NE Ohio Gathering, May 17-18-19, 2013

[Shawn Dougherty]

Peter and I have been shooting quite often down in the flats for about a year. Dale, Shawn and Peter have posted pictures of some of their favorite places. You can see we have some wonderful locations to shoot. Thanks to Peter’s generously scanning a few of my prints I can now start to add some of mine. I hope others will post images from earlier NE OH Gatherings. Bethe, how about some from the Ohio Farm Museum?

One of the ships that comes to Cleveland quite often is the Alpena. She was built in 1943 and as I understand it, brings liquid cement from MI to a concrete plant here in the flats. Honestly I am not sure whether cement is a component of concrete or the other way around. With all the highway bridge building going on, the Flats must be a high volume cement customer.

I discovered the Alpena on the IOS app described a few posts back. Saturday Peter saw my print from months ago of the Alpena unloading. He liked the picture. Sunday the Alpena was back in town so Peter could compose his own image. We have found that there are several 600+ foot Lake Freighters that regularly bring lime stone, taconite, cement and other bulk freight to Cleveland. Rarely a weekend goes by that some vessels are not visiting the flats. That ought to put a curse on the 17-19th.

Come to the event and make you own pictures.

John
View attachment 67627

Excellent work, John!

 

[Dan Henderson]

Peter and I have been shooting quite often down in the flats for about a year. Dale, Shawn and Peter have posted pictures of some of their favorite places. You can see we have some wonderful locations to shoot. Thanks to Peter’s generously scanning a few of my prints I can now start to add some of mine. I hope others will post images from earlier NE OH Gatherings. Bethe, how about some from the Ohio Farm Museum?

One of the ships that comes to Cleveland quite often is the Alpena. She was built in 1943 and as I understand it, brings liquid cement from MI to a concrete plant here in the flats. Honestly I am not sure whether cement is a component of concrete or the other way around. With all the highway bridge building going on, the Flats must be a high volume cement customer.

I discovered the Alpena on the IOS app described a few posts back. Saturday Peter saw my print from months ago of the Alpena unloading. He liked the picture. Sunday the Alpena was back in town so Peter could compose his own image. We have found that there are several 600+ foot Lake Freighters that regularly bring lime stone, taconite, cement and other bulk freight to Cleveland. Rarely a weekend goes by that some vessels are not visiting the flats. That ought to put a curse on the 17-19th.

Come to the event and make you own pictures.

John
View attachment 67627

A beautiful portrait of a lovely old laker, John. One of the few things I miss about living in Holland is no longer getting to watch the freighters in the harbor there. My favorite was always the Joseph H. Frantz, one of the classic forward pilot house Great Lakes Freighters, as is the Alpena. The Frantz used to haul coal into Holland Harbor often. I saw her a few years ago going through the Soo Locks under a foreign flag, then later on over in Port Colborne, Ontario as she was being scrapped. Such an ignominious end for a lovely lady of the lakes.

 

[jp80874]

Thank you both. I can’t think of two friends whose work I respect more. That is a very nice compliment.

When I saw on the app that the Alpena had arrived I rushed over there to set up. I use the term “rushed” loosely. My average first shot takes about an hour. There were four seniors standing around with old 35mm cameras in worn leather cases snapping quick ones. One came over to tell me all about the Alpena. “She is the oldest freighter on the Great Lakes, built 100 years ago, etc.” I may have looked strangely, because the app gives her year built as 1943. I am older than that. This is pretty old for a Laker, because their life is pretty rough with as little maintenance as possible, but 100 years she is not. Later Google said that there was an side wheeler freighter called Alpena built 100 years ago, but either they had made a nice conversion or this was a newer version. You know those older photographers tend to boast and can be pretty unreliable.

John

 

[Robburrito]

The gentleman had the Alpena mixed up with another cement carrier, the St. Mary's Challenger, which actually is 106 years old and still in service. But that ship stays over on Lake Michigan and very very rarely travels to the other lakes. I love shooting the lake freighters but the Alpena is one that has always eluded me.

 

[Robburrito]

Also Hello, my name is Rob, I shoot a number of different things but at the moment I am heaviest into instant films, Fuji packfilm in a Polaroid 110B conversion camera. Plus a lot of medium format in a number of different things, folding cameras, 6x6 SLR, rangefinder. I'm kinda all over the place

 

[jp80874]

The gentleman had the Alpena mixed up with another cement carrier, the St. Mary's Challenger, which actually is 106 years old and still in service. But that ship stays over on Lake Michigan and very very rarely travels to the other lakes. I love shooting the lake freighters but the Alpena is one that has always eluded me.

Robburrito will you be joining us?

