I didn't sleep much Wednesday night. I figure it was excitement about the
trip and a little anxiety.
I'd made a trip to the store on Wednesday but forgot some important items
like buns for the Bubba Burgers so I made another stop on the way out of
town. I still forgot to get salt & pepper and sliced cheese. During the
weekend on separate trips, Kyle (A non-lister but a fine woman anyway)
bought the S&P and Scott Loveless bought some very fine quality cheese.
That's just how great it is up on "The Mountain".
The trip up was uneventful, if a bit lonely (Cesar). there was a lot of
smoke in Atlanta from the wildfires burning hundreds of miles to the south,
but the weather was promising (foreshadowing) and the traffic was light. I
made good time and was able to coax more miles from a tank of gas than last
year since I wasn't hauling Cesar's cargo containers.
I was surprised to find that I was almost the first one to the picnic area
we call home. Nico was and Kyle were there but Nico had elected to pitch
his tent over by the cabin this year for reasons known only to him and
anybody who was within a half-mile of Dave Brooks last year.
I made the bold decision to abandon the traditional PDML Central location
for the next spot over. I felt that the new location had a more desirable
front porch area.
The others began to arrive and it wasn't long before Mark Cassino was
banging on a motor home door that *didn't* belong to Cotty. I was leaning
against said motor home and Dave Brooks was drinking a beer at it's table
when the Cannon-shooting-owner pulled-up. um... whoops. But, as should be
expected, he was a really nice guy named Bruce who fit right in with our
goofy group, loaned Cotty some leveling blocks for the camper, and even
facilitated Cotty's wine habit all weekend.
Cotty and Cesar showed-up in an obviously rented motor home that was brand
new. It seems the rental place doesn't know us very well, eh?
Dave ferried Mark up to the trail head and it started raining as-if on cue
the moment Mark disappeared from site. It seems like it rains on him every
year as he's walking briskly up the mountain for his traditional night on
the trail.
We ate the burgers sans cheese and headed up to the bridge in search of a
sunset that never really was.
Scott and Ann turned-up pretty late and we all turned-in for a few hours. I
didn't sleep much
Friday came with more arrivals. I forget now when it started raining but it
seemed like it rained on and off the whole weekend. Matt Massen took a
shower Thursday night and his towel was still wet when I unpacked Sunday
night. Let's just say the weekend was rather moist and not in a fun,
steamy, girlfriend, back-seat kinda way either.
There was a lot of BS-ing around the campsite all day and not many
photographs were taken that didn't include a PDML member goofing off.
David Savage turned-up. He seemed nice enough so I took him up to the
bridge to have a look around and imprison a few electrons. Much to my
dismay though, he seemed more interested in the bridge construction than the
wonderful vistas and beautiful foliage. Ship-builders...go figure.
We all went up to the auditorium to take the oath of less-seriousness and
see the Mark and Darth (Doug) show. There were many laser shenanigans and
one prominent "boing" but hidden deep in the subliminal messages of the
program were some really good photo tips. Avoiding BULLSEYE! was one and
the other that I can remember was something like "Hey, if you make the
photograph good to begin with, you won't have to screw it up in photoshop
later".
Then there was Tony Sweet. He showed a lot of great pictures and he gets
free NIC software and Lensbabys so he talked a lot about that stuff. I was
kinda bored. And what's with the old-man clown hair and dew-rag, dude? I
just figured out that he reminds me of the stoner buss driver on the
Simpsons... I'm sure he's a really nice guy though so don't tell him I said
that, ok?
Saturday came and I went up the mountain at oh-dark-thirty to see what the
sunrise looked like (I didn't sleep much. a pattern develops). There were
many tripods facing East. I figured, hey, if everyone is looking that way,
I should look the other way. FREE TIP: The sun rises in the east so that's
where the nifty light is. I'll post some nice fog shots if they don't suck
when Cesar sends me the bits that are trapped in his laptop. I ate my
poptarts with Nico, Mark and Roger(?) over by the bathroom, took a shower,
and made ready for the planned trip to Attic Window peak.
Now, this is a pretty demanding trail for those of us with less than optimal
fitness. I'm fat and posses little in the way of cardio-stamina. I was
breathing hard before we got to the little stand where you get the trail
maps. Last year I made it up to the ridge right before McRae peak, about
where Tom turned around this year. I was determined to make it to Attic
Window this time but Mark is a mean task master and I almost gave up right
before the ladders. I'm glad I pushed myself and didn't turn back because
it's pretty damned cool up there. I wished I'd had some sort of video
camera on the approach to McRae peak. The mist was blowing up the side of
the mountain and curving around the peak. It was VERY cool. Matt appeared
out of the mist. I think we were all surprised to see him since we figured
the rest of the group had turned back. Rick and Matt turned back as we
left for the next peak. The bit from McRae to Attic Window wasn't very far,
even though there is a good bit of descending and climbing. I got one good
picture there, the one with the eggs and nest. I tried to change lenses to
get that shot and my old Sigma macro zoom wouldn't lock onto the body for
some reason. While looking at the lens and body mounts to determine the
reason, I dropped a big bead of sweat (yes, fat people sweat a lot when
they're pushed) right into the damned camera. Of course, the weather
sealing is great as long as you keep the lens ON the body...damn. While we
were up there, we noticed some folks back at McRae. It seems that was the
rest of our group, the slowpokes, of whom I probably should have been a
part.
