Tuesday, January 10, 2017

Cloudy morning at Big Sandy harbor


This morning I was in the Kenova WV area. The park at the mouth of the Big Sandy River was closed, so I figured I would make a quick jaunt over to Catlettsburg KY to see if I could get any boat pictures. I did get a few.

There was the Marathon boat M/V Cincinnati.


 And some more Marathon boats. I think the two in front are the Catlettsburg and the Marathon, but I can't be sure.


The Michael D.


The Les Grimm tied up over at South Point OH.


And this one whose name I should know but escapes me at the moment.


There were others, but these were the best shots available. I went there looking for a boat with a loaded coal barge, but none were around. It was a decent morning anyway.


Ektachrome returns

I remember the first roll of Ektachrome I shot. It was early 1977, and I loved it. Some of the pictures were taken at the Gallipolis Locks and Dam, and others were taken along Ohio Route 7 in that area. I have several dozen rolls of Ektachrome and Kodachrome slides in my house. Some of them might be fading, but some are still great.

Now Kodak says it is bringing back Ektachrome before the end of this year. I have an old manual film camera that still works. Two, if the Nikon FM2 does not have the light leak that I think it has. Maybe I will try a roll when it comes out.

I'm looking for some scanned photos from that first roll, but they're not on this computer. Here instead is one taken on the West Virginia side of the Gallipolis locks on July 4, 1985. Except for the cropping and the credit line, the photo is pretty much how it scanned, warts and all.


The boat is the Warren, which later ended up on land at the Tri-State Fire Academy here in Huntington. It was used for firefighting training in confined spaces for several years until those fires took their toll on its steel. The Warren was demolished a couple of years ago.

The beach is gone. Three or four years after this was taken, the beach was removed to make way for the new lock canal at what is now officially known as the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam. The beach was a popular place for fishing, some of which included overnight camping. It was a nice place to visit.

Will I try Ektacrhome? Maybe not. Once you pay for the camera, pixels are free, and film costs money to buy and develop. Let's see what the pricing is before we commit to anything. But it would be fun to experiment with, for old time's sake if nothing else.