Airtight Memories

I posted this a couple years ago, but I was reminded of Yosemite National Park today. Forgive the repost if that is a problem. Different story. Yosemite had record snow and the heaviest melt in 50 years. I have been watching videos posted. I wish I was there.

I made seven trips to the park with family and friends. This photo is from a hike I made with a good friend several decades ago. We started at Happy Isles trailhead. We went up the Mist Trail to the top of Vernal Falls. Oh boy, is "Mist" a misnomer! We got drenched, and the water was ice cold. Then we continued up to the top of Nevada Falls. We had completely dried out by then and we were sweating profusely. We crossed well above the falls, and made our way down.

This path was more steep and rugged, harder on the knees, but it was also a much faster return. It was getting late and we wanted different scenery, too. It provided this view of the falls. I was long and lean then. I still have no problems with climbing steep trails, but I am much more cautious these days.

The camera was a Mamiya C-220 and standard 80mm lens. I had a 5lb Bogen tripod as well. I think I was using a Gossen Super Pilot meter. (It still works today). Heat, dust, water never phased that camera kit on many hikes. But it did get heavy after a few miles. The three toughest cameras I have used are the Mamiya, a Leica M4-2, and a Nikon FM2N, which is still going strong today. I'll add one more. I dropped a D7500 on it's head on a rock a couple years ago. The fall took a chunk out of the pentaprism and broke the LCD display, but it still functioned, and the repair made it perfect again.

The original photo was taken on Ektachrome and was stored in an air tight box until a couple years ago when I scanned it. I like this rendition much better than the color. There is remarkable detail in the water, that I could not render in a print until lately. I returned the original slide to its air tight box.

Memories in an air tight box is sort of poetic. Enjoy.

(No A.I. was harmed in the making of this photograph.