I went to two places this morning to take a few film pics. Both places ended up kinda sucky. First was a frozen Forrest Lake. It was 8:00am, less than an hour after sunrise, and the light on the ice was kinda cool, but it just felt weird. There were a handful of people there bitching loudly about yesterday’s Patriots game. I felt weird standing there taking pictures of nothing while they were hanging out. I wasn’t anywhere near them but it was still strange.
The second spot was a public parking lot that only holds about eight cars right next to the Spicket River, which is very high right now, across the street from the top of the Spicket Falls Dam. There was nothing to see there though. I took a couple of pictures of the buildings across the river reflecting in the water. Maybe one will look okay? Doubtful though.
All in all, kind of a waste. I might try again tomorrow though if I can get out a few minutes earlier. This sort of thing is easier and better when the sun comes up before 6:00am rather than after 7:00am. I didn’t take the point and shoot though, so I don’t have anything for the photo a day yet. I’ll get something. Where’s the cat?
I took the car back to Valvoline today to see if they might have messed something up on yesterday’s oil change. They said everything looked okay but they drained and refilled it anyway. My cynical side wonders if that means they did find something but didn’t want to tell me. Probably not.
The oil pressure light was off when I started the car but I expected that. We had been driving around looking at lights for quite a while before it popped on last night and the engine was nice and hot, whereas this morning it was bellow freezing. I drove around for a while after leaving the shop just to see if warming it up would trip the light again. It did not. Is the car clear to give to Bellana? No clue, but we’ll do it and see what happens.
I made a couple of stops along the way. I stopped at the Spicket dam and took some film pics. I also stopped at St Mary’s Cemetery and took a few more. I might have actually been in Bellevue Cemetery though. I’m not sure where one ends and the other starts. I also stopped at Goodwill and dropped off a bag of jackets. The winter jacket I replaced the other day was in the bag. The leather jacket Jen bought me for Christmas in 2007 that I still wore all the time even though it was pretty ratty and the lining was falling apart was in the bag as well. I was sad to let that one go. The sentimental value of a gift from our first christmas together is very high, but I asked her if I should donate it or keep it and she voted for donate, so off it went.
As for fun with film, I took my camera and Dad’s 50mm lens. I want to bring that pairing to Disney but I feel I need to test it a lot first. I learned quite a bit today. First, the viewfinder gets REALLY dim when the aperture is small. I started at f5.6 and it was okay. I bumped it up to f11 at one point and I could barely see anything. I took to opening it all the way, f2, to focus, then closing it down to take the photo. That brings up the second issue: Focusing is a royal bitch. That’s a problem with manual lenses on all cameras, but it seemed especially difficult for me today. I hope I got things right, but it was a bit of a struggle for my old-person-eyes. Speaking of old person eyes, I can barely read the light meter on that camera. Dad’s camera has an arrow that moves around as you change the shutter speed or the aperture. When it points to the middle of the meter you’re good. My camera has an arrow that points to the shutter speed you need to use based on the aperture setting. It’s almost impossible for me to read the values. My eyes just don’t want to make it out, and it’s worse when the viewfinder dims. I eventually switched to the Auto setting, which is just Aperture Priority. I am thinking that’s what I’ll do at Disney. My manual film camera suddenly isn’t as appealing in full manual. It’s cool though, I can still go manual like crazy with the DSLR.
I did not finish the roll of film in the camera, so I will need to take it out again before I can send it out for developing. I think I have eight or nine shots left. It’s hard to tell exactly. Maybe the cat will come out and say hello and I’ll sneak in another pic of two.
I also had my digital point and shoot with me so here are some driving around picture. Enjoy!
The Clock
I never even noticed this place before. Is it really ye olde town hall, or was Broadway (route 28) just formerly known as Town Hall Place? Whatever, it’s photo a day 109/365.
The glory and grandeur that is the Nevins Library.
Stop Light Theater: Red Edition
Stop Light Theater: Green Edition
This liquor store wall will eventually end up on film. I promise.
