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.
Looking South
We are shooting at a house on a part of the island called Bar Neck. This is the view out the back window. The platform in the water usually has ospreys nesting on it. Mary Kellogg says that the male usually shows up around St Patrick’s Day to establish territorial rights, and the female follows shortly thereafter.
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.
Winter driving
I left the house this morning with the intention of driving to Washington, DC. The Tilghman shoot starts on Thursday. The original plan was to leave early Wednesday, but with the storm coming in I moved the trip up a day. It seemed it would be OK once I made it south of New York City, but I never got that far. The roads were not so bad initially, but the 91 was a mess. The wipers picked up ice and basically stopped working, and when the traffic slowed to 10 miles per hour, it seemed prudent to turn around. Tomorrow is supposed to be worse than today, so I’ll just have to wait it out. It is nice to be home for the storm though. I’ll crank up the snow blower and try to keep ahead of it all.
Snow in NYC
New York City has gotten slammed with snow this year. On Thursday in the late afternoon when I was shooting outside of the Broadway Theatre, I saw a guy in a very late model 911 trying to park in about a foot of snow and slush. How sad. My first thought is that if you can afford a Porsche, you should also be able to own something that is suitable to drive in the snow. / This car was one of many on 96th Street somewhere between Columbus and Broadway. / On Tuesday, I am off to Tilghman Island to continue shooting the waterman story with Peter Carroll. Can’t wait.
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.
Millar Mitts
I will admit to a certain vanity about clothing. I mostly wear a variation of the same thing everyday, which makes life easier in the mornings. I have a real issue with outerwear though. I love jackets, hats and gloves. It is probably why Summer is my least favorite time of the year. I remember as a kid in Meadville looking forward to Autumn because it meant I could wear coats again. When I lived in Ithaca in the 70s, my friend Robby Aceto had a pair of these gloves. There was a shop in the DeWitt Mall that sold outdoor kit and they carried Millar Mitts. I bought a pair and completely wore them out over a period of 5 years. Replacing my worn out pair was really difficult. Nobody in the States seemed to carry them, and I think the company went out of business. They were made in the UK by Millar Gloves, Bingham, Nottinghamshire. On one of my trips to London in the mid 80s I found a single pair in a shop in the Burlington Arcade. The backs are wool and the palms are cotton string. Wearing them is such a treat. The wool isn’t itchy, but you always know when you have them on. In an odd way they are very sensual. / I took the train to New York on Thursday for some work and since I knew I would be shooting outside, I broke out these guys. It makes me happy just to look at them.
Basketball
I used to shoot a lot of sports. I have always enjoyed it, and feel that shooting something that moves fast helps me to do a better job when shooting stuff that doesn’t move at all. I bought a new work camera just before the end of the year, and haven’t had much of a chance to get comfortable with it. My friend Thom Kendall has the contract to shoot all of UMASS sports, so I asked him if I could tag along for the UMASS v. LaSalle game in Springfield yesterday. I got maybe 5 decent shots out of the whole game. He probably got 30 really good ones and 50 more that were totally usable. His support was really helpful, but it made me realize just how difficult it is to get good action photos when the athletes and officials are moving around right in front of you and the lighting in the arena sucks big time. Anyway it was fun and a good learning experience. And I am pretty sure that the next time I photograph something that isn’t moving, I’ll be just that much better at it.
Beach
Yesterday was cold. Freezing rain and very windy. We still went to the beach, but our walk was brief. Today was just grey and cold, so walking was no problem. We saw zero people but lots of bird action. Pelicans, gulls, ducks, sandpipers, and piping plovers. These starfish must not taste very good to the gulls, as there were lots of them laying around un-eaten. Cris noticed the guy above.
There is something about the subtlety of the colors of the shells that attracts my attention. How beautiful is this one?
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.
Jon Crispin's Notebook 
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