Eastern State Pen GTG

[SteveH]

All,
I just received an email asking if I would amass a GTG sometime in June for Eastern State Penn. So I'll give them a call today or tomorrow and find out what their schedule is, how friendly they would be towards us, and if we can get cart blanche in some areas.
I believe you all wanted a week day gathering as well ? What day of the week would work best (keeping in mind ESP's schedule) ?
Also, dependant upon what ESP has to say, we can always go around Philly to some spots that I would recomend.

Keeping in mind the following dates on my calender:
June 10-11 - Manayunk Bike Race
June 24-25 - WWII Airshow @ Millville Airport

Its obviously too late to schedule anything before the 10th. So I imagine we would be looking at dates after the 12th.

 

[MenacingTourist]

I'm new to the area (transplant from Utah) and would like to attend whatever you guys arrange.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Steve -

I was proposing a weekday for the Eastern State Penitentiary shoot because they prefer not to have folks with tripods on weekends. I think it might be better to not identify ourselves as a formal group, because they might then want to charge a (rather hefty) fee and make us provide insurance. If weekends are better for most people schedulewise, that's fine too, it'll just mean taking different gear for some folks, to reduce the tripod size/dependency.

 

[SteveH]

Hrmm....Ok, well then perhaps I won't call them ? Lets start throwing dates out. June 13th.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

That's a bit short notice for me to get a day off work, but might be workable. The 20th would probably be easier to swing the day off.

They've got a pretty comprehensive website with all the info about taking photos there. When I went before on a weekday, the girl at the ticket counter was totally unfazed by my dragging in an 8x10 and tripod, but it was a very quiet day. She was amazed that I wanted to get the audio guide, since most photographers coming through seem to only want to take pictures and are disinterested in the history of the place (according to her). I found it very worthwhile to get the audio guide because it gave you an excellent overview of the history of the place, and made the things you were looking at make more sense. I also would have missed some details of the prison had I not had the audio guide.

 

[Steve Sherman]

Greetings all,

I have been there a number of times without problem, like you on weekdays. Contact Brett Bertollio at the prison at bb@easternstate.org He will give you all the info you need for your get together.

Mornings is usually busiest as groups come through, by mid day and into the afternoon you usually only encounter families and similar.

The prison will offer you a special group behind the scenes guided tour for additional $$$. If this is your first time, there is more than enough in the various cell blocks to keep you occupied your first time around.

Great place, enjoy!

 

[DarkroomDiva]

Hi Steve, it's dorothy Ringler from West Chester. I'd be interested in going to Eastern State. Will you be at the 6/5 meeting at MAD Productions? We can talk about it then or on line.

 

[DarkroomDiva]

Hi Steve, it's Dorothy Ringler from West Chester. I'd be interested in going to Eastern State Penn. Will you be at the 6/5 meeting at MAD Productions? I would like to talk about it with you.

 

[SteveH]

Hi Steve, it's Dorothy Ringler from West Chester. I'd be interested in going to Eastern State Penn. Will you be at the 6/5 meeting at MAD Productions? I would like to talk about it with you.

Yupper, I'll be there

 

[SteveH]

Greetings all,

I have been there a number of times without problem, like you on weekdays. Contact Brett Bertollio at the prison at bb@easternstate.org He will give you all the info you need for your get together.

Mornings is usually busiest as groups come through, by mid day and into the afternoon you usually only encounter families and similar.

The prison will offer you a special group behind the scenes guided tour for additional $$$. If this is your first time, there is more than enough in the various cell blocks to keep you occupied your first time around.

Great place, enjoy!

Thanks Steve. Im going to hold off emailing them until I get a date. Seems as if the 2nd week of June is too early; so how about we go with the 20th ?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

If we can get this on the calendar with enough people shortly, I can make it. As long as the weather isn't miserably hot, that'll be a great day. Maybe we should meet for lunch somewhere, then head over to Eastern State to shoot in the afternoon? If you could find out about the "behind-the-scenes" tour and how much it would cost, I'd certainly be up for dropping a few dollars to get into some of the areas not normally open to visitors.

 

[SteveH]

That sounds great, so, June 20th it is. What sort of place do you have in mind for lunch ? I frequent the food scene in town, so let me know what sort of fare you want. A lunchtime fav of mine is 'Nodding Head Pub' Good food and inexpensive; plus its right in Center City.

