Adventures with Jenifer in RI & CT

I wish the weather was better, but it did not rain until the end of the day. I picked her up at the airport in RI on Thur and Fri. we went all over Rhode Island in search of the lighthouses. We were like 17 year olds on spring break running around. People are so nice and let us go on all grounds posted NO trespassing. On Sat we went on the Nell CT boat. Bad weather again but we met some people and had a great time. I had very little sleep and a great time. Hello to everyone who was there from the CF. Jen went on to get more of RI and LI before her trip home on Monday.
I now have to check out all my pictures. Jen is a great and patient teacher. She helped with photo info. I hope someone gets a chance to post pictures. It will take me forever to check mine and wake up. I think Jen is going to hook up with me at Wild 2006 for 2 days. Can't wait but must store up enough sleep to keep up with her. Lots of fun ahead. VA is next.
Fran

Waiting for pictures, Fran! Too bad the weather decided this weekend was when it should act up. I'm sure it put a damper on the activities but you just can't spoil things when the NELL folks are together - they're going to find a way to have a blast anyway!

Let me add a postscript ...

AFTER the boat docked, Jen decides if she doesnt make it to Five Mile Point that night, becasue of her intenary, she'll never see it. Soaked and tired (me ... not her) I accompanied her there through the rain and traffic, and, while a wedding reception was taking place in the building that houses the carousel, I got a chance to watch a professional photogapher work.

I think I learned an awful lot watching her in action. Exceedingly quick from spot to spot, from shot to shot ... it was counterbalanced by the time and patience used to set up each picture ... We were there slightly over an hour, from just past 7pm to maybe 815. While she was working, there were two things of note. She answered every question I asked of her in a way a novice like myself understood. Also there were the exclamations of satisfaction when she got the shot she wanted ... the mild curses when she missed. Too tired from a day in the rain to shoot myself ... more tired trying to keep up with her ... what a welcome end to a unique day of lighthousing ...

... and as I write this, about 330pm on Sunday, I expect Jen is somewhere between Fire island and Montauk before heading to the Orient Point Ferry to cross back and shoot the lights around New London before finally calling it a day ...

... and Fran ... what pleasure to have met you yesterday

Well, if we didn't know it before.... It sounds like Jen is a virtual ball of energy. Too bad she won't be able to make it to VA and the OBX as we had hoped! I was hoping to get some pointers on photography, too.

Gonna' go take a nap after reading about Jen's travels with Grover--tired me right out!!

Sandy :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Well, we're glad to hear that Barry!

I too met Jenifer for the first time on the cruise and found her to be a great person with tons of energy.I had e-mailed her on a few occasions and was hoping to bump into her on the trip and sure enough I did.Also got to see Barry again who I met on the trip to Stonington last October with Jeremy.Had a great time and met a whole lot more people.Loved it and hello to all my lighthouse friends.
Linda

Lighthouse people are great Linda! You can always look foward to meeting new people with different experiences.

Hey Jen, how'd you make out on LI. I would have tried to meet you along the way but had two morning baseball games both days(RO), a Sat afternoon dance recital then birthday party, then spent Sunday afternoon in NJ.
Summer's here busy, busy!

I am at work it's 3:00 and I was told to wake up 2x. Jen you must be dead tired by now.

Maybe some of Jen's magic (and considerable skill) will rub off ...



Unknown to me, my wife caught this shot ... that's Jen on the left ... the good looking one ... and me on the right ... the rather ordinary looking one ... and that would be Tongue Point light between us ...

... and Sue, nice catch on the "shoot myself" malaprop ...

It was so nice to finally put some faces with names! Sandy, I tried to figure out where you were at and couldn't find you...I'm pooped!

Barry, at 3:30pm I was already leaving Montauk on my way up to the North Fork via Shelter Island. I had NO TRAFFIC!!! I even got Horton Point in as well before getting the 7pm Cross Sound Ferry. Here is what greeted me as the ferry was pulling out of Orient Point...



Fran, you can stop wiping up the drool now! Tee-hee! The Cross Sound Ferry was perhaps the best part of my trip this weekend. I planned it for right around sunset and it paid off...


New London Harbor Light from the Cross Sound Ferry, just after sunset.

And for Barry, one of my magical 10 second exposures at Five Mile Point with it's lantern room lit!!

Many of you know Derith, to whom I gave name the "Lighthoue Pixie".

I think I'm going to name Jenifer the "Lighthouse Tinkerbell".

She FLIES around lighthouses, waving her magic wand, making plain or bad weather situations into beautiful photographs -- and along the way, she leaves people smiling and so glad they met her!

I've had the chance to see "Tink" in action in the summer of 2004 when I contracted her to take photos of my MSU Fraternity's 50th Anniversary celebration. I still get comments from those who were there about what a pro she was and how friendly she was - in amongst a bunch of (mostly old) men! LOL

Great photos Jen! Great friends!

Nice. DId you have to use any magic from PS on Orient Point. Post one from Great Captains the 2nd light we saw.

The only thing I did on Orient Point was get into selective color and in the red channel, I subtracted some cyan, and a 20 point saturation bump, besides levels and USM. The color for about 5 minutes was very intense and I don't remember if I white balanced before the ferry or not. I think I did. White balancing has made a HUGE difference! I haven't gotten to the Saturday shots yet - just now starting to dump them onto the hard drive from the RAW files on CD. I had to finish backing up everything first!

Jen,
We didn't go--weather at 4 AM and again at 5 AM was horrendous. Sounds like everyone had a great time in spite of the weather. Hopefully we'll be on the 2nd Annual NELL cruise if there's one. Would dearly love to see Great Captain photo if anyone has one. That one and Falkner's are going to be very hard for us to photograph personally, so I'm really hoping NELL does make this cruise an annual fundraiser. BTW, it never cleared here--rained all day and into the night.
Sandy

I should have one up shortly...just finishing my Friday RI images and getting into the Saturday ones.

Terrific shots, Jen! Can't wait for more!

Sue, that was a great catch! Still laughing!

Barry, great picture - of the light - maybe we will meet the whole back of your head next time.

Linda, I'm glad to see you posting. Keep it up!

What you cannot tell from the shot of Five Mile Point is the elevation of the crop of rocks Jen was standing on ... and that she got up there wearing sandals and socks ... had to be ten to twelve feet above the shoreline ... and without hesitancy, up she went on the craggy surface. Then she set up the portable tripod and scrunched into a contortion that both awed me and probably would have damned near killed me had I tried to duplicate it ...

The other thing I noticed, besides the juxtapositon of speed and patience ... was the fact that your head and eyes were always moving ... always looking ... always framing ...
and yet you still had time to explain to me just what it was you were doing and what you were trying to accomplish with each setup, with each shot ...

Jen, thanks for letting me hang out and watch ... for much of the time we spent there I felt like Prince Philip ... always about three steps behind ... I'm glad you made the decision to ask ... I'm glad I made the decision to go ...

Jen,
Your photo's (as usual) are beautiful, I think the name John Chidester dubbed you "Lighthouse Tinkerbell" is apprapo....your photo's are really the best. Do you teach any photography classes, I think you would be great at it. And, thanks for sharing your pics, it is appreciated.

Kat

Jen-love the sunset pics. They're gorgeous! Have been to your website and you do an excellent job!! Thanks for sharing with the rest of us. Sounds like it was quite an adventure. Enjoyed reading about it!