Two boats

This afternoon I had to go into town, and while I was there I saw two boats passing Huntington.

First was the Paul G. Blazer upbound. I rarely see this boat around here.

Second was the Mae Etta Hines.

As I looked at the nameboard, I had the terrible idea that maybe someone whose daughter was born in the town at the mouth of the Muskingum River in Ohio might name here after the city of her birth: Mary Etta. Okay, bad pun. But it's the kind of thing that goes through my head.

Crounse Week, Day 7: Favorite photos

Seven is a good number. So let's end Crounse Week with seven of my favorite photos of Crounse boats, barges and employees.

First, here's one from earlier in the year. The time of day gives the best light for shooting, and a boat was coming my way. The guy on the barge casting his shadow made it that much better.

This next one is taken at a favorite spot, but not at a particularly good time of year for getting boat pictures.

The problem here is the background. I like hills that are covered in green leaves. The brown, lifeless look here does nothing to excite me. If there were snow on the hills, the picture would look better, except that I lost my love of snow a long time ago, when I started driving.

Here's another one from that cold day in December we talked about two days ago.

I like the stillness of the water, the reflection, the light and something else that I can't describe.

Even in winter, somebody's got to mop the boat or souge the boat or whatever they call it, as this guy is doing on the Jackie Englert.

As mentioned yesterday, taking pictures of towboats in the middle of the day usually involves dealing with a lot of light bouncing of large expanses of white metal, but not in this case. Here's the Donna York exiting the Kanawha River and heading down the Ohio.

I like this one because of the colors.

I was crossing a bridge at Huntington in the rain when I saw the Jean Akin upbound pushing 15 loads of coal. The rain enhanced the color of the barges, so I knew I had to make it up to the next bridge and wait in the rain if necessary to get the overhead shot. Lucky for me the rain stopped so I didn't have to hold the camera with one hand and an umbrella in the other.

Finally, I'm not the best nighttime photographer by any means. Add to that the fact my camera is not the best in low light. But I like shooting boats as day turns to dusk and dark. Here's the Yvonne Conway heading up the Ohio at the right time of day.

I like how the angle makes the lights on the stern look like they're casting little hearts. Aww.

And that's about it for Crounse Week. It's been fun. Thanks for reading.