I will be there, possibly with a photog friend of mine (he usually shoots digi, but I'll force him to bust out the RZ).

 

[Travis Nunn]

I could only go if this were on the weekend. Looks like I'll have to pass on this outing also.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I'm good to go on the 20th. I'll pester the other DC folks and see if they can make it. The pub sounds good.

Travis- I promise I'll plan something around DC soon, and keep it on a weekend, so you can make it.

 

[Travis Nunn]

As long as its on a weekend, that's all that matters. I don't mind travelling as far north as Philadelphia.

 

[bill schwab]

Back in the late 90's I spent a week in that place shooting for a personal project. I cannot remember the name of my contact, but they were very accommodating. I did a lot of set-up ahead of time, but was allowed to go just about anywhere I wanted as long as I carried my own hard hat, respirator and steel toed shoes. Ended up abandoning the project as it wasn't what I thought it would be, but still got some great work. Best of luck!

Bill

PS. BE CAREFUL. There are a lot of dangerous places, but I am sure you will be warned of this.

 

[SteveH]

Interesting Bill.....Are you planning on making out for this ?

 

[bill schwab]

Are you planning on making out for this ?

I'd love to Steve, but it is a long way. I do plan on visiting philadelphia again to do some work though. It is a great town and Fairmount Park is one of the nicest city parks of its kind in the country. I love photographing there.

Have a great time in the prison if you are going. Back when I was there it was pretty rough and they were just getting their tourist thing together. I'm guessing it is a little more hospitable now. The respirator was for peeling lead paint and asbestos in the tunnels. They may have that cleaned up by now.

Bill

 

[SteveH]

Thanks Bill. Do let me know when you'll be around.

I will send an email to ESP on Monday about the 20th. I will remit the info as I get it.
Lets get some specifics hashed out here. What time do you wish to meet up ? I would suggest not being on the roads around the city from between 7:30 - 9:00, as 95/76/676 can be nasty. So, perhaps we should meet up around 10:30-11 ? For you early folks, I can also be up in the city early if you wanted to get some morning shots around the waterworks/art museum area....Just let me know. I personally plan in being up in the city early, and heading out to Manayunk to meet up with a friend of mine beforehand.
On a side note: I will be bringing a changing room (calumet) so we can load up film throughout the day. Furthermore for those of you interested, Calumet is right in the city as well; although I will warn you that their film/darkroom area is 1/5th of what it used to be. They still do have a rather large selection of Slide and Color films however.
Finally, lets start to get a tally of how many people we'll have going, so I can give ESP an idea of what size group we'll be.

 

[Flauvius]

Dates For Eastern State Prision Trip

What are the agreed upon dates and times for the Eastern State Prison trip?

Regards,

Flauvius

Thanks Bill. Do let me know when you'll be around.

I will send an email to ESP on Monday about the 20th. I will remit the info as I get it.
Lets get some specifics hashed out here. What time do you wish to meet up ? I would suggest not being on the roads around the city from between 7:30 - 9:00, as 95/76/676 can be nasty. So, perhaps we should meet up around 10:30-11 ? For you early folks, I can also be up in the city early if you wanted to get some morning shots around the waterworks/art museum area....Just let me know. I personally plan in being up in the city early, and heading out to Manayunk to meet up with a friend of mine beforehand.
On a side note: I will be bringing a changing room (calumet) so we can load up film throughout the day. Furthermore for those of you interested, Calumet is right in the city as well; although I will warn you that their film/darkroom area is 1/5th of what it used to be. They still do have a rather large selection of Slide and Color films however.
Finally, lets start to get a tally of how many people we'll have going, so I can give ESP an idea of what size group we'll be.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Steve- what say we meet somewhere for lunch 11:30-ish, then head over to Eastern State around 1. If the light is too harsh, we can get the tour first. If it's good, those who want a tour can do a tour, and those who don't can just start shooting. When they kick us out, we can all get together for dinner somewhere, to kill time until the traffic quiets down

 

[SteveH]

Ok, sounds like a plan.
So, once and for all, I will be in attendance. June 20th, 11:30AM. Noddinghead Pub:

http://www.noddinghead.com/directions.html

 

[SteveH]

Bump !

Who's in ?

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

Steve- I know Jim Shanesy and I are good to go...

 

[SteveH]

OK, thanks ! Im trying to get a final number here before I email ESP. Honestly if its only going to be 4-6 of us, Im not going to bother - we'll just turn on the charm when we arrive.