More archaeology, this time images

[ka jowct]

From a family trip in (I think) August 1968. According to what little I wrote down, this was the Powder River Pass. Sunny at the beginning, sunny at the end, blizzard in the middle. Kodak Instamatic. Wish I'd had a better camera that I knew how to use.

[mikebw]

Better than no camera!

[hal]

not bad for an instamatic

[Buzz]

I can't be the only one that was expecting to see this.......


==

[hal]

My fav instamatic moment was when a bear entered our camp at dawn. While 1/2 alseep in my tent, I heard one buddy say to the other, 'Hey eric - get up - a bear took my backpack - we gotta get it back.'

That woke me up. I was outta the tent and looking around. My pack had been messed with too. By the time I was ready to go after the lost pack, they were already returning with it. I guess they scared it out of the bear's possession.

You could hear him stomping around in the thick brush nearby and then he popped out on this log that crossed a tiny creek. He was stopped right in the middle - it was a perfect shot. The bear was in profile on the log over the water, lush greenery was all around him. I had ONE shot left on my instamatic.

I lined up and took the shot. It was magnificent! It was like he was posing just for me. I couldn't wait to get it developed.

What I failed to take into account was the fact that it was pre-sunrise dawn and this scene was in a rather thickly forested area. It was dark. I wasn't much of a photog in those days. I didn't even realize that it was WAY too dark to get the shot with that camera.

My perfect shot was a brown blur in front of a green blur of a background. It could have been a bear - it could have been a bottle of beer or a car or just about anything.

So disappointed! But I still have that pic somewhere...

[ka jowct]

hal wrote:
My fav instamatic moment was when a bear entered our camp at dawn. While 1/2 alseep in my tent, I heard one buddy say to the other, 'Hey eric - get up - a bear took my backpack - we gotta get it back.'

That woke me up. I was outta the tent and looking around. My pack had been messed with too. By the time I was ready to go after the lost pack, they were already returning with it. I guess they scared it out of the bear's possession.

You could hear him stomping around in the thick brush nearby and then he popped out on this log that crossed a tiny creek. He was stopped right in the middle - it was a perfect shot. The bear was in profile on the log over the water, lush greenery was all around him. I had ONE shot left on my instamatic.

I lined up and took the shot. It was magnificent! It was like he was posing just for me. I couldn't wait to get it developed.

What I failed to take into account was the fact that it was pre-sunrise dawn and this scene was in a rather thickly forested area. It was dark. I wasn't much of a photog in those days. I didn't even realize that it was WAY too dark to get the shot with that camera.

My perfect shot was a brown blur in front of a green blur of a background. It could have been a bear - it could have been a bottle of beer or a car or just about anything.

So disappointed! But I still have that pic somewhere...

Oh, yeah. My brother and I both had lots of shots like that. He had an early '60s Agfa with the focus ring that had little icons on it: mountain, people, flower. I have some shots of buffalo in fading light. Sigh.

[Don C]

As a youngster visiting Yellowstone National Park I was so excited to take pictures of those huge elk with my Brownie. Those huge elk came back as little tiny specs on the pictures of wild grasslands.

[Thrift Store Scott]

hal wrote:
not bad for an instamatic

I'm no-one's idea of an expert, but to my untrained eyes that looks superb for an instamatic.

Also, it looks like a real-life version of something Hokusai (100 Views Of Mount Fuji) might have done.

[ka jowct]

Don C wrote:
As a youngster visiting Yellowstone National Park I was so excited to take pictures of those huge elk with my Brownie. Those huge elk came back as little tiny specs on the pictures of wild grasslands.

My brother and I got shots like that. "They look like ants from here."

[DP]

Sorry-worked it over a little bit for you...