Petey’s Summertime Seafood and Bar
Welcome to those of you who have found this site through the Slate article. I am very grateful for the job David Rosenberg did, and the response that the suitcases are getting. It is a bit overwhelming at times, but I am so pleased that the project is reaching so many new people.
I had a shoot in Exeter, New Hampshire for the Old House Journal today. Peter is home for a bit and he came along to hang out with me and continue our fried clam odyssey (See more here). After working, we drove to Rye, NH to check out Petey’s Summertime Seafood and Bar. The clams were fantastic; among the best yet. / It is always somewhat surprising to come upon the ocean after a short two hour drive from Western Massachusetts. Today it was beautiful.
Sutro Baths
I am sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for my redeye flight home. This morning’s quick meeting with the team ended well. I know know pretty much what I need to do in the next few weeks as far as printing goes.
I had yesterday pretty much to myself. Around noon I met with an old friend from Ithaca, Katie Harhen and we ate a couple of dozen oysters in the Ferry Terminal and had a great time catching up. She is a really wonderful person and has created a great life out here in the Bay Area.
I had been hearing about the Sutro Baths from the Exploratorium folks and Stephanie Bailey said it was her favorite place in the area. I hopped on the Geary bus and after a long ride out to the western-most part of SF got to a cliff above the ocean.
I especially like the fact that except for a few spots one is totally free to roam around the ruins without having to be warned of imminent danger. It is part of a National Park, and for now the only areas that are closed off are to do with a river otter that has taken up residence. (He wasn’t there when I showed up.)
There was a little tunnel through the rocks that was kind of eerie. You could hear the waves crashing and in a few spots could actually see the water.
The ocean was a steely gray for most of the time I was there.
It was foggy and quite cold when I arrived and just as I was leaving at about 5.00, the sun came out.
The flora reminded me a lot of what you would see on the Cornwall coast.
It is a very special place. And the gift shop at the top of the hill is way cool. I got a great mug and a bunch of vintage postcard reproductions. It is always completely baffling to me how something as cool and popular as the baths can virtually disappear. Check out some other links to the history of the place and be sure to visit if you are in the area.
Brockport, NY
I’m in Brockport shooting a job for MJ Herson and the college. Peter Carroll is here too and he and I had a nice meal at a local pub. It is an interesting little town on the Erie Canal and the people here are very nice.
We didn’t go into Barber’s but they had great neon.
Milkweed
When I was a kid we used to call these milkweed pods and after doing a search I found this . It is a pretty cool plant. When they pop open lots of fluffy white stuff comes out and is blown along with the wind. We used to pick them when they were at this stage and open them up.
Something New
This post is a way to jump-start my brain. I have been so preoccupied with Peter that it has been difficult to concentrate on anything else. It feels great to be focusing on photographs again. None of these pictures seem so interesting on their own, but together reflect what’s been going on for the past month.
Above is Tom Schack’s birthday cake from the now infamous “Schackstock” at Snowzies in Sunderland. Bands started playing at 1 pm and things shut down at closing time. His Mom, Dad, and Sister were there as well as lots of his friends.
He is just about the nicest guy in the world, and was really enjoying himself.
This flower starts showing up partway down the drive in early August.
When I was shooting the Tilghman project in August I made sure to visit Miss Pigsley. She lives down the street from Jennifer, has an air conditioner in her shed and will never be bacon. I took this for Peter because we are both huge P.G. Wodehouse fans and any stories with Lord Emsworth feature his obsession with “The Empress”. This pig is magnificent and is very happy to have visitors. She used to drink massive amounts of Kool-Aid until the vet put her on a diet.
On the Sunday morning before Peter Carroll and I left the island, we went to the church to document a service. This gentleman was in the pew in front of me.
I have always liked cattails.
When Cris, Pete, and I went to see the Sox in August, the Olympics were going on and this guy was checking out the US Women’s Soccer action. Technology!
I had a hard time getting the white balance right in this shot. I walk past this box on my way to shoot the suitcases. It always reminds me of this Little Feat song.
Going back to Meadville means more than hot dogs and ice cream but two stops are essential; Eddie’s and Hank’s Frozen Custard.
I have been going to Hank’s since it opened in 1952.
Peter loves it too.
