Random Camera Blog: Wassaic, NY

Earlier this month, Adrienne and I went out East to visit family as well as my visit to Yale for a conference. It was a bit warmer there than in Ann Arbor, so I was eager to go out and do some exploration and shooting. We drove over to the "hamlet of Wassaic", which is about 5 miles from the farm house where Adrienne's mother still lives. I forget how beautiful and wonderful it is to have mountains and valleys, having lived in Michigan for 33 years. Dutchess County, NY is filled with small communities and is quite rural over much of the county. However, its only a couple of hours by train from New York, and Wassaic is the N terminus for the commuter line that goes into the big city. Located in a valley surrounded by mountains, it is said that the community has the least amount of sunlight as the mountains flank it on the East and West. Despite its small size, it once housed the first evaporated milk plant, built by Borden in 1861. That building still stands, and is owned by the Pawling Corporation, which has a visitor's center there. Wassaic has a vibrant arts scene, as evidenced by the former Maxon Mill, which has been concerted to an amazing artists' space with galleries and studios. The Wassaic Project looks to be a pretty cool thing, and if I lived nearby, I would certainly look into it.
It was a thawing March day, which was a relief from Michigan's weather. We drove around and Adrienne also enjoyed seeing things she overlooked while growing up so close by. It is true that we take so many things for granted when we are young, and going back to a place much later is like seeing it for the first time. I shot with my Nikon F100 mostly using my 24-120 Nikkor AF zoom with Tri-X and Arista Ultra 100 (perhaps Fomapan?). The film was developed in D76 and scanned. I am pretty happy with what I got there in such a short time. It would be nice to go back when things are green and see more.