Missed Photo Opportunities

[atwater_boatnerd]

Two I can think of from last year alone. First, both the Alpena and Herbert C Jackson were in Milwaukee’s inner harbor at the same time last August. While I was able to get photos of both, I missed the chance to get the two in the same picture when the Alpena departed late morning. Second, missed the Oberstar when she took a brief weather delay also in Milwaukee inner harbor last November. I was actually in Duluth at the time, which unlike Milwaukee, is a place I might expect to see the Oberstar.

[Denny]

A couple more of my missed opportunities with the Soo hence I call it the Soo Camera jinx! Another Engineers Day I was at the Soo right at the start when the St. Clair ironically was coming in. I got one or two photos then my camera quit! Perfect timing then huh? Well I found out that the power on my zoom lens what shot! So, naturally I panicked got my folks all upset didn’t know what to do? Later on though, I found out I could take photos with my camera and zoom manually instead of automatic then. Point is, out of all that at least I got photos of it all. Another one worse than that happened at the Soo. I was taking photos of the ships when my aperture went out as usual always at the Soo. I tried to load other rolls of film with no luck. My folks were away from town at the time. Point is, I took my camera to a repair place but it would take a long time to fix. Needing a new camera right away, I had no choice but to buy a new one. Although I missed a few boats, at least I got a new camera not the way I wanted and planned but at least I was back in business then anyway.

[Ohio Bob]

I was trying to get photos of the St. Clair tow out of Toledo. For those that know the area, there really is not a good vantage point. The best scenario was hiking out the peninsula by Cullen Park in Toledo. It started off as a nice mulched path, then turn to gravel, then stone, then rock, then boulder. Not to be outdone the flora decided to kick in with some underbrush, then thicker growth, then fallen trees, then an outright jungle! by the time I made it out to the point with my dog (Yes - she wanted to come along!) I had burned up all of my lunch hour plus and had to head back. Almost 2 hours of climbing and fighting for nothing (but a story).

[Denny]

Oh Yeah Guest as I’ve had a few of those moments too as I’m sure we’ve all had! Don’t mean to go off topic here too much but, I’ve had more than my share of camera issues at the Soo. Once, I took 20-30 rolls of film in for developing. Later they said “Blank negatives nothing on them!” For years I struggled to find why this happened and asked everyone and nobody knew? Come to find out years later, I found from folks here it was a stuck shutter. I never knew that one! Then on Engineers Day it rained once. So, I’m out in the rain getting photos and of course I’m all wet from the rain along with my camera. Point is, later on it damaged that roll of film thus I never got my photos from Engineers Day. Lucky for me though a close friend was there too and he sent me extras he took. That helped!

[Dawn]

Absolutely! Several years ago, I photographed Lee A. loading at the Marquette ore dock one afternoon, intending to go back for a long desired nighttime shot. Either she loaded faster than I expected or I waited too long. Regardless, she was gone when I got back to the ore dock. I still hope to get that nighttime picture, eventually.

[Guest]

In seeing all of the amazing images of ships that have been catpured by various photographers I was wondering if anyone has ever regretted a missed opportunity? One that stands out to me was not taking a picture of the Edward L. Ryerson as it was downbound on Lake Nicolet in the St. Marys River approaching Dunbar Park during the 1997 shipping season. This was on a beautiful summer morning and I held off on taking the shot as I was low on film with the camera's counter indicating I only had three frames left and I wanted to get some shots of the Ryerson entering the Rock Cut. Unfortunately, after getting the three shots at the Rock Cut, I learned there was enough film for a 37 shot exposure on that particular 36 shot roll of Kodachrome. In the nearly 25 years since this happened, I still regret not taking the chance of only having two frames left at the Rock Cut as the combination of the Ryerson's colors and the soft blues of the river and sky made for an unforgettable setting. In the relatively short period of time it took for the Ryerson to reach the Rock Cut, the lighting had changed ever so slightly and I was unable to capture the soft blues that were present just minutes before.