There is only one reason to post this photo. It might be the only time you can see Red Sox pitcher Clayton Mortensen at bat in an American League Park. At this point the Sox were up something like 12-1 and I still can’t figure out why Bobby Valentine had him at the plate. Kind of cool though.
When we were at Pymatuning watching the ducks walk on the fishes backs we met the woman I posted about earlier. She was wearing this shirt which got us talking. I’d like to visit sometime.
It is very rare to be in on an historical moment, but I can say I was there when one of my neighborhood friends coined the term “Rat Lake” for the body of water that appeared after the flood control dam was built.
I usually help Thom Kendall out with the photos on media day for the UMASS football team. The new coach is a really great guy. This picture pretty much tells you most of what you need to know about Charley Molnar.
The Pearl out on the deck.
Cris and I went to Amherst Coffee today. I often take a shot of my cappuccino for some reason.
Never one to hide my emotions, I have been mentioning to just about anyone I talk to about my feelings of having Peter off in DC. So many of you have told me that he will be fine, and I want to thank you all for your support. One of the best bits of encouragement came from Leamuse in France as a comment on my earlier post. “Bon courage et bon chance.” Thank you so much; it really helps.
Sunday in PA and Ohio
Today, Peter and I drove from Meadville to Cleveland, mostly on Route 322. It was a cool gray morning and 322 is a road that I have ridden on and driven many times. The fields were so green and lush; soy beans and field corn grown mostly on small family farms. I had wanted to stop and photograph on our way to the Indians game, but I felt a bit of pressure to get to the stadium and park with plenty of time to spare. It was a great game for the many Sox fans that made the trip with Boston winning 14-1. Afterwards Peter and I had an amazing meal at Mallorca.
As we were driving back to Meadville I was again taken by the rural beauty of Eastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. The roads are in quite good shape and the farms are nicely kept. This shot is facing East on Ohio Route 167 not far from the PA line. There was so little traffic that I just stopped the car in the road to take it.
I stopped to photograph the fields on the way home and found myself thinking about the farmers in the midwest who are suffering through one of the worst droughts in recent history. Not four hundred miles west of here in Indiana the corn is dying for lack of rain. And yet the farmers in this part of the world seem to be in the midst of a bumper crop. I actually thought that if the Indiana farmers saw these fields they might cry.
And finally, our route back to Meadville took us through Linesville, PA. I got the chance to show Peter the famous spillway on Pymatuning Lake where the “ducks walk on the fishes backs”. I know it is really bizarre, but it is something I grew up with and it doesn’t seem that weird. We met a nice woman who is driving across the country visiting places like this. Here’s a link to her blog.
Pond Scum
When I was shooting film, I was a stickler for getting the best image quality out of a negative. I prided myself on shooting Tri-X and being able to make great prints. But I was always open to photographs that had real feeling to them and that might not have been perfectly sharp or in focus. / I have photographed this little pond before. The green algae that shows up in the late summer is such a beautiful color. I took a series of shots last week and since it has been so humid, the lens fogged up when I got out of the air conditioned car. I didn’t notice until I reviewed the image on the lcd screen on the back of the camera, so I wiped off the lens and waited to shoot more until the fog cleared. When selecting a photo to post here, this slightly foggy one looked the nicest. So even though it is a bit soft and diffused, I like it better than the non-fogged, sharp ones. / Also, some purple loosestrife again.
Tilghman in Transition
The second film Peter is shooting deals with the transitions that Tilghman folks have been making as a result of the changing situation with the bay. Larry Gowe was in the Navy and when he returned to the island he used what he learned in the service and became an appliance repairman.
His brother Edward works at Walton’s Seafood counting and sorting crabs.
And this is Darnell Murray who was working at Walton’s with Edward. Darnell was in the Marines for 18 years and served for most of that time on the USS Nimitz. His grandparents worked at the Tilghman Packing Company.
Here’s one of the soft crabs from this morning’s catch. We had some for dinner the other night. Really tasty.
The folks at Tilghman have really opened up their lives to us. Peter and I have made some very close friends.
Tilghman Again
Peter Carroll and I are back on Tilghman Island on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. It has been very hot and humid. We’ve been shooting the watermen doing their work and it has been, as always, a great experience. Our very generous hosts have a pool right on the Choptank river and at the end of a long day of shooting it felt great to cool off. Here is Peter looking really good.
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