Alliance Park in Amesbury, MA

On the way back from the ocean this morning I stopped at a little park in Amesbury that I found by accident on a similar sunrise photo journey about a year ago. Again, I don’t like any of these. I feel sad. I did take some film shots though so maybe those will make me happy when I get the roll developed at some point in the next 100 years or so.

This is the Merrimack River.

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Ducks!
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This little river that dumps into the Merrimack is called the Powwow River, according to Google Maps.

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In closing, the little church across the street is nice too.

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Sunrise

I made it to Salisbury Beach this morning. I took a bunch of pics and I don’t like any of them. I had the ISO set way too high because I set it high when I’m at home and I always forget to lower it when I go outside. It ruined all of my long exposures. Blah.

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I think I prefer the 40mm lens to the 28mm lens for the sun itself, but the 28mm is better for the beach as a whole. That makes sense, right?

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I had the ND filter on for a lot of these. Not sure which pic is the first one after I took it off.

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From here on the ISO is set to 100 instead of 1600.

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Lowell

I said I was going to do it on Saturday and then didn’t.

I said I was going to do it on Sunday and then didn’t.

I didn’t say I was going to do it on Monday and then did it.

I took a couple of cameras out with me this morning. I went to downtown Lowell. Market Street, specifically. I walked from the parking garage to the train museum, shooting film the whole way. Then I turned around and went back, shooting digital the rest of the way.

I was going to stop at another place or two after I finished with that neighborhood, but the ticket machines in the parking garage were down and I couldn’t get out. I had to call their office for help, and while trying to move from one exit lane to the other I clipped a cement post and dented my car. I am so effin’ pissed at myself. I just went home.

Here are some pics.

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I still have about half a roll of black and white Kentmere 400 in my film camera. I need to finish that roll before Disney World so I can load it up with color film. Probably just cheap drugstore Fuji. I could shoot black and white at Disney World but that feels wrong. I need to go color. Assuming I am going to bring a film camera with me when we go. I am still undecided on that, but I am leaning toward bringing it.

Scenic Drives

I stumbled across this article today while perusing Google News on my lunch break:

10 Most Scenic Road Trips To Take In Massachusetts

So many good ideas on this list. The drives on the Cape and the Islands, and probably the one in Plymouth which is almost on the Cape, are not really doable because the traffic getting to them would be nightmarish. Maybe in the mid-late fall, but certainly not now at the end of the summer. The central and western MA drives could be interesting, but the ones that stood out to me were the two on the North Shore near the water.

I could go for either of those. In fact, I think a couple of my early morning photo-trips have actually touched on one of them. We have Labor Day weekend coming up in a few days and the weather forecast looks kinda decent. I doubt Jen and I would have the time for something like this, but maybe as we move out of summer into the fall some of these might be worth a look. Mohawk Trail is the only one we’ve done, I think, but that was years ago.

We’ll see what happens. We’re pretty busy people, you know? Also, if we’re going to road trip we should road trip up to Vermont to visit the kids. They are the biggest draw, you know what I mean?

Morning Photo Nerd

I made two photo stops today. I tried for three, but all of the parking lots near the riverwalk behind the Tsongas Arena in Lowell were blocked off and I just gave up.

I stopped along the train tracks near the old duck pond in Andover. I took a couple of digital and a couple of black and white film pics.

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Now that I have taken train track photos I feel like a real 21st century photography nerd. It’ll be more impressive when I get the film shots back, assuming they come out okay.

I was annoyed by my failure in Lowell so I took one of the Aiken Street bridge in auto mode while I was driving across. Take that, Lowell.

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Next stop was Riverside Park in Methuen. I was getting some Merrimack River shots today and there was nothing you could do about it, universe.

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There is a new little fishing dock at this park. It helped me get all artsy and nerdy. Blurry background, don’t you know.

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By this point both film cameras had run out of film. I now have three rolls ready for development. I will wait a few weeks before I send them out. I haven’t decided if I am bringing film to Disney World, but if I do I will bundle them all together. We’ll see what happens.

So… downtown Lowell tomorrow morning? Maybe.