Day Thirteen. The last day of the trip, and I ended back in Ohio at the same covered bridge where I started, retrieving the pinhole cameras I shared in the very first dailypic of the project. In hindsight, I probably should have placed them on this side of the bridge rather than the other; I would have gotten a better result. Live and learn. This is the only place I stopped twice on the entire trip.
The last day was otherwise uneventful, slightly frustrating. Honestly, it probably should have been split into two days, but I drove way too much just to get home. For whatever reason, once I hit St. Louis, I was done and ready to return. In hindsight I would have spent more time in the middle and ignored some ting I had planned at the end.
I did make one stop in Rochester, New York. I had always wanted to visit the Eastman Museum. I have actually been in that parking lot twice in the past and wasn’t able to go inside in time. So, even though I wanted to head straight home, I made a slight detour north and landed in Rochester.
I am not much of a museum person. I don’t have the patience to stand around and read all of those display placards. I was hoping for a massive display of old cameras and collections of historic photographic equipment. Instead, what I got was George Eastman’s extravagant house, his elaborate garden, and maybe forty cameras altogether. It had a very stuffy atmosphere. I am sure it is great for some people, but for me, it was a disappointment. Especially as a ex-Kodak employee who had been laid off by them a few times. They did not even have good shirts in the gift shop. Like I said yesterday the STL Vinatge Camera shop was one of the best places I saw, Kodak could learn from them.
I spent maybe thirty minutes there, then drove around Rochester looking for a few unique shooting opportunities. I did find the original Kodak building and got a photo of that before jumping back on the highway. I drove through some horrible rain all the way back, finally getting home late that night.
This post catches the dailypic count back up to the original numbers where I should be, so technically, nothing was missed. The streak remains intact.
I will still be sneaking some trip photos in over the coming days as I develop them. It will be nice to tag some new ones for people to see. I just developed seven rolls of film from the second half of the journey, and a couple of those rolls hold some of my absolute favorite photos. The trip itself is not 100% closed yet.
I am actually hoping to hear back tomorrow about a possible continuation of the project, so fingers crossed. Once I have that decision, I will decide on my next steps. I definitely see a gallery show in the future. I always say there is going to be a book and then I never make one, but we will see. There will be at least one more wrap-up post with some reflections on what I learned on the road, mostly for me to look back on years from now, but I will let you guys peek at it too.
This isn’t the end, but we are officially going back to one dailypic a day. Posting two a day is just too much work. Thank you for following, and I hope you stick around.
Day Thirteen.
tr/trp
