Excellent day at Mare Island

[Ralph Barker]

Thanks to everyone who attended the Mare Island excursion - especially Will Whitaker who did all of the coordination with the Mare Island Historical Society. It was great to meet everyone, and except for the absence of clouds, the weather couldn't have been better.

Now, to develop the film.

[John Kasaian]

Ralph,

What part of Mare Island did you enjoy most??

[Ralph Barker]

The part I saw? (lol)

There are numerous areas on the island, from the cranes at the docks, to residential, etc. There's also a little chapel, cute, but might be better with some weather. I mostly wandered around near the dock area, shooting over the chain link fences from the back of my 'Burb. I understand they do a special tour of the cemetary, too. Although many of the more interesting areas, such as the dry docks, are off-limits due to safety concerns, there's plenty to shoot - especially if you can get above the fence (6' or so).

Film at 11:00 (but, I won't say which day ;-) ).

[Geary Lyons]

Special thanks to Will for a great day. It was a pleasure to meet some new, (to me!), LF photographers and see friends again!! Unending opportunities for shots based on light and weather. Just to be told "You can't go 'there', made 'there' the most desirable! I will return!
Cheers, Geary

[Graham Patterson]

Carla and I enjoyed our time there. It is an area with immense potential - almost too much to take in in a first visit. With over a century of construction represented, there are some interesting juxtapositions and details.

[David Karp]

It sounds like such a great place. Sorry we could not make it up there. Also sorry we did not get a chance to meet everyone in person.

[wfwhitaker]

It was good to meet so many people and to put faces with names. Turnout was good; around 10 or 12 (I confess to not really counting). The red tape was minimal and we were allowed, save for an errant few, to wander on our own. The local constabulary seemed appeased and I so far have received no telephone calls to the contrary! :-)

In all seriousness, I think it could not have turned out much better for a first effort. We were afforded an opportunity to have the run of the place, minus the "off limits" areas. I look forward to seeing the images captured today and hope we may share them via this forum.

Thanks to all who participated. I hope that we may have the opportunity to work together again soon.

Best,

Will

[Salty]

Sounds like a nice trip. Mare Island was closed a few years before Long Beach Naval Shipyard but sounds like much of it still exists. Long Beach was knocked completely down, drydocks filled, piers destroyed, and is now a container terminal.

[Steve Nieslony]

I would like to concur with the sentiments of the participants this past weekend - particulalry a big Thank You to Will for getting the ball rolling ont his event.

Steve

[Mark Howell]

It was a lot of fun exploring and photographing Mare Island, and great meeting the other participants. I didn't expose a lot of film, but I'm pretty happy with what I got. I'd like to go back in the fog, especially for the surreal park with its bizarre juxtapositions of gazebo and missiles, arboretum and bomb shelters.

Thanks again, Will, for the organization.

-- Mark

[Merg Ross]

It was a pleasure to meet and be with the group on Saturday. I echo Graham's comment regarding the immense potential; almost overwhelming on an initial visit. I have critiqued my results and placed them in the mediocre catagory. Is anyone as anxious as I for a return visit?

Of course, thanks again to Will and also to Ken.

[wfwhitaker]

For those of you who attended the Mare Island outing last week, I have received the go-ahead from Tuan to prepare a small illustrated article on our experience for the LF Photo web site. I am therefore soliciting your work (preferably scans thereof) to be included under the "Travels" section of the Large Format Photography Home Page.



Cheers,
Will

[wfwhitaker]

I've received inquiries from a couple of folks regarding scans. JPEG's are preferred. 72 ppi resolution (screen resolution) is fine. File size somewhere around 40-60Kb is good, but err on the size of larger rather than smaller. It's better to re-size down rather than up. But please don't email me gigabyte-sized files!



Images may be re-sized as dictated by the layout. Absolutely no other manipulations will be made by me. It's your work and I won't change a thing. Full credit will be given, of course.



This is an opportunity for us as photographers to put our photos where our mouths are. This isn't a contest, so don't be shy. Belly up to the bar and show us your work!



Best,
Will