#merrimack-river — Public Fediverse posts

Photos: The Next Generation (Film Edition)

I put up a post the other day with some photos I took when I went to the ocean and Plum Island. At the time I said there would be a film edition of the post to follow and this is it.

Sort of.

I shot two full rolls of film. One 35mm and one 120. I also finished off the last few shots from an old roll of 35mm. I got them all developed and the scans came back the other day and last night I uploaded them all to Flickr and now it’s time for another post here.

Sort of. I am saving the 120 shots for another post. These are just 35mm pics. I’m also thinking of trying to sort of mirror the previous post. This plan probably won’t last for long, but let’s see.

The sunrise view sort of sucked, but I got a little glimpse of it. This is my Nikon FG-20 shooting my first ever roll of Lomography 800. I like the way the sun flares. At least the tiny bit of the sun we could actually see.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259853513/in/album-72177720333420003

I think my plan to follow the first post is already dead… maybe not. I think this is from Salisbury Beach but I’m not sure. This is from my Pentax K1000 shooting Kentmere 400.

(note: on second look, I’m pretty sure this is Hampton Beach when the digital post was still at Salisbury Beach. Let’s not worry about that now though)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259969154/in/album-72177720333420003

This next picture is crap, but speaking of sun flares! Woah!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259947719/in/album-72177720333420003

Here’s one that I took on both film and digital. I can’t tell which is better. Maybe the film?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259947629/in/album-72177720333420003

Another that I can’t tell whether it is better or worse than the digital version. This was with a 50mm lens and the digital was with an 85mm so the crop is different. Is crop the right word? I don’t think so.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259853678/in/album-72177720333420003

The digital version of this is way better. Oh well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55258815672/in/album-72177720333420003

Shooting black and white at the beach seems sort of silly, but I kinda dig it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259874793/in/album-72177720333420003

That moment when the sun came out… nice.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259853758/in/album-72177720333420003

I thought maybe the light was better at this spot when I was shooting film than it was for digital. Maybe not.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259874823/in/album-72177720333420003

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant. Please don’t explode, m’kay?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55260133470/in/album-72177720333420003

For the birds, at Hampton Beach.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55260112620/in/album-72177720333420003

More birds. I don’t think I have enough bird-centric film pics to stay on track with the previous digital post. Sorry.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259947814/in/album-72177720333420003

Plum Island airport.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55258815817/in/album-72177720333420003

Why do I always stop here on the way out to the lighthouse? I haven’t a clue.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259947914/in/album-72177720333420003

The Merrimack River from Plum Island.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259947944/in/album-72177720333420003

Dig that blue water.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55259947959/in/album-72177720333420003

And by this point both 35mm cameras were out of film and I was not going to take the time to reload so this is where this post ends. There will be another post from this day that will have the 120 film shots. That’s going to be grouped with some pics I took in Boston last week. I’ll explain later.

Photos

It’s been a while but I did something mildly creative this morning. Not really, but a little bit.

For the first time since August I filled up a back pack with cameras and went outside a-shootin’. Digital, film, the works.

More often than not when I start feeling the photo-takin’ need I head to the ocean at sunrise. That’s what I did today. As sunrises go it sort of blew chunks. The forecast I read last night said it would be clear skies at sunrise today. It was not. Not even close. There was a little gap between the horizon and the cloud cover that sort of let me see the sun when it rose, but it was a pretty underwhelming view. Thanks to our friend the Nikon Z5 with the cheap-ish 85mm Chinese made lens I can show you what I’m talking about…

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242277189/in/album-72177720333420003/

At least the waves looked cool. They were about as high as this little corner of the Atlantic Ocean gets.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242042321/in/album-72177720333420003

There’s our friend, Mr Sun. It was trying its best to break through.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242277649/in/album-72177720333420003

My sunrise stop this morning was at Salisbury Beach which is on the Massachusetts side of the state line. I was planning on starting at Hampton Beach in New Hampshire, but I needed to stop for gas and I knew there were a few stations on the way to Salisbury so I wouldn’t have to go out of my way. Also, Salisbury is closer to home so it gave me more time to take care of things before the sun came up.

