Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/22
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Last week I showed slides to all the great guys and gals at the Group Humboldt Bay Coast Guard air station. About 100 of the crew were there for their holiday "stand-down" muster, and I was the featured entertainment with shots from the aerial photo project with those beautiful Dolphin helicopters. It's hard to beat a well projected Leica transparency. They enjoyed aerial landscapes and aircraft photos - most of all shots of themselves, which is what the Leica is best at, of course. Lots of kibitzing and laughter as I showed everyone from kitchen crew to commander. Great fun all around and a wonderful feeling of welcome from an elite group whose trust has been achieved thru doing a job with them and doing it well. Thank you Leica (and Hasselblad, too, which did the actual work-a-day aerial photos). Then early last Sunday I drove down to San Francisco, and the snow began falling just 25 miles south of Eureka. I stopped at both the Benbow Inn and Richardson Grove as day was dawning. Three or four inches of snow covered redwoods and rivers in a rare display - maybe this happens once every 15 years. . . and this time I was there! I shot Velvia and Astia with the M6, mostly using 21mm Elmarit, 35mm Summicron and 50mm Summicron. What a bounty of visual delights. Fresh snow on giant trees, rising light over a big river, and nobody's tracks in the snow but my own. It was the best Christmas present I could have hoped for. I'm still grinning at the memory of it all, and more and more amazed at the abundance of beauty and grace in God's creation. What a privilege to be able to see it and capture a few slices of it on film. Merry Christmas to all - Gary Todoroff Tree LUGger