another trip to the Quabbin

[papagene]

Hey all dlin will be in the area around May 28th and would like to take a trip out to the Quabbin. Anyone else interested?
More info to come.

gene

 

[L Gebhardt]

Sounds like fun, but I'll be out of town that day. Do you know high is the water level is currently. It seemed low last fall, but with all the rain I would expect it to be high. I would like to head down there this spring, but I wonder what the water level will do to the pictures.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Quabin Again?

Gene- Altough I enjoyed Quabin I would be interested to go to another locale. I found it to be a little limiting. It's your area so maybe you can come up with some alternates. Personally I like buildings or streams where I can go in and get wet. Just a thought......
Peter

 

[dlin]

Hi Gene,
I think it would be fun to get together with a bunch of folks from the area. We don't have to limit the choice of shooting location to Quabbin- I'm certainly open to suggestions. Since this will be a brief "leave of absence" from the family during our visit to Amherst, MA, areas relatively close to central Mass would be the most convenient for me. I'm looking forward to the trip out east.
All the best,
Daniel

 

[Peter Schrager]

Guest Visitor

I have already PM'd Daniel that I will make myself available when he is in Mass. Any other of you guys want to show some Eastern hospitality to our midwest neighbors?
Regards, Peter

 

[Whiteymorange]

I'm in

Gene,
The 28th sounds good for Quabbin shoot. There are plenty of opportunities to "go in and get wet", peters, so let's wander around a bit. What gate do you suggest, Gene? The visitors center is a bit limiting but offers long shots. Up-close and personal may be better at one of the northern gates... east side? I used to live on the road to Laurel Lake on the other side of the Millers River. Plenty up there as well. OOOOOOh this is exciting, Black flies and all.

Whitey

 

[papagene]

An interesting area of the Quabbin would be along Rte 122 heading east from New Salem to Petersham (pronounced Peter-sam). There are plenty of places to park and hike on in... swampy marshes, bogs and other sites.
I always wanted to head up to that area but time constraints with a one-car family kept me away. It is about an hour north-east of Amherst, where Athol, Orange and New Salem meet. My sister lives about a mile norht of this area.
Does this sound OK to anybody else?
And Whitey... what's your real name? We may know each other.

gene LaFord

 

[Whiteymorange]

transportation?

I'm going to join Gene at the Quabbin, leaving from the western 'burbs of Boston. I drive an old Cherokee and can gather others with similar intentions. Any takers? Plenty of room for LF stuff, conversation on the way... I'd love to have company and I'm willing to do the pick-up/drop-off stuff as early as you want to go. I'm thinking we might hit the northern end of the reservation, so it's less than a 60 minutes drive from the Concord Rotary (if that means anything to you.) Maps are available here

http://www.mass.gov/mdc/maphome.htm#Quabbin Reservoir Watershed

Alternate plans? Other destinations? Come on, folks, I'm relatively new to photography and I need some brains to pick.

Whitey

PS About the name: it's Whitey, not Whitney. Think Whitey Ford, a famous name when I was a very young and very blond child.

 

[Peter Schrager]

Swampy things?

Guys I want to join up but I need more variety than what I saw at the Quabbin. It's you're area so as far as alternates go I have to follow your ideas. If you do end up at the Quabbin then I will see you on the next outing.
Regards, Peter

 

[dans]

Sorry to miss this again. My wife just made plans for that day and I can't back out.

Dan

 

[papagene]

Sounds like fun, but I'll be out of town that day. Do you know high is the water level is currently. It seemed low last fall, but with all the rain I would expect it to be high. I would like to head down there this spring, but I wonder what the water level will do to the pictures.

Larry,
With all the rain lately, the water at the Quabbin is at peak levels. They are releasing water out of the spillway. All those huge boulders are now submerged. And there is not much of a shore on the southern end. The northern end seems to look about the same.

gene

 

[sbuczkowski]

I'll be there, if my schedule permits

Hey Gene, et al.

I'm tentatively scheduled to be in VT shooting a fencing tournament that day, but that may fall through for a variety of reasons. If so, I'll come looking for you guys.

Take care,

Steven

 

[papagene]

Hey Gene, et al.

I'm tentatively scheduled to be in VT shooting a fencing tournament that day, but that may fall through for a variety of reasons. If so, I'll come looking for you guys.

