Saturday, June 5, 2004
So much for the weather forecast today.
The "decreasing rain and a few showers" continued to pour from the leaden cloud covered sky all day long. Only a fool would go out in cold rain and wind, and it would take an even bigger fool to drag a camera along with him.
Most of my trips to Kilgore Falls were on nice hot, sunny days. The forecast earlier in the week promised a good day but that deteriorated as time passed. It seemed bleak, with chilly temperatures and a rain filled morning, but the promise of a halt to the downpour was enough to make us carry on with a planned trip. With stops for faster film and rain gear, we headed out over wet roads for one of my favorite parks.
The rain never stopped. It seemed to slow for a moment or two, only to pick up with the same intensity as before. If it wasn't for the shelter of an overhanging cliff, the trip would have been a complete disaster. Scrunched beneath a low rock roof, there was just enough dry space to load film and change into costumes. Shooting in the protection of the overhang would have made for a drier time but we had come all this way for the falls. Soaked already from the walk into the park, another drenching to do a bit of picture taking almost made sense.
The conditions at the falls were far from ideal. Slippery footing on wet rocks, cold rain splashing on the lens and a chilling wind would usually have me hating life. You just have to put up with these things if you want to catch a picture of the elusive 
water sprite who lives at the base of the falls.
Posted by coldmarble @ 08:13 PM ET [Link] [blab]
Monday, May 31, 2004
About 20 or so years ago, when I had fewer creaking noises in my joints and possibly a few more loose marbles rattling in my head, I took a course in rock climbing at a local community college. That introduction to the climbing community kept me busy for several years or more with training sessions after work, weekend trips to local crags and occasional expeditions to more remote areas. The fellow teaching the course is still at it. In fact, he's been at it for 30 years. He knew there was no way that one person could take an entire class out for climbing trips, so he always recruited past class members to come along on the trips as guides. The system worked well. Most of the students bitten by the climbing bug came back to assist for several years, always happy to help out the man who'd shown them the way to the top of the rock.
His hair is a little thinner now and a whole lot grayer but he's dragging another class down to Seneca Rocks in a few weeks. There'll be a surprise for him there. A number of the folks who guided for him over the past three decades got together at the practice cliff used by the class for a group portrait. There'll be a bigger color digital print of the group and also a tiny 4x5 Van Dyke print of the IMSAR guides.
Posted by coldmarble @ 06:52 PM ET [Link] [1 blab]
