Southern New England RFF Get Together

[rover]

Who is up for, and able to make, a fall gathering of RFF members on Monday October 18th? I have had conversations with sfaust and Huck Finn and we have decided to meet at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge MA on Monday the 18th. OSV should offer some great autumn photography opportunities, and we may just hit it when the foliage is at its peak. Anyone able to make it please feel invited and very welcome to join us.

Here is a link to the OSV web site, their schedule for that day is not yet posted, but in general all the shops and activities are in the morning. Click on Plan Your Visit and then Daily Events and you will find some samples of what they have going on.

http://www.osv.org/

[Huck Finn]

Thanks, Rover. :cool:

To all others . . . Be there, or be square. ;)

[sfaust]

I'm all set for the 18th. Should be fun, its a great place for some period photography.

[Pherdinand]

I'll be square ;)

[Huck Finn]

Pherdinand, we'll make the next gathering in Delft. :)

[Pherdinand]

:eek: Huck, you are in NL too?

:)howdy, neighbour!

[Huck Finn]

No, but I'd like to be. :(

But after all, it's just a hop across the pond to get there.:) :cool:

[Pherdinand]

:) you can just slide down using a raft, on the mississippi...

[back alley]

we need a bigger contingent from western canada!
i want someone to play with too!!

whhaaaaa...

joe

[sfaust]

Joe, I'll send my private Lear Jet to pick you up! Let me know when and where! :cool:

[back alley]

if only...

[SolaresLarrave]

Well... somebody else in the Midwest here? :(

I'm feeling lonely...

[rover]

Why don't you and Joe met in North Dakota?

[back alley]

ralph, do you stay up late thinking about these answers?;)

joe

[rover]

I get them all out here Joe. It saves the wife from having to put up with all of my pent up wit. I have to admit though that having a 4 year old is really sharpening my skills. We are deep in to the "Why?" phase, so I have to keep talking to stay ahead of the tide. I fear though that some day he is going to start repeating the answers I give him, and, well, I am sure it will be another time I have to have a little talk with the teacher about the class clown. Hey, it is better to have him laughing than crying!

[That Guy]

Originally posted by SolaresLarrave
Well... somebody else in the Midwest here?

Milwaukee here, just 130 miles away! :)

[back alley]

careful rover your worst fears just might came to pass.

i have had children of friends repeat some of 'uncle joe's' stories and it got uglier from there.

joe

[SolaresLarrave]

Good to know that, Chris! I've been to Milwaukee only twice and never had a chance to look for camera shops there. Are there good ones?

[Pherdinand]

Francisco - I thought you'll ask for nice photo opportunities/scenes in Milwaukee :D

[Huck Finn]

I've been to Milwaukee only once . . . a layover on a cross-country bus trip . . . but that's a story fo another time. It was around the time of the Jeffrey Dahmer affair. During the layover, I went for breakfast at a hotel restaurant near the bus terminal. Sitting at a table, separated from me by a divider of artificial plants, was a group of Milwaukee city cops. They were telling a joke about Dahmer's last meal. Needless to say, I left without finishing my breakfast. :eek: :rolleyes:

[SolaresLarrave]

Milwaukee has a beautiful side: it looks to Lake Michigan. Plenty of nice houses and the Art Museum, designed by Calatrava (a Spanish architect) cuts an impressive figure against the skyline.

But then, the US cities seem to be at times so homogeneous that, except for New Orleans or New York, not very many offer as much as, say, Barcelona or Paris. Although, I must admit, Chicago can hold its own now.

Hence, my not asking about photo ops in Milwaukee.

Of course, there are rather moments when photos should be made: the Chicago Marathon (this weekend) is one. Anything similar in Milwaukee, Chris? Any particular celebration, festival, gathering of particular people? :)

[That Guy]

Plenty of photo-ops in Milwaukee for architecture and landscapes. But all the major festivals have wrapped up for the year. And I can't really think of any planned civic protests that are coming up, not that I really keep track of them anyway.

