Bogdan I don't think I would have been able to bite my tongue with all that going on. What more could have been done to you if you had given them a piece of your mind? It's not as if you were travelling through Zimbabwe or some other barbaric land. Don Sweet ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bogdan Karasek" <bkarasek@xxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Friday, June 27, 2008 11:45 AM Subject: [pure-silver] Re: Yosemite > Hi Justin, > > I just got back this morning from Death Valley; took the red eye from > Vegas with a transfer in Toronto. I'm still in recovery mode, so I'll > be brief. you don't want to be lugging a 4x5 with you when you are > flying. I imagine that to get to Yosemite, you will have to take at > least two flights each way, which means that each time you are getting > on an airplane, they will take your camera bag apart, including your > hiking boots, belt, watch, spare coins hidden in the recesses of a > pocket and when you are tired from lugging all that equipement around, > you do not feel very co-operative. Vegas was fine, OK. The flight > left at 23:20pm and there was only one other flight leaving from > terminal Two so everything was very relaxed. But they are thorough. > After the camera bag had gone through the scanning machine, they took > out my two Yashica-mats and X-rayed each one. Roll film they > understand, but 4x5 sheet film can be a hassle, so save yourself a lot > of frustration, and it can get very frustrating if it is very very > crowded, as when I had to change flights in Toronto. Everybody from > Vegas and elsewhere was getting a connecting flight in Toronto to > someplace else in Canada, so the security system was stretched to the > limits and then some. I can just see the metal wires on your > darkslides setting the machines off and they will want to know why. > Unless, you run into somebody who knows about darkslides and how they > work, you might have to land up pulling the slide and exposing the > film. And of course, there is a crowd behind you that is in a hurry > because they want to get a coffee before making their connecting flight > and you are slowing them down. I was in the unfortunate situation where > I had removed all metal objects from my clothes, metal snaps had been > accounted for and the walk through detector was still going off. Then, > I realized the problem. I had a hip replacement several years ago and > have a piece of titanium in my thigh bone. Would they believe me. NO! > Into a private room and I had to show them my scar and they ran the > metal detector over it and were finally satisfied that the metal was > inside my hip. After not sleeping all night on the red-eye, I was > ready to give them a piece of my mind, but I bite my tongue. Wouldn't > have helped any. > > Stick with the Hassies; less of a hassle and you don't have to open up > your 4x5 to show and explain that it is a camera; and then the film > holders.... another can of worms to avoid. > > And this obsession with removing your shoes; fine if you are wearing > sandals but I was wearing ankle high hiking boots. > > Do yourself a favour, Justin, bring the hassies and you'll enjoy the > trip more. > > More on Death Valley tomorrow. But I will add that the haze was very > bad because of the smoke from the brush fires in the Bay Area. There > was a just a pall hanging over the valley. At one point, you could > barely make out the Panamint range from Dante's View; it was that > bad. And the humidity was high, on Tuesday it was 17% where it should > normally be around 2-3%. > > But despite the 120°F heat, it was all worth it! It was everything > everybody said it would be and even more to my mind. it's not just > about the photography...... > > Have yourself a great trip, Justin. > > Cheers, > Bogdan > > Justin F. Knotzke wrote: > > > Hi, > > > > Since you were all so kind in helping my fellow Montrealer Bogdan, > >I'd like to ask for similar advice. > > > > We are heading off to Yosemite for two full days in August. We've > >found ourselves a nice B&B to stay. Given that we have never been and > >also given that we aren't camping. Could people suggest what we should > >aim for in terms of photo shoots ? I haven't decided if I should lug > >the 4x5 with me yet or just the Hasselblad.. Either way, I am open to > >full suggestions. > > > > Thanks > > > > J > > > > > > > > > > -- > ________________________________________________________________ > Bogdan Karasek > Montréal, Québec bogdan(at)bogdanphoto.com > Canada www.bogdanphoto.com > > "I bear witness" > ________________________________________________________________ > > > > ============================================================================ ================================= > To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there. ============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.