We have seen the Alpina a few times, but I don't have access to her schedule. It is regular because that whole fascility to the left of the ship in the picture is for unloading her. Virtually every weekend since we discovered this app there have been 600 foot freighters in Cleveland, some going way up the crooked river. How they get around these bends is really amazing, some times involving a tug, but most go with just thrusters. Nicely they have to go slow enough for 1 or 2 second exposures around the bends. To me what is interesting is how far out of whack they throw the scale of things; big ship, small tug, tight corners, low bridges, the communication between the ships and the lift bridges. 100 car trains stop to let the ships pass under a bridge. It has become a major part of this year's 7x17 photo series for me.

John

PS

As I write there are two ships in Cleveland:
Calumet, 192 meters
Lee A Tregurtha, 237 meters

and the Sam Laud, 194 meters, passing Detroit on her way to Cleveland in the morning

 

[Dan Henderson]

John: If you have not already, you might try the Boatnerd website. The amateur spotters who send in reports seem to keep a pretty keen eye on where ships are in the Lakes.

 

[Axle]

The site I use for tracking boats is this one: http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/

 

[rbender]

Very nice print John! Perfect use of the frame.

Look forward to seeing it and the rest of the crew in May.

 

[jp80874]

John: If you have not already, you might try the Boatnerd website. The amateur spotters who send in reports seem to keep a pretty keen eye on where ships are in the Lakes.

It is funny. About last October, Peter and I were shooting every Sunday because I had been chased off work sites on weekdays and sometimes they work over time on Saturdays. Dolly and I had just gotten an IPad. I found we were Googling much more with that than we ever had with PCs.

I searched on “what ships are in the port of Cleveland?” Boatnerd came up. That led to http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/. Thanks Axle.

That led to AIS’ apps for IOS, IPhone and IPad. That is how I got there.

I usually check the night before a shoot, then the morning before I leave for the Flats and during the day of a shoot to see if any in port ship is moving to a place where I have access and light at that time of day. Some of the ships go to one place, others delivering limestone seem to anchor off whisky island, then unload south of whisky island. I can’t get there, then go way up river where we can go. Often if the timing is right we can catch the ship being pulled around bends in the river, going under bridges. It is all very interesting if you are into this sort of thing. Rocks and roots it is not.

 

[jp80874]

Very nice print John! Perfect use of the frame.

Look forward to seeing it and the rest of the crew in May.

Thanks Robert. I really liked your two series last year. I hope you have new stuff to see in May.

 

[jp80874]

There are an amazing number of abandoned buildings in the Flats, some really ugly, but some with fantastic architectural detail. This is the lower two floors of the Armory taken from the lift bridge a ¼ mile downstream from Collision Bend. Isn’t that a name to push your imagination? The intense late morning sun causes very high contrast negatives and the stone work to just sparkle.

 

[rbender]

Another nice one... How long of a drive is it from your house to the flats?

Darkroom has been up and running for awhile, will have some new stuff.

 

[jp80874]

Another nice one... How long of a drive is it from your house to the flats?

Darkroom has been up and running for awhile, will have some new stuff.

Thanks Robert. I really respect your work. Glad to know the darkroom is functioning and there is more good work in the pipe.

This is just some of the variety in the Flats. Commute time depends on the day and time. If I am planning to meet Peter Sunday at 9:00 AM I leave the house about 8:15- 8:30. He is always late. I never go more than +5 the speed limit because the whole route north of the turnpike is a radar trap, just different communities meeting budget.

By the way, Peter knows lots of good places for lunch.

It is really fun shooting with someone who has similar interests, a good eye and yet shoots a different format. We feed off each other's ideas. One never takes from the other because of the different formats. The sum here is greater than the parts.

 

[jp80874]

I check the marine app every Friday night just to see what the weekend might bring to the Flats.

In port:
Sea Eagle II, pusher tug, 164m, brings liquid cement to another factory up stream. See cell phone photo



Sam Laud, 194m, limestone, way upstream
Ohio, 33m tug
Nancy Ann, tug, no length given
Kathy Lynn, tug, 26m
Dorothy Ann Pathfinder, 215m, anchored off port, usually carries limestone.
Coast Guard, Neah Bay, tug 13m
Aura, tug

Expected:
Tonight, Manitowoc, no measure given, but looks to be 200m bulk carrier bringing limestone to Cleveland.
Tomorrow, Buffalo, 194m, coming through locks at Sault St. Marie, probably carrying taconite for the steel mills
Tomorrow, American Courage, 188m, off Saginaw Bay probably carrying taconite for the steel mills.

Just another day in crummy old Cleveland where nothing interesting ever passes before my camera. Come to the gathering and lets see what is in town that weekend, probably nothing.

Sorry. Either I have a stereo phone camera or my finger stuttered.

