Thanks for a fine report, Mark... You make me sad I wasn't there, which is the whole idea, I think...isn't it... I look forward to some photos to view!
keith whaley Mark Roberts wrote: > > Well, yesterday I got home from North Carolina and another fine > Grandfather Mountain Nature Photography Weekend. Bill Owens, listmeister > Doug Brewer, and I were the only PDML’ers to make it this year. Despite > the highly variable weather it was another great outing. > > I drove down on Thursday and spent the night at my friend’s vacation > cabin in Ashe County, about 50 miles from GFM. The drive from Pittsburgh > took only six and a half hours, thanks to a considerably quicker route I > found. I was able to get settled in by 5:30 and relax for the evening. > > I spent Friday morning scouting around for locations for a future > project I want to shoot in the area, then drove to GFM on the Blue Ridge > Parkway at an unusual (for me) leisurely pace. It was really wonderful > to *not* have deadlines and tasks looming ahead of me for a change! > > I reached the Mountain around 10:30 on Friday morning and checked in at > the main office. Really nice people at this place. Definitely part of > the charm. I notified them I planned on camping on the ridge for the > night so they wouldn’t have the rangers sending out a search party for > me! > > Found Bill Owens’ pop-up camper in the campground but no sign of Bill or > his wife, so I went down to visit a privileged friend who actually has a > cabin on the property. Around lunchtime, people started to show up, > including Steve Tinetti, an *official* customer service rep from Pentax > Colorado! He brought all kinds of nice toys with him; big lenses, macro > lenses (FA 200/4.0) and a new (film) *ist. Apparently we missed getting > a digital *ist-D by only a week. The first two had arrived in Colorado > only a week before GFM and were still being used for getting brochure > shots and, doubtless, fondling by Colorado staff. If they’d come in > *two* weeks before, one of them would probably have made it to > Grandfather. Alas, things didn’t work out that way :( The film *ist, by > the way, seems like a very cool camera. The AF is great, particularly > the focus point selection. > > A group of us went to get some photos of the animals at the nature > center half way up the mountain. Thanks to Pentax, we had a 300/2.8 and > a 600/4.0 with which to frighten children. With all this of Big Glass > around, I armed myself with my 15mm f3.5, just to be deliberately > contrary! > > On Friday evening I loaded up my climbing pack with tent, sleeping bag, > some food and a couple of litres of water, one camera body (MZ-S) and > three lenses (Pentax A-20/2.8, Tokina 28-70/2.6-2.8 and Vivitar 70-210 > Series 1) and a small tripod. I’d been concerned about carrying this > load, but I was pleased to find it much lighter than the all-camera-gear > load I usually have in my Lowe Nature Trekker AW! Then Nico Reinbold, > another GFM regular, drove me to the uppermost part of the Grandfather > Mountain road and I set off along the trail. > > The trail on the upper part of the mountain is pretty tough, having many > sections that are only traversable without ropes and harnesses because > they have ladders and cables permanently bolted to the mountain. I was > pleasantly surprised to find the going easier than I remembered it from > last year. A year ago I was struggling with a torn tibialis posterior > tendon in my left leg. This year I was fully healthy and, despite my > having just done a marathon a week previously, this made a tremendous > difference. (Well, duh.) > > I reached Attic Window Peak (about 5950 ft altitude) around 5:45 p.m. > and started looking for the campsite. I discovered they had built a > platform for tents so I’d be off the ground, a very good thing > considering the rain that had been forecast. The location was also > fairly well sheltered considering how high up on the mountain it was. > After setting up camp I climbed to the top of the peak (only about 50 > meters away) and spent an hour or so getting some spectacular (I hope) > sunset shots. It was a bit scary at times because it’s quite exposed up > there and the wind was pretty aggressive. The 70-210 proved almost > useless because the small tripod I’d brought couldn’t hold it steady > enough in the wind and long shutter speeds were necessary in the fading > light. I’m hoping for good things from the 20mm and 28-70 shots, though. > > The wind picked up even more through the night. I got up in total > darkness at 5:00 on Saturday morning, dressed and found my way back up > to the top of the peak by flashlight. I could see flashes of lightning > in the distance on the western horizon - where the wind was coming from > at around 60-70 mph. Sunrise photography was clearly going to be out of > the question. I hustled back to my tent and the storm arrived around > 6:00. If it hadn’t be weighted down my me and my gear, the tent would > have blown right off the mountain, even though the campsite wasn’t very > exposed. There were plenty of very bright lightning flashes and > subsequent deafening booms of thunder, but I don’t think there were any > lightning strikes on the mountain. By 7:30, the worst of the storm - the > thunder and lightning - had passed by, but it seemed as if the rain was > set to continue for a while so I packed up my gear and then took down > the tent in the rain. The trip back along the trail, about 2 miles, was > pretty exciting. There are places with a lot of exposure and the wind > was truly violent. Loaded with a heavy pack I had to be very careful in > the more dangerous spots. Still, I had no reason to hurry and by taking > my time I avoided any big scares. By the time I’d climbed down the last > of the tough sections, the rain was gone and shortly thereafter (9:00 or > so) I met Nico coming along the trail looking for me. > > Back down the mountain to the campground at the picnic area I changed > and had some breakfast and we got a group together to hike the Profile > Trail on the other side of the mountain, where I know some good spots > along the streams that run through that area. Steve from Pentax came > along and we spent a pleasant afternoon in the ever-improving weather > climbing the trail on the North side of the mountain and getting some > great shots with the expensive Pentax glass he’d brought. > > I’d missed the first of the weekend’s speakers (Dick Ginkowski) because > I’d been on the mountain Friday night, but I got to hear Vinny Colucci > and Michael Reichmann on Saturday evening. Vinny gave a presentation on > tripods and related equipment, a good change from the usual camera/lens > kind of talk. Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape fame gave a talk > on digital photography. He had some stunning shots to show and I wished > he’d spent more time talking about how he got these shots and less > talking about gear. Still, I think most of those present appreciated it. > > Saturday night the wind was so bad it was taking down trees near the > camping area and the rangers were making people move their tents away > from certain areas. Bill Owens offered me a spot in his camper and I > accepted instantly. He makes good home-brewed beer, too :) After the > day’s activities, I slept like a log despite the howling wind outside. > > The nature photography program continued on Sunday morning. I was the > "warm-up" speaker so I had to get up to the nature museum early and set > up my prints. While I was waiting to begin someone asked Tony Sweet if > those prints were his. "No, but I wish they were" he said, proving that > he is not only a great photographer, but a consummate bullshit artist as > well! (He’s a really fun guy - a real hippie - and I was disappointed > not to have the chance to talk to him more.) I showed my photos and gave > a short talk and then went into the basement to help Doug Brewer judge > the slides in the photo contest. I was sorry to miss Tony Sweet’s > presentation but Doug was suffering through a sinus infection and needed > help. He ended the day with a fever of 104 degrees and a trip to the > hospital (he’s reportedly doing much better now). > > We had a lot of talent entered in the photo contest and some great > images. Very tough judging in some instances. It's really encouraging to > see people doing work this good. We got the winners picked out and > organized just after Tony finished his talk and Q/A session. > > All in all it was a terrific, if tiring, weekend. Hoping for a bigger > PDML turnout next year. Start making plans now (this year’s program sold > out weeks in advance). > > -- > Mark Roberts > Photography and writing > www.robertstech.com
