Thursday, July 15, 2010

Off to Yosemite

Tomorrow I leave for the Yosemite high country, in Tuolumne Meadows, to conduct a camping trip for families, on behalf of the Yosemite Conservancy. It's an event I look forward to every year.

Last year, I managed to bring my road bike. My one major ride was up to Tiogas Pass, which is just below 10,000 feet, then a few thousand feet down to Mono Lake, and back to Tuolumne Meadows. I hope to repeat it.

On the other hand, having literally turned some of my muscles to mush last week on the Death Ride, I may opt for something a bit less rigorous.

Given the muggy, high temperatures in Los Angeles for the next few days, a return to the high country will be be a pleasant interlude, whatever I do with my free time.

While I survived the Death Ride, my little Panasonic digicam did not. A new one is on order. For whatever bike ride I attempt, I'm going to resurrect my Rollei 35, one of the classic rangefinders of the film eraIt only comes with a slightly wide 40mm lens, but what a lens! Its f/2.8
Sonnar lens is reputedly one of the finest ever created.


Small enough to fit in a jersey pocket, I'm going to see how far I can stretch my creative limits with the little camera, which I've probably had since sometime in the early 1970s. The little camera has probably traveled with me up one hundred peaks in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, and was finally retired when the digital age of photography arrived.

Film of choice will be a few roles of Kodak's VS Ektachrome, the slides digitized and if found worthy, presented here in a few weeks.

Above: Last time I used my Rollei 35, on a climbing trip with friends in 2007.


1 comment:

Bradley Hsi said...

Ah, that was the road that Grace and I took last year, in a car and took a whole day! It is such a scenic place. Have a good ride!!