldn't have been able to get that photo without the VC on."

Remembering to seek out unusual angles, like a photo he took shooting up at a red-and-white lighthouse in Hilton Head, might be part of Geoff's DNA. "My sister gave me my very first camera in 1956," he explains. "When it was time to sit down for Christmas dinner, no one could find me. My mom looked outside, and there I was, lying on the sidewalk, shooting up with my camera into the tree in front of the house. That's why when I saw the trees coming in from either side of this lighthouse, I had to take the picture like this—it's not your typical lighthouse photo. Always keep your eyes open for unique perspectives of commonly photographed subjects."

Geoff received special access from the Georgia Ports Authority into the Port of Savannah for a series of black-and-white images the authority commissioned. "My directive was: gritty, grainy, LIFE magazine style," he says. "That went back to my photojournalism roots, so I was excited to do it. We ended up winning some American Advertising Awards, also known as the ADDYs, for some of the images in this series."

One of Geoff's favorite images from Savannah is of a group of dignitaries coming down a ramp after the had taken a ship tour. "One of the workers was able to get me up on the first deck so I could look down the river to take a picture of another ship coming in," he says. "I had finished up when I saw these people coming down. It was such a compositionally interesting perspective, with the lines of the ramp, the word 'TUG,' the shadows, and the worker in the foreground for balance. I had the 18-270 on my camera and just quickly captured the photo."

A picture of a transport boat pilot descending a rope ladder won Geoff a gold ADDY award for best photo of the year. "It was a cold, windy February morning around a.m., with 4- to 6-foot swells in the water, when we headed out to meet up with a container ship 12 miles out to sea," he says. "When we got up to the ship, they opened a 12-by-12 hole in the vessel and tossed this flimsy rope ladder out that just smashed against the side. There was no way I was climbing up that with 40 pounds of camera gear!"

Geoff didn't grab onto the ladder's rungs, but he was able to grab all of the available early-morning light to get the shot. "It was sunrise by the time this took place, and with the way the light was coming in, I was able to get this beautiful silhouette," he says. "I took this picture with the 17-50, zoomed in to 50mm."

Geoff used the 18-270 to capture a boatyard worker trying to strap an enormous engine down. "The engine was about the size of a garage," he explains. "The workers had to take it off a flatbed trailer, put straps on it to lift it up about 3 feet, walk it in a circle, then drop it onto another truck to take it to a ship. The 18-270 allowed me to take an environmental photo as this guy went about his business. The lens was able to pick up everything from the nuances and details in his gloves to the shading of his hard hat. I couldn't have captured that picture if I wasn't using a lens as sharp as the 18-270."

With the 11-18, Geoff was able to craft a compelling visual from a potentially dull subject: Maersk shipping containers. "I've never considered myself to be an artist, per se—my background is photojournalism, and more recently I've been doing architectural and commercial photography," he says. "But I try to make my photos capture the viewer's attention, no matter what the subject matter. This image of the shipping containers was challenging: There were perspective problems because they looked like they were leaning backward. But I was able to position myself to adjust for that and use the 11-18 to get a wide-angle view that juxtaposed the containers perfectly against the sky. Someone even asked me for a print of this to hang in their home!"