[Leica] OT- LF get-together in the West

[bruce at ralgo.nl (bruce)]

I went to the net to look .................. Laramie ................  
I had already been several times to my trusty Rand McNally .........  
and found an university, musea,, cowfolk attractions ............ but  
mostly in the months of June and July. I remembered then that the  
major part of the state lies at 1500 meters and above! And  
then .............. click (not mouse) ...........

I have good friends in Nevada City, CA (way up in the hills NE from  
Sacremento) who find that the modern influx is endangering their  
freedom (last 5 years) and are seeking a change of location.

Returning to my biblical atlas, Rand McNally ........... I started  
seeking .............. places I would also like to be/view/maybe  
live ................ and I came to Wyoming. Constant distances  
between the towns. Names I knew from my childhood and study of the  
cowboys ................ the Wells Fargo routes across the middle  
USA. A state of open, not flat (remember I live in Holland) but  
undulating terrain, where there is "room" to move, without the masses.

I suggested it to them. The rejoinder was: "beautiful for four/five  
months of the year and for the rest ......... bloody  
cold ............. estranged from the world". So, I don't really  
know ............. the biggest ranches (in the hands of the  
wealthiest people, who are seldom there); paradise ski slopes (but is  
there sun too?) ............

Why are you there Mike, after 25 years (apart from the fishing ......  
what sits on the end of your line)?
B.

On 26-jan-2006, at 18:41, Mike Stoesz wrote:

> Howdy Norm and all;
>
> Please do come visit.  Wyoming isn't all that bad.  Lots of blue  
> skies with great clouds, sunshine (as much as Phoenix), wide open  
> spaces or confined woodlands, cold wind and snow, altitude that  
> will take your breath away, low unemployment, low taxes, a state  
> with a fiscal surplus, great university.  Check out Laramie on the  
> web at Lariat.org.
> I do not believe there is a motel in town where the rate is over  
> $80 and we are to have a Hilton in the near future.  The football  
> stadium holds 30,000 and fills--doubling the population of the city  
> on a Sat. afternoon.  Best time of year to visit is from May to  
> November.
> I-80 route is not all that bad btw.  There are some great places to  
> photograph in all that barreness between Rawlins and Green River.  
> Only a small percent of Wyoming is actually mountains, there are  
> lots more highplains and basins and there is more there than meets  
> the eye at first glance.
> Kind regards, Mike (a Wyoming resident since 1969)(fishing is GREAT)
>
> Mike Stoesz, VP
> Rainbow Photography, Inc.
> 213 Grand Av.
> Laramie, Wy. 82070
>
>
> Date: Wed, 25 Jan 2006 18:13:21 -0800
> From: "Norm Aubin" <puff11@comcast.net>
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Way OT: Shooting 8x10 LF and contact printing
> Mike -
> In one sense you are way off base - I'm an ex-pat New Yorker who was
> convinced that the N.Y./Pennsylvania border was the start of the  
> wild west,
> and in another sense you are spot on - in my heart of hearts  
> Wyoming is the
> center of the universe. The Absaroka mountain range is to die for,  
> and the
> Yellowstone and Teton areas are one of God's most delightful gifts to
> America. "High, Wide and Handsome" is the appropriate state motto.
>
> On a sad note, or perhaps as an engineering marvel, the traffic  
> engineers
> who laid the course for I-80 achieved a miracle; they found the only
> possible route the a wonderfully beautiful state wherein they  
> managed to
> miss or avoid every possible scenic location there is. This is akin to
> solving the four-color map theorem.
> The last time I was in Laramie they had not paved all the streets  
> yet, and I
> bought my first pair of buffalo hide cowboy boots. I fell in love  
> with that
> town then and there! 'Twas the summer of '69, and life was still in  
> spring!
>
> You know, this is the germination of an idea - we ought to start  
> thinking in
> terms of a photographic rendezvous, akin to the guys in the old  
> hide clothes
> and such, but for all types and styles of photographers who just  
> want to
> have a get-together in the middle of B.F.N. (that's an acronym for  
> - "some
> scenic locale") and celebrate the making of photographs, and  
> sitting around
> the camp fire telling lies, er ah - incidents in our past - and  
> perhaps
> showing off a portfolio of stuff that we want to pass around and  
> get coffee
> stains on.
>
> Food for though . . . maybe late spring or early fall of '07 is  
> enough time
> to let it start to become real . . . hmmmm
> Best of light,
> Norm
>
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