However, the leaves are in full color right now. Days are still warm and people are still strolling the lakefront. Most boat owners have pulled their sailboats out of the water, though. I'm not sure when exactly, but the public ice rink downtown should go up when it gets cold enough. It's always a great place for people watching. The Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee almost always has something going on. It's a very vibrant and colorful neighborhood on the east side. I just missed an outdoor art sale that was there two weeks ago. And there's a few spots of major construction projects around the city going on if you find photo-ops in that sort of thing.

The lakefront at Kenosha is a great place for a day trip as well. The city has done an excellent job of revitalizing their lakefront, complete with trolly cars. A friend of mine nearly bought a condo for very little there when they first started going up. They've since increased in value substantially and he's been kicking himself ever since.

Regarding camera shops, there's really only two that I visit, Colony Camera (http://www.photoreporter.com/2004/08-15/features/dealer_spotlight.html) and Art's Camera (http://www.artscamera.com/). Colony is not far from my house. I recently had my Minolta XD-5 repaired at there and they did a fabulous job. The place is a little archaic, but the best part is the owner's "museum" for lack of a better word. He collects cameras and has quite the display of plate glass, TLR, rangefinder, and otherwise unusual cameras in the store, many of which still work I was told once. Most of them are Minoltas. Art's is where I usually go for film and processing. They have a very high-tech shop and sell everything, including a wide selection of film. They recently added a B&W processing machine at their Waukesha location, so you can get 1 hour B&W (I think) if you go there. Knowledgeable staff and usually friendly. It's the shop where I saw my first rangefinder, an M6; I'd never actually seen a Leica before. They let me handle it, and I promptly gave it back after I saw the price tag (I was a poor college student at the time and didn't want to drop it). The local swap meet at 7 Mile Fair (http://www.7milefair.com/) can sometimes have some camera finds, but like any flea market, it's mostly junk.

So plenty of goings on in Brew Town. I haven't even mentioned all the brewery tours. ;)

[sfaust]

Here is the group portrait from the second New England RFF get together. We went to Mystic Seaport in CT. Rover on the left, HuckFin in the middle (with the halo going), and sfaust on the right.

We had a good time, and hopefully got some nice photos. My films going in the soup after the weekend since I'll have a bunch new rolls form a shoot this weekend. I'll scan and post sometime during the week.

[sfaust]

For those of you hardware orientated, here is the other group portrait.

sfaust on left, Rover in middel, and HuckFin on right.

Members still in the camera bag were a Hassy 500 (Rover), Bessa R2 (sfaust), and the P100 taking the photo (sfaust).

[rover]

What a handsome group. The cameras are nice too!!!

I would like to say that it was a really nice day. We spent a good bit of time walking around the seaport taking photographs, and capped the day sitting and talking for a hour or so over lunch.

I look forward to the next opportunity we have to walk, talk and shoot.

[SolaresLarrave]

Hey! That's a quite original idea: Metaphorical portraits!

BTW, Steve, Happy Birthday! :)

[Huck Finn]

The Rollei - tipped over from the effort of bearing the weight of that that chrome 'cron - looks like a drunken sailor. Makes sense . . . We were at Mystic Seaport!

Happy birthday from me too, Steve! :)

[wblanchard]

There are things in Milwaukee to shoot besides the Calatrava? :D
Here is something off the beaten path for visitors:

A chapel dedicated to Saint Joan of Arc.

This 15th century Gothic oratory, the Chapelle de St. Martin de Sayssuel, was built in the French village of Chasse, near Lyon. When the architect Jacques Couelle discovered it after the First World War and helped arrange its relocation to Long Island, New York in 1926. In 1964 the chapel was given to Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was reconstructed on the campus and dedicated to St. Joan of Arc.

There are many stories associated with the chapel, originally built during the 15th century in the village of Chasse, near Lyon, France. Perhaps the most well known concerns a certain stone, said to have been kissed by Joan of Arc before she died, which is supposedly noticeably colder to the touch than those surrounding it.

It's very gothic and when the light hits the stained glass and the altar, you will get some great shots.

[Huck Finn]

I hear that they also have good beer in Milwaukee, Bill. True? :D

[wblanchard]

Originally posted by Huck Finn
I hear that they also have good beer in Milwaukee, Bill. True? :D

Yes...we have the best beer made...Jacob Leinenkugel Honey Weiss. :)