wwp@yahoogroups.com:
Shooting for "history"
Don Bain 2011-Sep-24 08:07:00
Dear Friends,
It has been a slow year at the World Wide Panorama. Other than Bostjan's history-making cave explorations, and his troubles with the Slovenian government, the team members have been pretty quiet. Keith, Pat, and I all made it to Palmela, which was great, but exhausting.
My life has been complicated lately. My 89-year old mother had a bad fall last month, and I had to return early from my big trip of the summer - an emergency 1600 mile (2500 km) solo drive in two days (about the same distance as from Brussels to Moscow). She is recovering well, but needs extra care, and I must stay close to home for now.
I missed several chances to shoot historic sites last weekend and earlier this week. It looked like I might miss the "History" event altogether, despite best intentions.
I realized this morning that today would be my last chance, so I chose to shoot in our local national park. It is one of the smallest but has the longest name - "Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park". It consists of sites scattered around the old shipyard areas in the port of Richmond, California. There are lots of interpretive signs, and a few interesting buildings. The most dramatic exhibit is a "liberty ship", in process of being restored, and I made that my goal.
Before setting out I checked their website and found that the ship, Red Oak Victory, had been towed away last week! It will be gone two weeks for final restoration work, too late for "history".
But I shot three other places within the historic district, and have chosen to submit one showing the huge Ford Assembly Building, a classic of industrial architecture. The main building houses light industries, including photovoltaic, and the Craneway Pavilion, a dramatic conference and exposition space. Altogether a wonderful repurposing of a historic structure.
I will probably wait until the end of the year (Best of 2011 is coming up in December) to upload for Forests. I do a lot of forest scenes and will have trouble deciding. If I can get my domestic situation sufficiently under control I hope to make one or more trips shooting autumn colors in October and November.
Best wishes on your panoramic adventures - make history!
Don