Low Tide on Cape Cod

Photo Slide-Talk

Making Photographs of Vanishing Industry in Brass Valley

North Haven Camera Club

http://www.northhavencameraclub.com/meetings/

Oct. 2, 2018 at 7 PM

free, non-members are welcome

PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNAL: I’m just back from a week of making photographs on Cape Cod in a workshop led by Tony Sweet. Tony is a disciple of Canadian legend, Freeman Patterson, and Tony's meticulously planned workshop reminded me of everything that so inspired me when I took a workshop with Freeman a dozen years ago. For both Tony and Freeman, photography is less about making the great photograph and more about the processes of shooting and making pictures and about the music of composition. Although my primary purpose in following Tony was to draw on his knowledge of good shooting sites, when the weather turned bland I recalled Freeman’s admonitions that good photographs can be made anywhere there is light, and Tony's approach to photography reminded me of my own photographic roots. Additionally, Tony was full of good tips related especially to software, processing and equipment. 

We met for shoots before sunrise and finished our day after the last glow of sunset began to fade. In three-and-a-half days we had seven shoots and visited ten good photo sites, and Tony’s partner, Susan provided a list of sites and coordinates so we could return later on our own. Recommended for all energetic photographers.

Journey — Extrusion Press

Photo Slide-Talk

Making Photographs of Vanishing Industry in Brass Valley

North Haven Camera Club

http://www.northhavencameraclub.com/meetings/

Oct. 2, 2018 at 7 PM

free, non-members are welcome

PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL: The first time I entered the American Brass tube mill in Waterbury I was overwhelmed and puzzled by a place that shouldn’t have existed and machinery that I didn’t understand.

In my book, Brass Valley: "The Fall of an American Industry I tell of turning my camera toward the giant machine whining and smoking near the front of the shed. I later learned it was the extrusion press, the only one of its kind in the country and the reason men were still at work in this ancient tube mill. For three years men who ran ancient machines explained what they were doing and allowed us to photograph them at their work. 

By the time the factory closed in December 2013 I knew its purpose, its rhythms, and its songs. When it closed I learned the journey hadn't ended, and I continued making pictures like the one above, as other workers scrapped and salvaged and detoxified, and when I returned last month, the day after the adjoining lampworks was gutted by fire, and I made one last photograph. The tube mill looked like every other abandoned factory I've photographed, and it was impossible to know what once happened there or what was produced. 

Below is a newly processed photograph of Gil, Spike and Bob running the press in 2012. Further down is the photo taken last month, the day after the fire.

Lobster Dance

PHOTOGRAPHER’S JOURNAL: The sideways do-se-dos are choreographed by the task: hooking, hauling, sorting, emptying, baiting, dropping. The tempo is always allegro and the swing and fling is spontaneous. At each location a buoy is circled, two traps pulled and reset, the steps repeated fifty, eighty times. The dance ends after the catch has been counted and hauled to the dock by the wholesaler. 

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"Adventures in Lobstering" by Aiden Cherniske

PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL: While we were visiting coastal Maine this summer my grandson, Aiden, was learning about f/stops, iso, shutter speed and light, reading the manual, mastering a sophisticated camera I had loaned him, while he worked on his Boy Scout photography badge. He had never been to Maine before, never seen the ocean. We are grateful to Captain Dan and Nate for welcoming us aboard their lobster boat and allowing us to photograph them at their work. 

I'm proud to post the video that Aiden photographed, wrote, narrated and produced after we returned to Connecticut. It speaks for itself.