Tuesday, June 4, 2013

The Story Behind The Iconic Cape Vincent Photographs






                                 No question about it.  A picture is worth a thousand words!!!


The two pictures you see above have been icons to define Cape Vincent wind battle.  I have used them and so have the other CV blogs in making our points.

These photos were taken by my life long close friend and fellow artist and photographer Rollin Hanson. Or "Rollie" as a alot of us know him.

The picture of the Tibbets Pt. sunset in my mind is one of the best photos ever taken of the Tibbet's Pt Lighthouse.

It was a mid summer before the Wolfe Is. wind  turbines were erected.  It was a beautiful evening and the wind was letting up.  The early evening cloud formations hinted at a good evening to be out capturing artistic land and waterscape photographs right around sunset. It hinted at a good evening for a spectacular boat ride!

So I suggested to my wife Lorna and Rollie that we should take evening  boat ride toward Cape Vincent and then out onto the Lake.

We stopped and drifted in many locations as well as near the lighthouse taking lots of photos.  Then we went around to Fuller Bay and drifted some more and let this spectacular scene develop while snapping away with our cameras.  We figured this would be a great location the way the sunset was shaping up, and not many pictures are taken from this view.  Everything was pointing to being able to get some unique photos.   Many of the pictures of Tibbets Pt. light are land based. Our plan worked out well and that is when this photo was taken by Rollin.

We both frantically  took pictures because we both knew in our gut, that  this photo opportunity was soon to be historical since  it wasn't going to be long before the Wolfe Is. wind complex would become an industrial backdrop to CV's iconic and spectacular lighthouse.  We even discussed it at the time with great sadness and frustration.

Between the two us a lot of pictures were taken that evening.  But this one is really the only one that mattered. When I saw it on Rollie's computer the next day I realized the true impact of what he had captured and what it meant to the CV wind battle.  It was also the photo WPEG used at one time for fund raising, and former wind friendly former CV supervisor Rienbeck griped about.

It is the icon for why we should protect our precious region.  It is the icon of why it is so egregious that our rights have been stripped away to protect it. 

This photo is a graphic example of the old saying..."A picture is worth a thousand words."

The only think we both ageed on later was we wished the lighthouse been quite so centered.  Had it been slighly off center it woud have been a little more dynamic photo.  But is still a fantastic photo.

The second photo taken about a year later also became an icon of the CV wind battle.  It is a very sad commentary of what industrial wind has already done to our town and region.

 But I would like to shed some light on this photo. 

Rollin was accused of Photoshopping the photo to make the turbines look so large.  That is not true.  In fact I have recreated the exact same photo myself with my camera and no software manipulation.  In know Rollin and his photography very well  since for years we often take photographic excursions  together, and then critique our work later.  So I know for FACT this photo was not altered.

What did happen was it was taken with a telephoto setting from the Dablon Pt. Rd.  But even then the relationships in the picture are the same.  Even then this photo represents the visual impact to the viewer and viewscape created by industrial  wind turbines far better than the crap the wind companies peddle as viusal simulations.

Rollin Hanson has not been a loud vocal figure in the wind battle like some of us.

But his contribution has been  no less important and may be a graphic  historical record for future generations who will be alble to look back and see what it was like before. 

Then they can say..."what the hell were they thinking and what did they do to our town and region."


Other photos taken during that same evening boat ride.



















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