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Point Reyes, California
31
August 2009
29 30 31 August 01 02 September 2009 tech details
Today is the first day of our formal photo trip, so today is the first day I actually got some good photos.
We started at Point Reyes National Seashore.
Something Interesting, Point Reyes National Seashore, California, 8:53 AM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS.
Hmm? What is it that is getting everyone so excited?
It was a big, ugly something several inches long that we saw shuffling across our path.
We had no idea what it was, so we showed our photos to the rangers, and they had no idea.
It was forwarded to the park's biologist, and he had no idea either.
Whatever it was, it was something very unusual.
The image went up the PhD chain until a very advanced bug doctor recognized it. What is it?
It is a larva of the deadly Human Botfly. What's a Botfly? A Botfly is a bug with a life cycle so bizarre that only a God with a big sense of humor could have dreamt it up. These larva grow inside people's brains, and when the person dies as the larva grows, it eats its way back out of their ears or eyes, and emerges as we saw above.
We had no idea that there must have been a dead body lying in the brush or we would have looked. When we first saw this thing, we presumed it was some ordinary sort of big bug, not a man-eating Botfly.
After our appetites were whetted by our encounter with the Botfly, we headed to lunch in Point Reyes Station. We woudn't learn until a month later that it was a man-eater. These are perfectly safe as larvae; the eggs get implanted after an adult fly sticks eggs onto a mosquito, and then the eggs jump off later as the mosquito sucks blood from a hapless victim.
After lunch, we headed to the Point Reyes Lighthouse.
Point Reyes Lighthouse, Point Reyes, California, 4:02 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS.
Orange, Point Reyes Lighthouse, Point Reyes, California, 4:05 PM.
Snapped with an Agfa Super Isolette (1953) on 120 format Fuji Velvia (original formula) with an 81A gel filter at f/11 and 1/6 of a second, hand-held by bracing it against a railing. NCPS process and scan. I metered LV 9 with my Polaroid selenium-cell meter that I got at a garage sale for a dollar.
Orange, Point Reyes Lighthouse, Point Reyes, California, 4:09 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS.
Dave Wyman, Point Reyes Lighthouse, Point Reyes, California, 4:35 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS. I turned on the flash as fill to light Dave's face, which otherwise would have been dark and without form.
Gate at the Top of the Thousand Steps, Point Reyes Lighthouse, California, 4:36 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS. Likewise, I used fill-flash to highlight all the red tape.
After our fun at the lighthouse, we happened upon a farm.
Farm Latch, West Marin, 5:30 PM.
I shot this with a Contax 645 and Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2 (equivalent to a 50mm lens on 35mm film) with 72mm Hoya HMC 81A warming filter on 220 size Fuji Velvia film (original formula) in a vacuum back at 1/90 at f/8, Av exposure mode.This technical data is imprinted on the film edge by the Contax 645. NCPS process and scan.
Farm Ladder, West Marin, 5:30 PM.
I shot this with a Contax 645 and Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2 (equivalent to a 50mm lens on 35mm film) with 72mm Hoya HMC 81A warming filter on 220 size Fuji Velvia film (original formula) in a vacuum back at 1/60 at f/8, Av exposure mode. This technical data is imprinted on the film edge by the Contax 645. NCPS process and scan.
Farm Tread, West Marin, California, 5:30 PM.
Snapped with an Agfa Super Isolette (1953) on 120 format Fuji Velvia (original formula) with an 81A gel filter at f/5.6 and 1/60 of a second (set as 1/100), focus at 3.4 feet. Metered with my Polaroid selenium-cell meter that I got at a garage sale for a dollar. NCPS process and scan.
Yellow Farm Pivot, West Marin, California, 5:45 PM.
I shot this with a Contax 645 and Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2 (equivalent to a 50mm lens on 35mm film) with 72mm Hoya HMC 81A warming filter on 220 size Fuji Velvia film (original formula) in a vacuum back at 1/125 at f/5.6, Av exposure mode. This technical data is imprinted on the film edge by the Contax 645. NCPS process and scan.
Electricity, West Marin, California, 5:45 PM.
I shot this with a Contax 645 and Zeiss Planar T* 80mm f/2 (equivalent to a 50mm lens on 35mm film) with 72mm Hoya HMC 81A warming filter on 220 size Fuji Velvia film (original formula) in a vacuum back at 1/125 at f/4, Av exposure mode. This technical data is imprinted on the film edge by the Contax 645. NCPS process and scan.
Elk Crossing, West Marin, California, 6:56 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS at its widest setting.
Elk Crossing, West Marin, 7:05 PM.
I shot this with a Contax 645 and Zeiss Planar T* 35mm f/3.5 (equivalent to a 21mm lens on 35mm film) with a 95mm Schneider 81-One warming filter on 220 size Fuji Velvia film (original formula) in a vacuum back. NCPS process and scan.
After looking for elk, we enjoyed dinner in Point Reyes Station.
Point Reyes Station by Moonlight and Star, 9:42 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS, Auto ISO chose ISO 800, program chose f/3.5 at one second, zoom at 6.6mm (37mm equivalent). I hand-held this by bracing the little camera on our still-running car. Everything was set as I always leave it; I just pointed and shot in my usual auto-everything settings (P mode, not auto).
fuzzy, grainy original © file, hand-held at ISO 800.
Tripods are for wimps.
After dinner, we headed to the Abalone Inn for the night.
Abalone Inn, Inverness, California, 10:20 PM.
Snapped with a Canon SD980 IS, ISO 400, f/2.8 at 1 second. I had to dial-in +1 2/3 stops of auto exposure compensation to get it to look like this.
I had my tripod set-up for my Contax 645, so I probably did pop the SD980 on it for this snap.
29 30 31 August 01 02 September 2009 tech details
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