Saginaw From the Air

 I decided to take my drone up higher to get a shot of the Saginaw River leading into Saginaw.

Downtown Saginaw is towards the top of the picture.  I didn't realize how far away I was.  I was in what is known as Old Town Saginaw.  Nearby is the Children's Zoo.

Looking at the river near where I was.

The Evolution of Language Mural

 So I read about a mural that was in Saginaw and I decided that I needed to go see it.  I was actually hoping to get pictures of it with my drone.

The grain elevator was abandoned some time ago and was pretty much an eyesore on the side of the Saginaw River.

Mark Flegenheimer, the former CEO of Michigan Sugar, got the idea for this when he was visiting his alma mater and saw that they painted old grain silos with murals.

He started the Shine Bright Saginaw Mural Project to raise $50,000 to bring in an artist to transform this mural.

The artist was Okuda San Miguel, a renowned street artist in Madrid, Spain.

He started in 1997 and has several murals all over the world.

This mural was just finished.

The city hopes that this and other murals will attract people to the city.

There were a few people around as I was here.

I will have to say this mural looks pretty cool.

Evidently, this is painted on the other side but I will have to save that for another day.

So anyway, the title is "Evolution of Language".

And I'll have to admit, it looks pretty cool.  Apparently, this is the second largest mural in the United States.

The Cuyahoga on the Saginaw River

This was the ship that decided it for me.  She arrived fairly early in the morning and I thought that I would have a chance to chase her as she left the river.  Sadly, she took longer to unload that I expected, so it was getting late when she started her way up the River.

But I think it made for some cool lighting.  If you look in front of her, you can see the eagle that watched her departure.

Passing the Algoma Buffalo with the light lines in the sky.  I really like this picture.

The Cuyahoga was delivering stone to somewhere near Saginaw.  She is heading up to Calcite as I speak.  I presume to pick up more stone.

The eagle near her center.

A better passing shot.

She's looking pretty rough too but again they repaired her after a fire, I think that means she's going to be around for a while.

She works her way out the river.

Sadly, I wouldn't have enough light at the next spot, so these are the only pictures.

But the sun looked cool behind her.

One more with my regular camera.

Then I switched to my drone.

I didn't get drone shots of her last time.

So I was happy to do that.  I almost wasn't going to but I wasn't sure when I'd get another chance.

I kept the drone low because I like the lower angles.

This is probably my favorite.

She needs a painting too.

I missed the beam shot as I waffled with pulling the drone back.

She continues down the river.

I like this shot.

Pretty windy but less windy than her namesake river.
 

The Algoma Buffalo Passes Through Bay City Today

I had some decisions for where to go today.  The lovely Kaye E. Barker was heading to Grand Haven today.  There were also some ships heading to Muskegon.  But then I checked the Saginaw River and it looked like a busy day.  There were at least three ships that were on it and I was really interested in catching one of those.

First up, the Algoma Buffalo was heading over from the Calumet River.  I think she had a load of salt but I'm not sure.

She was heading to Saginaw.

But before she got to Saginaw, she had to pass Bay City and that's where I caught her.

I like this shot.  I caught this from Vet's Park.

She starts to pass me.

She passes the Rivertown development.

I kind of like this shot.

But I like this one better as it is almost a beam shot.

She continues down the river.

The stern shot.

ONe more from this spot.

I wanted to get some shots with my regular camera.

The lighting was a little better here.

It was also a spot where I could get a bow shot.

She makes the turn for this spot in the river.

A little more.

Almost caught the bow shot.

She makes the turn for the straight part.

She starts to pass me.

She puts on a little steam.

Almost a beam shot.

A shot of her pilot house.

I moved to another spot in the river because I wanted to catch the next ship.

I liked the way the light looked in this shot.  Unfortunately, if I exposed the ship properly, the sky would be washed out.  This shot is kind of a compromise.

And one more before the next ship.