After a few minutes on the beach I wandered around the area a little bit looking for things to shoot… and I ended up more or less shooting the same things that I almost always shoot when I go there. Oh well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242185648/in/album-72177720333420003

Someday I will be there when these lights are actually on.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55241136417/in/album-72177720333420003

Artsy chair pic alert:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242279429/in/album-72177720333420003

Lame life preserver pic alert:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55241136747/in/album-72177720333420003

Every now and then the sun would break through the clouds and we’d get a few seconds of glorious golden hour light but the clouds kept getting in the way and blocking the sun. It was a little frustrating.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242043196/in/album-72177720333420003

After a few minutes of wandering around I got in the car and drove up to Hampton Beach. That’s two towns North across the New Hampshire state line. I stopped at a usual fishing boat view. Again, the sun kept breaking through and going away. I think I got some good light here using one of the film cameras, but not so much using the digital.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242186228/in/album-72177720333420003

As usual, let’s all say hello to the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plan before it blows up and melts everyone.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242186418/in/album-72177720333420003

Out on the beach itself, would it surprise anyone to learn that this pic was a total accident? It probably shouldn’t.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242278729/in/album-72177720333420003

The seagulls were my friends today. They mostly didn’t run away from me.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242187043/in/album-72177720333420003

Again, when the sun cooperated the view was fantastic.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242279654/in/album-72177720333420003

I left Hampton Beach and headed South to Plum Island to say hello to the Merrimack River and the Plum Island Lighthouse. I made the obligatory stop at the airfield as well.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242044771/in/album-72177720333420003

By this time the sky was pretty blue. The clouds were losing the battle.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242442925/in/album-72177720333420003

Is the water at Plum Island the bluest water on Earth? It’s gotta be in the running, right?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55241138947/in/album-72177720333420003

I mean… seriously… just look at that.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242045386/in/album-72177720333420003

I don’t know anything about this boat except that I shoot it every time I come here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242281674/in/album-72177720333420003

And in closing… the Plum Island Lighthouse… which has to be the most underwhelming lighthouse in the world. I mean it’s not even as tall as the trees that surround it. It’s also not even on the water. It’s a little ways down the street from the river. How effective can it be?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/55242190423/in/album-72177720333420003

There you have it. A few highlights from this morning’s wanderings. I also shot some film. I had a black and white roll in my FG-20 that was loaded back in August and still had a few shots left (Kentmere 400). Last night I put a roll of Lomography 800 into Dad’s K1000 and a roll of Kodak Gold 200 into my medium format camera. I finished all three rolls and mailed them off to the lab to get them developed. Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long to share the film version of this masterpiece of a post. Be on the lookout.

Will there be another photowalk tomorrow? Depends on the weather. I am off work again on Tuesday too so there could be something then, again if the weather cooperates. Hopefully it will be better than today but who knows.

It felt good to just go outside and shoot stuff, even if it was really cold on the water. Summer is coming. Maybe some day soon I’ll be able to repeat this experience without wearing a winter jacket. That would be sweet, huh?

Ducks

The cameras and I went out again this morning… and I think we’re going out again later today as well. We’ll see how things go between now and then.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54545361082/in/album-72177720326414589

#ducks #iphoneography #Massachusetts #MemorialDay #merrimackRiver #methuen #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photography #z5

Sunrise Fail

The forecast called for clear skies at Salisbury Beach at sunrise today. The forecast was wrong. I was there and I took a bunch of pictures, but the clouds covered the horizon and there was no photo of the sun coming out of the water. It was a wasted effort on that front, but I went to Plumb Island after and got a nice pic of the lighthouse.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54543753511/in/album-72177720326390739

When the sun eventually did break through, it made the Merrimack River look nice.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/54543940424/in/album-72177720326390739

#365 #365Challenge #365Project #lighthouse #Massachusetts #merrimackRiver #Nikon #nikonZ5 #photoADay #photoADayChallenge #photography #plumbIsland #river #z5

