Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> From: Jeff S Hate wasting materials in any event: I've seen clearcut forests > in British Columbia, and they are not pretty! > Had been meaning to give the latest update on the Coast Guard aerial photography flights, and Jeff gave me a good topic for response. In almost 10 hours now of flying now around Northern California, at least 98 percent of the aerial photos are green, meaning trees, trees and more trees. All photos were assigned at random points in order to quality control a resource map made from satellite images. I find myself hoping one of those random points might let me shoot a meadow or a road, just for a change. But man, there are a lot of trees out there. Yes, I've seen clear cuts here and there. No, they are not especially pretty. But everywhere I looked, trees were growing back. And the really big, ancient redwoods we flew over are about 95% in protected forests now. You can scarcely believe how fast a redwood tree grows around here. Four years ago, we had to cut down about a dozen around our house that had cracked the driveway, pushed over retaining walls, and grown to within five inches of the eves of the house. (You really couldn't see the forest for the trees!) Then we had to remove stumps entirely to keep the redwoods from sprouting in the same place again. I can remember when I had lived in New Jersey for about six months, even tho I was raised in Oregon, I was starting to think that the whole world was paved. It seems that fewer and fewer people understand the amazing, renewable resource we have out here and just how much there is of it. One of the main reasons people have not seen it is because you have to drive or fly over so many hundreds of miles of forest to get here! Same goes for British Columbia, too. So Jeff, bemoan the waste of paper, not for the trees that will grow back again, but perhaps for the waste of silver that will never be created again. I am amazed that people are actually promoting aluminum and steel studs for framing houses. Last I heard, God wasn't creating any new aluminum or iron, either. Off my soapbox and back to cameras - along with the platform mounted Hasselblad ELM, I have been taking an M6 and a CL with 21 Elmarit, 35 Summicron and 90 Elmarit for other photos. The best shots have been in the hanger with early morning light streaming in. Some good portraits of Coast Guard personnel have come from that light, too. From the air, I have been getting documentation shots of rivers and bays, an occasional neighborhood or building site of someone I know, interior cockpit views, or an ocean vista that just looks pretty. The pilots like to log as many hours as they can, so are usually open to a short detour or fly-around to grab a few Leica shots out the open side door. So far, I have used Astia and Velvia and really appreciate those great Leitz optics that let me shoot close to wide open at 1/1000th. Most fun today was buzzing a ridge about 20 feet above the tree tops so we could maintain proper altitude on the Mad River valley a thousand feet down the steep ridges on the other side. Also, we had just finished our last transect shots when a radio message from base reported a parachute seen at seven miles offshore. Still in the air, we stowed the camera platform quickly inside, closed the door, and they cranked the Dolphin up to about 160 knots to investigate. About half way there, an update report came through - the parachute was actually a weather balloon. Next flights aren't until next week, and I hope to try out the 70mm film magazines on the Hasselblad. A 100' roll of Kodak Aerochrome HS just arrived today, so I have a couple of days to test it and the bigger magazines that hold 70 exposures. (Am having trouble finding 70mm 'chromes tho as this was the last roll in stock at a specialty supplier. Does anyone have info? I am also looking for an extra 12 exposure back.) Then back to photographing lots of trees again. When Greg Achenbach reported on his visit with me here in Eureka a couple months ago, he gave me my LUG "handle" which has been fun to use. Little did I know then how prophetic he would be. Regards, Gary Todoroff Tree LUGger