Take care,

Steven

I... can't... resist... gotta... try... real... hard...
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH... will the fences be participating in the 300m high hurdles or the Steeple Chase???
Sorry Steve!! If there is no tournament, I hope to see you there. Keep an eye on this thread for final destination.

gene

 

[sbuczkowski]

I... can't... resist... gotta... try... real... hard...
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH... will the fences be participating in the 300m high hurdles or the Steeple Chase???
Sorry Steve!! If there is no tournament, I hope to see you there. Keep an eye on this thread for final destination.

gene

Actually there are three events: "Two-strand tie and toss", "razorwire pentathlon" and "picket polevault". There used to be four, but the 'White Lightning shock crawl' was eliminated by the IOC after complaints from numerous humanitarian organizations that it was cruel to the competitors. Damn bureaucrats! Don't they realize that these people train for these events? The pain is part of the competition!

It's not like they still electrify the spectator seats. That was truly wrong (no matter how funny it was to watch).

I am, in fact, not going to VT. Is there a final plan on a meeting this weekend?

Steven

 

[papagene]

Well gang (you too Steven) it looks like this Sat might be a decent day after all - not great, but OK. Whiteymorange has chosen a gate just south of the junction of Rte's 202 & 122 and across from the road that leads to Lake Matawa (or as we used to call it as kids... "Lake Matawawa!!").
I may have to drop my daughter off at her school to meet the bus for the Western Mass track meet. I should be able to get up to the location at about 8:00 am or so.
If we set the meet time for 8:00 to 8:30 am that should give us plenty of time for discovery and photography.
Directions:
From Rte 2 - go south on Rte 202 and just past the intersection of 202 & 122, about a mile or less, and on the left is the gate where we can meet. The road to Lake Matawawa is on the right.
From the Mass Pike - take the Ludlow exit, turn right (north) onto Rte 21. Take 21 to 202 and turn left (north again) and drive for about 45 minutes or so. After that amount of time, you will see a sign for the road to Lake Matawa. Heading north, that road is on your left. If you reach the intersection of 202 & 122, just turn around and head back. You can't miss the gate.
From Rte 91 - (1) heading north... take the Rte 202 exit in Holyoke (remeber it is pronounced "Whole-yoke") and head north... follow the above directions. (2) heading south, you take Rte 2 east to 202 south or take Rte 9 east in Northampton to Rte 202 and then head north following the above directions.
Dan... I assume that you know how to get to Rte 202 from Amherst.
Sorry for the last minute nature of this... I was a little preoccupied with an exhibition to set up for some kind of photo conference that occurred last weekend and the weather (you just gotta love New England weather!!!! ) hasn't been to cooperative lately.
If any one has any questions, please send me a PM and I'll get rigth back to you.
I will be dragging some of my Quabbin prints to show. Hope to see some new faces there.

gene

 

[Whiteymorange]

Done it!

Ok. Time to thank the intrepid crew of Gene and Steve and Dan. The trip was great by my standards. Walked (sorry to be so slow, guys) talked, looked and shot. Gene, your work is great,

We spoke of a possible show at the Belmont Hill School in Belmont, MA, just west of Cambridge. I'm the director of the school gallery. Great space in a place where the work will be seen by lots and lots of... shall we cut to the chase and say rich people? It could be done. Any interest in discussing an APUG show in the Beantown 'burbs? The place is booked for awhile, so we have plenty of time to plan, but I'd love to know if folks would be more interested in a juried show, a theme show? a small group show? What have you? We have a very active black and white program with the students, so the school will consider it a real plus. No commissions on any sales (don't get your hopes up to high though, B&W is still hard to sell.)

PM me if you have ideas or want to be part of group emailing back and forth about this. I'll post a link to some pictures of the gallery soon.

Thanks again guys, for a great day.
Whitey

 

[papagene]

Hey... someone hanging my work instead of the other way around... COUNT ME IN!!

A group exhibit od NE-APUG'ers would be a grand idea - did I say that earlier?!
Whitey, Dan & Steven - thanks for a great day. It was fun and I would go out again in a heart beat!

gene

 

[SuzanneR]

Sounds like you guys had a great day. It was GORGEOUS yesterday. I'm looking forward to seeing the photographs you made, and I'm sorry I wasn't able to come along.

The gallery space at the Belmont Hill School is a great. It'd be a terrific opportunity for a juried/group/whatever show of NE APUGer's. Thanks for the genorous offer, Whitey! I'll throw my hat in to help make it happen!

 

[sbuczkowski]

Well, I'll chime in too. Whitey, Gene and Dan, it was great walking, talking and shooting with you guys. you all missed out by not joining me for my family bike ride on the Norwottuck trail. We ran across more wildlife in that one day than I've seen in a week out there: baby turtles, goslings, ducklings, a bobcat, and a watersnake swallowing a freshly caught catfish.

And yes, I did miss EVERY photo opportunity because I had left my cameras behind at the house. When will I learn......

As for the potential show at Belmont Hill, I'm in, whatever the format. Even though I'm heading to MD, I'd be happy to help anyway I can Whitey.

take care

steven