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

[mstoesz at wyoming.com (Mike Stoesz)]

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