I started tracking the tanker Prime Thursday night when the MarineTraffic app showed it was due to arrive in Ludington about 10:20 p.m. Saturday. At that point, it was still in Lake Erie, about to enter the Detroit River.
I have learned that when MarineTraffic reports the expected time of arrival, it means when the vessel is expected to be at the dock, not at the pier heads. So, for Ludington, I need to arrive about 30 minutes early. I got down to the Loomis Street boat ramps in Ludington about 9:50 p.m. Saturday and parked in my usual spot, the southeast corner. I like parking there because when I am flying the drone, I prefer not to draw a lot of attention.
The ship was clearly in sight when I parked, about at the mouth of the Lincoln River. It seemed to be moving slowly. After about an hour, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t going to come into port until morning. This made sense since the Prime is a foreign-flagged vessel, which on the Great Lakes requires a pilot.
Since I have seen this before, I figured it would make its entry into port at daybreak. Prime would be the first ship to visit the Port of Ludington this shipping season, but I headed home with the attitude that I would just catch photos of it docked at OxyChem sometime Sunday.
Apparently, my mind felt I needed to photograph the ship coming into port because I woke up — without an alarm — at 5:30 a.m. I figured it was meant to be, so I made my way back to the boat ramps.
Just a few minutes after I parked, puffs of black smoke came out of her stacks. Perfect timing, though I knew it would be at least another 20 to 30 minutes before she came into port.
Sunday’s weather conditions were nearly perfect for flying the drone and photographing the ship. The wind was minimal, and the sky was partly cloudy. Dawn is the best time to photograph ships coming into port since the sun is in the east — until you turn the camera east, when you have to be a little more creative with your angles. Luckily, the sun went partly behind the clouds by the time she was heading up the channel and into Pere Marquette Lake.
I got a little more daring with my drone shots Sunday. I filmed with my DJI Mavic 3 Pro. This drone is the flagship of DJI’s camera drones and features an excellent Hasselblad 24mm lens, which is far superior in quality to the 24mm lens on my DJI Air 3, though I really like the Air 3. Typically, with ships, I tend to film with the drone’s 70mm lens. I like that focal length because of the narrower field of view. That particular lens is identical on both drones. I find the Air 3 handles a little better in windier conditions, which is why it is often my go-to drone. But I decided to get a little closer and shoot more images with the 24mm. I was very happy with how the shots turned out, though I did get some images with the 70mm as well.
Bonus photos Sunday included the tug Sarah Andrie assisting.
I didn’t expect to catch Prime departing because I had been told it was going to leave at 3 a.m. When I checked the Ludington Ship Watch Facebook page first thing in the morning, I saw it was scheduled to leave about 8:15 a.m. I usually don’t make it to my morning worksite, the Book Mark, until about 8:20 since I have my Uber duties of dropping kids off at school in Scottville. But I lucked out. As I drove down Loomis Street, I saw Prime still in Pere Marquette Lake making her way to the channel.
I had already decided I would photograph the departure from the ground using my Nikon D600 and a 70-200mm Nikon lens. It is good to get different perspectives. Additionally, 30 mph wind gusts assured I wouldn’t be putting up a drone. I was equally pleased with these shots.
As a photographer, it is good to have a muse. While I use these images on Mason County Press and enjoy researching the vessels and sharing that information with readers, I have found there is something fun about chasing down the boats and trying to find a different view. There is also a sense of community among the “boat nerds.” I am looking forward to getting shots of the next one.