Icy river ❄️ #sceniclowell #lowellma #lowellphotographer #winter #merrimackriver

https://robshootsfilm.wordpress.com/2024/10/09/nerd/?page_id=1289

https://www.flickr.com/photos/robj_1971/53288073316/in/album-72177720301306543

https://robertjames1971.blog/2024/10/09/total-nerd/

#filmPhotography #KODAKCOLORPLUS200 #merrimackRiver #NewEngland #Nikkor3570AIS13345 #Nikon #nikonFg20 #photography

So, this means that the TIDE went upstream! That's pretty extreme! I've included a map to show how far the TIDE came in (relative to the ocean) - approximately 8.5 miles!!! The marker indicates where 85 Pleasant Valley Road is.

Nor'easter slams into Greater Newburyport [may be behind a paywall]

By Matt Petry and Dave Rogers Apr 4, 2024 Updated Apr 5, 2024

"'We had high water along Main Street at high tide, we had high water down in Pleasant Valley Road around No. 85, the road was closed because of the high water of high tides,' Nolan said."

https://www.newburyportnews.com/news/local_news/noreaster-slams-into-greater-newburyport/article_91cc7648-f287-11ee-9318-036157e0a2e0.html

#Massachusetts #NewHampshire #MerrimackRiver #NorthShore #ClimateChange #ExtremeWeather #ClimateCrisis #NewEngland

Last #coalburning power plant in #NewEngland set to close in a win for #environmentalists

by Michael Casey, March 28, 2024

BOSTON (AP) — "The last coal-fired power plant in New England, which had been the focus of a lawsuit and #protests, is set to close in a victory for #environmentalists.

"#GraniteShorePower said Wednesday it reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency to close the Merrimack Station in #NewHampshire by June 2028. As part of the deal, the company said the site will be turned into the state’s first #RenewableEnergyPark that host #solar power and battery storage systems. The company also said it would shutter Schiller Station in Portsmouth in December 2025. That facility, which is permitted to use oil, coal and biomass, has not operated for several years.

[...]

"The environmental groups claimed the plant draws about 287 million gallons (1.1 billion liters) of water per day from the Merrimack River, heats that water as a result of its cooling process, and then discharges the water back into the river at temperatures that often exceed 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

"#ClimateActivists also protested the plant and demanded its closure over concerns it is a major source of air pollution. In one incident, climate activists last year paddled canoes and kayaks down the Merrimack River to the plant site and were arrested after going onto the property."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/last-coal-burning-power-plant-in-new-england-set-to-close-in-a-win-for-environmentalists/ar-BB1kHzd8

#DirectAction #BiodiversityNecessityDefense #ClimateNecessityDefense #Activists #MerrimackRiver #MerrimackStation #SchillerStation #PortsmouthNH

(This bridge is pale green in sunlight. The installers ran through some really cool lighting modes when lights were first set up but they seem to have since settled to far more muted blues and purples.)

#bridges
#infrastructure
#lowell
#centralville
#merrimackriver
#liminality
#red

Boats on the Merrimack

https://robertjames1971.blog/2023/11/29/boats-on-the-merrimack-on-film/

#filmPhotography #KODAKCOLORPLUS200 #Massachusetts #merrimackRiver #NewEngland #Nikkor3570AIS13345 #Nikon #nikonFg20 #photography

A new addition to the #Riverwalk: #directory of other #newengland #historic #mills and #landmarks.

Fun fact: ancestors on my father's side of my family worked at #Amoskeag in #ManchesterNH, listed here on the upper left. #merrimackriver #merrimackriverwalk #greatdam #atlanticocean #lakewinnipesaukee #sign #sceniclowell #lowellma #millcity

Today's #Riverwalk was a potent reminder that it's unlikely I'll look back from my deathbed and wish I'd spent more time hunched over a desk inside working.

This #bird flew within ten feet of us, maybe less, and perched there long enough for me to switch to pro mode and play with the exposure on the phone camera to get the second shot. An experience.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoIiVfYOBvI/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

#riverhawk #river #merrimackriver #hawk #wildlife #lowellma #massachusetts #newengland