Sunday, March 20, 2022

And Our Featured Attraction....the Alpena

 It wasn't too long before the Alpena was close enough to get pictures of her.  I arrived at the spot at around 8:00 in the morning and the Alpena appeared shortly after that.  The sun had just started to rise but I had enough light for pictures.

I picked a spot that was over by the Silversides, it gives me a good view of the ships coming into Muskegon, it also lets me frame the lighthouse with them.  I think the Alpena was starting to pass into the breakwater in this picture.
I extended my lens to get a closer picture of her.  I love the colors of the sunrise sky.
She got a little closer and consequently a little bigger.
I was hoping to catch her as she left Cleveland for the first time this season but circumstances did not allow that.  Especially since she left in the dark of night.
I wasn't able to catch her as she passed Detroit either as it was early in the morning.  The timing to catch her on the St. Clair River wasn't good either.
Then I thought I might be able to catch her as she headed into Alpena but that didn't work either.
Then I thought I could catch her coming into Chicago but I had more pressing matters at the time.
And yesterday, I thought I would be able to catch her leaving Chicago but her unload took longer than planned and I didn't want to be in that area after dark.  So I didn't catch her yesterday either.
Even though I went to Chicago yesterday and didn't sleep well last night, I decided I needed to catch her coming into Muskegon and I would have to say the pictures were worth it.
As I was heading over, it was pretty foggy and I thought that might ruin my pictures for me but it wasn't too bad on the Lake.  There was a little bit of haze but not too much.
The angle on the sun was just about perfect and I was able to catch the morning golden hour.
There were some people mulling on the deck.
A contrast with the lighthouse.
And then I was able to get a close up.
And I just kept taking pictures.  She got a new paint job over the off season but as you can see, she's already scraped it on some ice.
She still looks pretty nice though.  Considering that she is now 80 years old, I only hope I look this good.
One more with my big lens.
I switched to my littler lens so that I could a shot with the moon in it.  I like this one with the ship, moon and lighthouse.
She was getting closer.
One more shot with my normal camera before switching to my drone.
The winds were calm enough.  I liked this shot with the moon as well.  I'm still deciding if I like low or high angles with the drone.
She was moving a little faster than I planned.
But I was able to get enough pictures.
I like this one.
She passes where I was at.
A stern shot.
And another.
I moved my drone up to get another bow shot.  I like this one.

She is off to Green Bay now but I think she gets there early in the morning and I would have to get up really early to get over there.

One of the nice things about the Alpena is that she is one of the ships that opens the season.  She usually gets out about a week before all the other ships.  She stays busy during the season, so I get many chances to get pictures of her.  I can't wait to see her again.


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