The trip down was even more sketchy. We decided to take the "easy" trail
but it's really a lot of rocks to climb down and one of out remaining group,
a nice guy named Henry (no Mark, I didn't remember, he gave me a card Sunday
morning) had a really hard time keeping his footing. I was really afraid he
was going to hurt himself up there. I guess my soft soled shoes and upper
Michigan upbringing were better for walking on slippery stuff. We rejoined
Cotty and Scott's group while they were taking a short (30 min?) break on
the trail. Cotty's friend was excited (and maybe a little freaked-out) that
he'd gone up that high. He's a fun guy. What a cool thing that those two
could hook-up after so many years and seem like they are yesterday's best
mates, eh? Walking down the hill past the many tourist-types who had just
left their cars, I was reminded of several war movie scenes where the fresh
meat are walking towards the battle past the returning wounded and weary
solders. There is likely to be a photo of me kissing the parking lot. That
was just for show, really.
Lunch at the cabin was a treat. I missed Don's lunch last year and was VERY
pleased that there was both Yummy stew and bread left when we returned.
Scott and I were HUNGRY. It was there that we learned that Tom Payne, a
member of Don's GFM team was in some sort of medical distress. Rick
determined that he should see a neurologist strait away and ultimately, it
was found that the local hospital had what was needed so Nico and Cesar took
him down to town. Word was they gave him some good drugs and he was back at
work Sunday morning. Hurray for the NPW team, taking such good care of heir
own!
Mark Cassino's presentation started off a little shaky. He was obviously
nervous at first but hit his stride quickly. He had useful information for
those of us who would aspire to make some photos of little things and he
showed us lots of amazing examples. Unlike the other presenters, who are
presumably all pros, Mark didn't assume we had all the cash in the world,
professing his love for an old <gasp> manual focus A series macro lens, and
even showed us his Ace Hardware flash bracket. Contrast that with another
presenter who said he had no problem taking photos in a sandstorm because
"You can always buy another camera". I don't think ANYBODY left Saturday
not wanting to buy a new dedicated macro lens. And how refreshing to hear a
presenter who uses Pentax cameras as a reference. most of them seem to only
acknowledge the "big two".
Good Job Mark!!!!
After that, Gregory Georges was a disappointment. He showed us a LOT of
photos he'd "fixed" without showing us the "before" shots so we could see
what he'd done and why. It amounted to a "I'm good a PS, look at my photos"
story that I wasn't impressed with. He did have some interesting things to
say about Lightroom, but then he moved on to CS and, since I can't afford
that, I ducked-out. There was a very nice gentleman outside who felt the
same as I did about Mr. Georges and we had a good conversation.
Back at the campsite, there was much beer and merriment. You've seen photos
already of listers consuming a curiously good icy-booze concoction from my
in-law's recipe. Mmmmm. Lots of conversation about lots of topics that
lasted into the morning hours. I was informed that I'd submitted a CD for
the contest that was devoid of actual photos and much fun was made of that
sad fact. It was especially fun if you remember that I had serious issues
last year when almost all the images I made all weekend were corrupted in a
lister's Mac. Two years in a row with digital gremlins was too easy fodder
to pass-up. It's all good though, I'd have done the same to you (ya bunch
of rat-bastards) :)Plans were made to get up early and look for sunrise
opportunities. At 1:30 it began to rain. Again.
5:30 came. People were milling about the campground and I hadn't gotten
much sleep (day four now). I think I stumbled out of the camper while Ann &
Scott were trying to make coffee quietly. Rain and clouds prevented any
sunrise happiness. We all went up to the cafeteria except Ann, who hadn't
enjoyed the dinner up there the night before and figured she could prepare
something more to her liking with the available provisions. I figure she
really just wanted to be away from all the loonies for an hour or two. Who
can blame her?
I didn't enjoy the presentation. It would have been interesting if I had
any money to actually GO to the places the guy was telling us about. During
about the fifth list of which parks to be at during what weeks of the year
(he must have forgotten we all have JOBS), I got Dave Savage, who obviously
needs to know that you need to be at Yellowstone in the third week of May
instead of the fourth and we went to see if the animals were doing anything
interesting. It was raining, still. But Dave and I had the weather sealed
K10 so no worries, mate. We were treated to some FANTASTIC opportunities to
shoot the bald eagle. He hopped off the perch and walked right up to us,
posing for EVER. That was cool as the other side of the pillow. The bears
weren't so hospitable. In fact, I'm still not gotten even one decent shot
of any bear.
We got back in time to hang out with the folks between presentations and see
the Doug and Mark show again. As per the norm, everything they showed us
was on another level from what I can usually produce. I really think the
"can't find the file for the Hugh Morton best-in-show" trick is a hoot. A
special Great Job to our winners, Sue and Wallens!
Then it was all goodbys and packing up in the rain. Cesar fired-up his
computer so we could see Whadyaknow, my image WAS there on my disc... hmph.
Dave flame-broiled some burgers of questionable validity for the departing
travelers who ate them like ravenous dogs. And thus another GFM NPW was
concluded. As I was just about packed-up, the rain stopped. Damn.
Special thanks for the furthest travelers, Dave and Cotty for coming. You
guys do not know how great it makes me feel to get to see you.
Somebody asked me yesterday if I'd learned much or gotten any amazing shots.
I told him, yeah, I'd shot some stuff I liked a lot and I did learn some
things. But that's not the reason I go. The reason I go is you guys.
Thanks for making it such an amazing weekend.
Thanks also go to Don Nelson for holding this all together with his magical
powers.
Photos will follow.
Cory Waters
Owner, PDML West
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