Eating in car
Peter and I were once in Northampton at a stoplight and we noticed that the person driving the car next to us was eating a bowl of cereal while waiting for the light to change. She saw us looking at her and smiled sheepishly. / I walked by a car recently and saw this bowl on the front seat. Looks like they might have had some coffee too.
Day Peckinpaugh / Erie Canal
I was mostly crazed yesterday. Sometime over the weekend, I either lost, misplaced, or had stolen some important mail. I was preoccupied by it most of the day. So much so that at about 2 o’clock I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. For some reason, I decided to mess around with my web site instead. I had been wanting to update it fore a while, especially the projects page.
Several years ago, the New York State Museum rescued the Day Peckinpaugh from imminent scrapping. It was in Erie, PA, and by some miracle Craig Williams got a hold of it just before its demise. Most amazing was that he found someone who had actually worked on the ship while it was still an active hauler, and who knew his way around the engines. So they fired them up and started the journey from Erie to Waterford, NY.
The Peckinpaugh was built in 1921 and when it was retired in 1994, it was the last working freighter on the Erie Canal. I think I remember hearing that it was hauling concrete at that time.
I got the chance to be on her for much of the trip across New York State on the canal. It was late October / early November and the weather could not have been better. A really interesting group of people too.
John Callaghan was the skipper, and you can see by the concentration on his face that it was an intense job for him and his crew. The ship travelled mostly by her own power, but on occasion tug boats came in to help out.
So, at the end of the day, I still hadn’t found the mail, but at least I felt good about getting something productive done. To see more from the trip, check out the “projects” page of my main website (joncrispin.com) by clicking the link on the right (Jon’s main site).
Trees
Our house is surrounded by enormous white pines. Every once in a while, during a storm one of them falls down. Before I became a homeowner I used to love violent weather. Wind, lightening, heavy rains…the more the better. Waking up in the middle of the night with the wind is blowing like crazy isn’t so much fun when you are waiting to hear a loud crack and hoping that an eighty year old tree doesn’t land on your head. When our neighbor Ken decided to have a few of the larger pines around his house taken down, it seemed like a good idea to join in. We began talking to Leon and Shay this summer, and they encouraged us to wait until the winter to have the work done. They showed up Wednesday morning with a giant crane, a chipper, a tractor and lots of chain saws.
These are huge trees. I got no work done over the last two days, watching these guys work to take them down. Shay would clip his climbing harness into the ball of the crane, be raised three quarters of the way up the tree and attach one of these yellow chains to the trunk. He would then rappel down to about 50 feet off the ground and make a cut. The crane would support the weight of the tree and move it over the house to the driveway where it would be dragged to the street.
It is always interesting to watch people who are very good at what they do, and who seem to have lots of fun in the process. Shay was a rock climber when he was younger, and seems to be most comfortable flying around in the air. The crane guy told me that of all the tree climbers he worked with, Shay was at the top of the list.
What a great bunch of guys.
Justin McClintock
When I was in New York recently, I photographed Justin McClintock who works in theatre on and off Broadway. His latest project is Sister Act, which opens at The Broadway Theatre in a couple of months. He is a really nice guy and it was fun spending time with him.
Peter Carroll
Here’s Peter shooting an interview for the Tilghman waterman’s project. Each time we go back to the island we meet new people, but it is always nice to visit some of the folks we spent time with on the earlier shoots. We got the chance to see some of our favorites which was really nice.
Graham Sherwood
We are in the interview stage of the second Tilghman’s Island project. The people down here are so warm and welcoming, and it is cool to hear them talk about their lives living and working on the Bay. Since I was delayed in coming down here by the weather, Peter spent the day on Wednesday setting up the location. As usual, he did an incredible job getting it to look just right. I am so used to shooting people with available light that when I shoot with his set-up, it feels a bit like cheating.
Grand Central Station
I like taking Metro North into New York as opposed to Amtrak since the New Haven line goes into Grand Central and Amtrak goes into Penn Station. I know this shot is a bit of a cliché, but I love it anyway. What a place.
Beach
A very quiet day today. Still recovering a bit from flu and the 18 hour drive, but this is the place to do it.
Fenway
Every year around this time, Peter and I drive into Boston. Our first stop is Fenway. We park on Yawkey Way (there is always a spot) and walk around the perimeter of the park. It is always a bit odd to be there in the off season, especially with lots of snow on the ground from the storm earlier this week. We start by heading East on Yawkey and then around to Lansdowne. This year we spotted the entrance to the Bleacher Bar, which is actually inside the building, just under the center field bleachers. It is a really nice smallish pub that was mostly empty. A nice time for an early Guinness for me and a lime and soda for Peter. It was a great day to be together.
C.C.
Knowing how to refer to the children of my many nieces and one nephew has always been a problem for me. I think I have finally learned that these kids are my great nieces and nephews. I’ll try to remember from now on. This is C.C. who is the youngest daughter of niece Debbie her husband Burr. (Here’s another question; is Burr my nephew or nephew-in-law?) In this photo, she is with Steven, who is Burr’s brother.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
leave a comment