Ending the Day With the Ever Lovely Kaye E. Barker

I ended up catching the Kaye E. Barker on her way to Dearborn as I was on Belle Isle.  I didn't think I would catch her on her return trip as it rained all day yesterday.  But as I said, she ended up spending the night in the Belle Isle anchorage last night.

She was the last ship of the day and I was happy to see her.

She is definitely one of my favorite ships right now.  She has lovely lines and she is one of the more distinctive looking.

The lighting was a little better for me, but for some reason my light meter wasn't reading it correctly.

I kind of like this angle.

The bow shot.

She makes the turn for the channel.  The lighting was much better for these shots.

Probably my favorite of the bunch.  I love this angle for ships.  It gives my favorite view which is the bow plus a hint of the size.

She was heading back to Marquette and that means she might be back this way on Wednesday.  If so, I hope that I can catch her on the return trip.

But I'm not sure if the weather is going to hold.

It will probably be cloudy at least.

She's passing the Bridge.

Again, I wish I didn't have the shadows here.

The almost beam shot.

Her pilot house.

I kind of like this shot.

But I like this shot better.

Catching the Dolphin

 As I was taking pictures of the Atlantic Huron, I heard the distinctive sound of a helicopter.

Of course, I turned around because it sounded like the Dolphin.  I like the looks of this helicopter.

Unfortunately, it was almost right above me.  I hope they were out training and not someone having a bad day.

Catching the Atlanic Huron

 Next up was the Atlantic Huron.

The Atlantic Huron has a special place in my heart.  She's on one of the first pictures I took where I thought I could do this thing.

I was happy to catch her because I don't catch her all that often.

She was heading up from Naticoke, I think.

She was heading to Duluth.

She was making the turn for the channel.

But I missed the bow shot.

She makes the turn for the channel.

The lighting was a little better here.

And I like this shot.

Framed by the Blue Water Bridge.

I would like this shot better without all the shadows.

She continues past the bridge.

Her pilothouse.

And again.

One more shot as she continues on her way to Duluth.

Catching Up With the James R. Barker

 After the Jackson, the next ship was the James R. Barker.

The Barker was coming up from Monroe.

I think she would have been delivering coal to the power plant there.  I'm not sure if she did the split load with St. Clair though.

She was heading up to Silver Bay, Minnesota.

I think she will end picking up taconite there.

The bow shot.

She makes the turn for the channel.

I like this shot.

She passes under the Blue Water Bridge.

Unfortunately, I was shooting towards the sun.

I love the look from the scrubbers.

Her pilot house.

She heads out to Lake Huron.

One more shot before catching the next ship.

Almost Catching the Herbert C. Jackson

 I looked at Marine Traffic and saw that it was going to be a fairly busy day.  Two of the ships I ended up catching stayed overnight in Detroit as Lake Huron was pretty nasty last night.  I got a late start but I didn't think it was a late as it ended up being.

As I was heading into the parking lot, I saw that the Herbert C. Jackson was leaving the Port Huron area.  She was one of the ships I was hoping to catch, but she was the first of the group, so I wasn't terribly disappointed.

I am not normally a fan of stern shots, but I do like this one.  The US flag nearly straight out.  For that reason, I didn't have my drone with me.  But it was a nice sunny day but a little on the cold side.

Catching the Kaye E. Barker

 I saw that the Kaye Barker was coming down.  I was actually hoping to catch her on the Rouge River but I knew that I wasn't going to have enough daylight for that, so I decided to catch her at Belle Isle.

It was a good thing because she ended up going to the anchorage before going up the Rouge River.

There was a ship on the Rouge River and I figured that was the reason why she didn't go up.

She was doing the same thing the Herbert C. Jackson was doing yesterday.

She was coming down from Marquette with a load of taconite.

She is taking it to the Rouge River steel mill.

I'm not sure if she is also going to Sandusky but at any rate it was nice to catch her.

It wasn't too windy, so I took my drone out with me.

With the golden light, it was a nice night for pictures (heat haze aside).

I love the profile that she casts.

The river was a nice shade of blue.

Shame it wasn't a little calmer.

The beam shot.

She continues on her way.

As I said, she ended up going to anchorage for a bit, so she was going fairly slow.

But that made more opportunities for pictures.  And then I headed home.