 

[jp80874]

The Flats is an area of contrasts. Sunday mornings when Peter and I usually shoot it is deserted, no people in sight. There is always an undercurrent of business. The ships come and go. There is a warehouse district. Huge tank trucks rumble down the potholed streets. There is a remarkable amount of protection. When you realize how often Police cars pass, you realize why it is best to photograph in pairs, especially if one of you will be under a dark cloth. Protection has a silver lining. One day I passed the fire station just as they started to test the fireboat tug. It took a little fast exploring to find a shooting point, but here is another aspect of the Flats.

 

[jp80874]

Peter Spangeberg has set up a fantastic page on Facebook with pictures he has taken in the Cleveland Flats. Though we have often been shooting side by side I am really impressed with how different and good his work is relative to what I have seen. I always used to shoot alone but Peter has shown me some wonderful views and compositions. Thank you Peter.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?...6636590.138361.100000156402186&type=1&theater

John P

 

[jp80874]

Perhaps this image sums up the range of scale you will find on any foggy day in the Crocked River. The only thing missing is the single man rowing shell I saw go by while I was taking another picture.

John

 

[ic-racer]

Perhaps this image sums up the range of scale you will find on any foggy day in the Crocked River. The only thing missing is the single man rowing shell I saw go by while I was taking another picture.

John

View attachment 68088

Love it! That subject matter is great for that camera!

 

[jp80874]

Thanks Dale.

Should you or anyone else want to shoot from this vantage point, I was at the bridge end, the outside of the river curve, toward Hooples, a tavern at 1930 Columbus Rd. , corner of Columbus and Franklin, in the Flats. Columbus Rd. runs across the bridge and its east end is at a Sunoco station near the Flat Iron Tavern where five of us met for lunch last event.

Use the marine app mentioned earlier to figure out when the ship or ships are coming. It only shows the ship’s path to that minute. You have to guess where it is going, and when, mostly by its cargo and other traffic in the river. Because of Collision Bend the captains know not to try and pass two moving ships in opposite direction. Another approach is to ask the bridge operator. Before I found the app, Peter and I asked different bridge operators when a ship was coming. They knew because they had to raise or turn the bridge. Most of the time they don’t have anything to do. The ones we have talked to were very helpful. I am sure there is always one grump.

John

 

[jp80874]

I spent the day cleaning up, doing the first grass mowing, then repairing the tractor. Dolly, the Girls and I walked down to dolly’s mother’s house, about a half mile round trip. The trees were just coming into bloom. I wanted to mention that down the driveway may be some interesting shots for our guests. There is a large old barn that Dolly’s mother bought, tore apart with two day laborers, numbered each part and reassembled in the early 1970s. There are several out buildings that are falling apart and about 90 acres of walking about, should you be interested. The camp ground is dry with nice lush grass. Lets hope we don’t have two weeks of rain. We are looking forward to you all coming. The place will be as nice as we can make it. We hope you will come and enjoy.

Poor old Savannah, the oldest of our Girls, is now 13.5. Please be careful of her. She trips over herself, but will want to welcome or challenge each guest. A friendly hand and word will make all three happy. Do watch your step. This is a dog world. That is how the grass gets green and lush.

Welcome.

John, Dolly and the Girls

 

[jp80874]

Rocks & Roots Restaurant Change

As many as five of us have met at Nelson Kennedy Ledges, roughly an hour east of here for early morning hikes and shoots. On a great suggestion from Peter’s wife we went to a delicious place called Randall’s in Garrettsville, OH for lunch.

Today, Saturday, Dolly went to a writer’s lecture at the library in Garrettsville. We tried Randall’s for Saturday lunch and found it closed even though the hours posted said it should be open. His garish looking motorcycle was parked in the owner’s slot. The doors were locked and the lights were out.

We found a pretty good substitute a couple of blocks away that will keep you from starving. Sean’s Pub and Eatery, 8105 Main St., is a tavern from the 1800s with 10x10 posts and beams. Good food was in abundance. Not the exotic stories of Randall’s, but a good meal.

While Dolly was at the lecture I went up to Middlefield to the Amish Cheese Co-op. The extra sharp white cheddar is very good. Driving through Middlefield on the way back I saw a personal first, a Wal-Mart with 15 Amish buggies hitch to a rail along the side. There is a picture there I am sure.

John

 

[djkloss]

is there a photorama on the 19th? I'd be very interested in going to that. Any other takers?

 

[jp80874]

is there a photorama on the 19th? I'd be very interested in going to that. Any other takers?

The notice on their website, Photorama.com, is that the show is canceled. Sorry.

I didn't get a postcard. I wasn't even aware that it was scheduled.

John

 

[Peter Spangenberg]

John's prints are MUCH better than the scans. He showed me a couple this morning while we were in the Flats shooting, and they were amazing. A Van Dyoke Brown and a silver print. He makes it look too easy. John also had a more productive day shooting, but at least it all ended with a good meal.