Below Lock 9

Yesterday, I walked from the Mabee Farm along the south bank of the Mohawk River up to Lock 9.  I was curious about the state of the lock after last year's damage from storms Irene and Lee.  The river itself is very low right now.  It is too early in the year for the Spring rains to have raised it, and it's also too early for the lock impoundment dams to be in place.  So the river appears much s it did in the 1600s when the Mohawk people walked these same shores.

Today, the river banks are scoured back and up quite a way.  Those floods last summer were very powerful. Repairs are still ongoing, but the lock gates are installed, the shore abutments of the dam look like they are repaired and the bridge over the dam is open. The official web site has the projected opening set for 1 May, so they still have time to finish up whatever remains.

This photo is my very first attempt at a digital panorama.  When I shot 35mm film, I used to make 'panoramas' by taping the prints together in a gentle arc; following the natural curvature caused by the lens.  Although I'm a life long computer programmer, and I love to tinker with technology, for some reason I've only rarely manipulated my digital photos.  For this attempt, I used free software called GIMP - the GNU Image Manipulation Program.  GIMP allows scripting and other add-ons; I tried a panorama assistant called Pandora.  I followed an introductory tutorial on YouTube; that was enough to get me to combine 3 separate images into the single one here.  It's not great, but since I was hand-holding the camera (no tripod, no level) I found it satisfying.

I exposed all 3 photos the same way, to although the image is a composite, the following is an accurate accounting of the exposure.

F Number	8.0
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	14.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 28.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/125
Exposure Program	Manual
ISO	100
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Lock 7

The NY State Canal system remains closed after Irene.  There are worries about silt, debris and fluctuating water levels along with physical damage to the lock gates and valves.

This is the soonest I've been able to get to Lock 7 in Niskayuna.  There were early (and mistaken) reports that the dam that creates the navigation pool here (Vischer Ferry Dam) had a leak.  It wasn't a leak as much as the water level was so high it was working its way around the south side of the dam.  In the end, lots of fill was brought in and the dam remains safe.

I walked to one of the boaters stranded here by the closed canal system.  All the boaters are in a pickle.  They have power here at Lock 7 but no fresh or waste water hookups, and that makes staying there for a long time untenable.  The only option is to find a big crane and a hauler to carry them over land to the Hudson, where they'll have to find a marina that can take them off the hauler, and in some cases, step the mast so they can sail instead of using the diesel.

It was a sobering thought, bringing to mind the many thousands in Schoharie , Prattsville and Windham who still have no electricity or running water, and who have a foot of mud they need to try to shovel out of their living room.  Irene may not have killed many, but it's going to be a long winter.

This photograph is a pretty good rendering of the colour of the river right now.  It is still full of silt, and is this caffe au lait colour.  It has a strange smell, too.

James at Newtown Daily Photo runs a theme called Weekend Reflections. Around a hundred photo bloggers post a photo containing a reflection; beautiful work. Click the link and go see!

F Number	5.6
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	29.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 58.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/160
Exposure Program	Program AE
ISO	400
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Lock 8

This is a photograph of the Mohawk River / Erie Canal at Lock 8. I found a photograph on the web of the same lock in 1916, but taken from the other bank.

Not strictly in Schenectady, it's very close, located in the town of Glenville, maybe a 15 minute car ride from my house.





Here's an aerial view, courtesy Google Maps:

View Larger Map