Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Bye-bye, 2014


My most popular river picture of 2014.

This was probably my most popular Ohio River photo of 2014.



I posted it on my personal Facebook page, and three people shared it. One of those people was Captain David Smith of Catlettsburg, Ky. When he shared it, lots of other people did, too. I lost count because I could not access them all to see how many people picked it up from there.

Here is the story behind the picture. That morning, I had to take time off from my usual method of attempting to earn money because there was no one left to watch my 20-month-old granddaughter. But that allowed me the opportunity to run up to the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam and wait for the W.P. Snyder Jr., the J.S.Lewis and the Bus Brown to come down the river. I phoned Brian Patterson at Amherst Madison to make sure I wasn't too late, and he assured me I should be able to see the boat exit the locks downbound on its way to Louisville.

I did get some pictures, and as I was about to leave, Brian called to tell me the pilot of the Lewis wanted to put the boat through some poses so I could get a good picture. Wow. So with a 20-month-old girl with a 20-month-old girl's ADHD and inability to remember simple commands after five seconds, I managed to get some decent shots. With some shots down by the river, I had to hold her in my left arm while shooting one-handed with my right hand. When I wasn't holding her, I had to keep one eye on her constantly, of course, while using the other to compose pictures. As it turns out, she loved running up and down the rough concrete paths leading down to the river. She also liked climbing on the riprap, but I couldn't allow that. At least, not that day.

Ever since, she will bring my camera bag to me every now and then and say, "Boat." I will show her a picture of the Snyder on the memory card, and she will be satisfied. Plus the room she sleeps in while she's at my house is the same one Adam had once, and two walls have towboat pictures on them. Every now and then she wants me to hold her so she can look at the pictures. I guess that day my family gained another river fan, much to my daughter's displeasure.

P.S. I posted several pictures of the Snyder from that day here.

P.P.S. And I owe Mr. Patterson some pictures from that day, too. I had better get on that.