I'm a wannabe photographer, not a jumper

Perhaps it was inevitable. I mean, who goes up on a bridge over the Ohio River just to get pictures of towboats passing downtown Huntington, W.Va.?

I went up on the 6th Street bridge today to see if I could get something good of the Darrell L., which was downbound with 18 empty coal barges. It wasn't an oversize tow, as most of the barges were what I think they used to call stumbo barges -- as long as a jumbo but as narrow as a standard. As I was walking down off the bridge toward downtown Huntington, a police car came by, and the officer inside rolled down his passenger side window. He asked how I was doing. Fine, I said. I was up on the bridge getting photos of a towboat going by.

The officer said someone had called in to report a jumper. Not me, I said. He said he had to check it out. I said I understood. He asked my name. I told him.

So he went on, and I did, too. I waved at the two guys in the firetruck behind him.

So much excitement (?), and not much photographically from walk up on the bridge (and 25 cents in a parking meter).

However, I did a few decent shots when the boat was up the river going under Huntington's East End bridge and headed downriver. Here are three.