Northern Nights Drive-in theater

Lancaster, New Hampshire

Super recent new-build theater, just six years old. Phone poles to support a mylar screen on a metal frame. Brilliant solution to the wind problem, that plagues theaters everywhere. Metal support and flexible mylar should survive most any windstorm. I have to find out  the silly name of the mountains (mountain names tend to be silly) you see as blue lumps over on the left of this shot, which mimics the 7x17" negatives I made. Presidential range, maybe.

Weirs Beach Drve-in Theater

Weirs Beach, New Hampshire

In a glorious thunder and lightning storm, just before ten o'clock this morning, five hours after leaving Woodbury. Two more theaters to look at on this overnight expedition, and lots of off-topic shooting if it doesn't rain the whole time.

Out in Back

Hudson, New York

Saved: The Saco Drive-in Theater

Saco, Maine

The "Save the Drive-in" promotional campaign by Honda has begun to announce the winners of five digital projection systems, one a day beginning today. The Saco theater is the first to be announced. This is a picture I made in 2003 of the back of the screen tower from the entryway. Given its condition ten years ago, it's nice to know they held out long enough to be the first winners in the projector contest. Now I'll be hoping some of my favorite theaters are among the other four big winners.

Three Cats

Hudson, New York

DISCIPLINE PARK

Hudson, New York

There would seem to be a fair bit of kink to what's on offer here. But it's a Hudson tradition. To quote from the Wiki entry on the little city:

"In the late 19th and first half of the 20th century, Hudson became notorious as a center of vice, especially gambling and prostitution, as described in Bruce Edward Hall's book, Diamond Street: The Story of the Little Town with the Big Red Light District. (The former Diamond Street is today Columbia Street.) At the peak of the vice industry, Hudson also boasted of more than 50 bars. These rackets were mostly broken up in 1951 after surprise raids of Hudson whorehouses by New York State Troopers under orders from then-Governor Thomas E. Dewey netted, among other catches, several local policemen."

For some context, the town is about 100 miles up the Hudson River from New York City. It was a riverport when freight moved by river and canal. I expect the houses busted in the article above had been long established when 50's era reformers "discovered" them. The town has now upscaled in a depressing sort of way—lots of galleries with bad art, lots of antique stores with...well enough said.

Shop Windows

Hudson, New York

 

 

Fairlee Drive-in Theater

Fairlee, Vermont

This is from digital capture—the large format film is still in the holders—but it's from the same position as the 7x17" shot. This is going to contrast nicely with several theaters in the Pacific Northwest, surrounded by very different-looking evergreens.

On Location

Fairlee, Vermont

We had several things to do on a quick overnight excursion to Vermont and New Hampshire, including a stop at The Fairlee Drive-in Theater Saturday morning. I'd somehow not yet managed to include it in the giant DI project. For a behind the scenes look, Tina took a series of snaps as I worked. This is setting up the 7x17-inch Korona Panoramic View Camera (that's its official name, from a metal nameplate on the front panel).

That's the target.

Lining everything up. Setting the camera in "exactly the right place" is always key, but with the theaters tiny differences in camera position have a big effect on the pattern and intersections/mergers of all the speaker poles in the field, leading to the screen.

Measure the shadow values with a 1° spot meter. This is a second, somewhat closer camera position, using the 8x10" Deardorff.

The sun is out with a light veil of thin cloud. 1/2 second @ f/64.

Digital capture of details around the theater, waiting for the light to be right for the 8x10 shot.

Making the 8x10 exposures.

PHONE

Hudson, New York