Salem, NH’s great big honkin’ flag.
And that, friends is the story of the oil light. I hope you enjoyed your stay today. Come back any time.
The clock in the center of town, as seen through my windshield and taken with my iPhone 14 Pro Max:
The same clock, taken with my Nikon D90 in Auto mode, pointed through the passenger door window and snapped without looking while stopped at a light right next to it.
And there you have it… two views of The Clock. I hope you enjoyed that. Please remember to tip your waitress. I’ll be here all week.
Methuen has had a recycling pick up for as long as we’ve been living here (I think). I’ve never really participated. They changed the trash pickup process on us last week and it includes a huge recycling barrel. Okay. I’m buying in now. So much so that we have a recycling barrel in the mudroom, right near our regular trash barrel.
I’m home again. We’ve added putting together a pre-fab TV stand that we bought a few weeks ago but we’re planning on returning to my to do list.
The traffic was nuts out there today. I failed on one of my errands, but completed the other, and I got to see mom on her birthday. The visit was a bit on the rough side, emotionally speaking, but I’m glad it happened.
Obligatory Methuen Center pics, both coming and going…
Hello and welcome to the third and final post dealing with pictures I took this morning. This time we returned to Raymond J Martin Riverside Park on Riverside Drive in Methuen, MA. The last time I came here it was with my Nikon film camera, also known as the ebay camera. Today it was all digital, babie. Nikon D90 like a boss from 2010.
When I first arrived the water was perfectly still. It was like a mirror, except for the mist. I am so happy most of my shots came out okay. At first I couldn’t figure out what the two crossed lines in the water were, but then I realized they were reflections of the contrails in the sky. Awesome.
Dig that crazy mist!
This one is a little crooked. I was leaning over trying to get under the tree and I should have just used the LCD screen. Oh well.
Ducks! Even though they ruined the perfectly still water. Still, ducks!
Now we come to the lesson part of our journey. Using Manual mode instead of Auto means that when things come out of the blue you can’t just point and shoot. You have to set things up. When I suddenly saw a mist-spiral cruising along the top of the water I had to be quick, but in Manual I wasn’t quite quick enough and this is the best I could get. Had I been in Auto I would have nailed this before it hit the trees. This is the best I could do under the circumstances, I guess.
I was trying to get another misty shot but the birds flew in out of nowhere and it looks like they were the point all along.
Just look at that!
I wish I had the polarizing filter. I would have seen right through that glare to the bottom of the river.
I need to find out what that building across the water is. Pretty sure that’s Andover, MA.
Did Robert use exposure compensation on this puppy? Yes, Robert did use exposure compensation. Almost like he knows what he’s doing, babie!
Album cover?
No, this is the album cover.
I took a few of the park itself too, including some pics of the places I got all of the previous views.
Blurry background AND blurry foreground. Nice.
Gazebo pic #1.
Obligatory flag pole pic.
Gazebo pic #2.
Warning!
And that, friendly readers, brings my three part post journey to an end for today. If the weather holds I might do my original idea of visiting three bodies of water in Tewksbury tomorrow. Long Pond, the Shawsheen River, and Ames pond. We’ll see. Tewksbury is only 15 minutes away but it seems like a long drive for some just-after-sunrise goofiness. I haven’t checked the weather since last night. If it holds, I might give it a shot. I’ll let you know.
Part two of this morning’s photo adventure is Forrest Lake. I’ve been here a few times and the pictures always disappoint me. Not today. Not really, at least.
There were a lot of people at the boat launch area so I walked a little toward the closed beach to keep plenty of social distance. The mist coming off the lake made the stop worthwhile.
Dig how still the water was.
Is it really a lake, or is it more like a pond. Seems pond-esque to me, but what do I know?
The public beach closed at the end of August.
Dig that crazy mist.
I should have brought my polarizing filter but it doesn’t fit on the lens I was using.
Next stop is the final stop, at the Merrimack River.
Inside the Red Head's Head 