[Philmont]: Cameras - A Contrarian View, II

On the other hand....

As many of you already know, I am a fanatic diarist and photographer.
Although I do not have Jim's credentials, with over 25 BSA High
Adventures under my belt (10 Philmonts), I believe my methodology (2
trained photographers taking photos using decent cameras) represents a
valid (and in my case, preferred) alternative.

I have oft been thanked by previous Crew members, now men ranging up to
their early 30's, for the incredibly precious gift not only of Philmont
but also a detailed diary and photo album to go along with it.

Have I tried the alternative? Of course I have. The Scout diaries end
up being 2 or 3 days of cryptic notes, trailing off to nothing. This is
not surprising - they have better things to do! And the photographs are
*usually* rather poorly staged, so close they're out of focus, so far
away they may as well be satellite imagery, 1/4th to 1/2 covered with a
finger, pictures of only the Scout's friend(s) (a variation of the
father/son "problem" noted by several posters), or pictures of the south
end of a northbound Scout. And usually 3/4's of the shots were of the
first day and a half, and the last quarter of the shots were allocated
to one per day. Etc., etc., etc.

Do I still let Scouts take cameras if they want to? Yes. But if they
want to, I TRAIN THEM FIRST in camera use during the shakedowns and
other Troop events, so that they can avoid the more egregious errors
noted above. Even a little counselling goes a long way. On my 2002
trek, one Scout took a 27 exposure disposable. On our Swiss Adventure
last summer, a Senior Scout brought a digital, and took about 500
photos, of which about 150 were pretty decent and ended up in the Crew
photo album.

My 2002 Philmont trek represents a pretty good summary of how I do
things. We bring two higher quality auto-everything cameras - in this
case, Pentax 3500's. I have thus far resisted going digital, though I
am (slowly) becoming a convert. The two Advisors ran those cameras, but
they were available to the Scouts at any point, and they knew this. And
a couple of times, I specifically tasked Scouts to take photos with my
camera when I had to do something else. Plus the one Scout brought a
disposable, as noted above. We took over 1700 photos in all. Because I
have 77 sons, I am always very careful to take pictures of everyone.
And whenever we come to a spot where everyone wants a personal
"mommie-shot", they get one, no problem.

By the way, I believe that because I am oft taking photos or writing
diary, it helps keep me out of the Scout's collective hair, and the trek
is thus much more boy-run than if I was standing around monitoring things.

When we get home, the photos are all developed and the obvious dogs are
tossed. I get double prints for free. That usually leaves about 1600 x
2 photos. I take my selections for the Troop album first (for an
example, see my 2002 diary on-line, which has about 95% of the Troop
photo album embedded in it, about 450 photos). Maybe half a dozen
photos are good enough to make into 8 x 10's, which I do (e.g., Window
Rock with the ToT Ridgeline as a backdrop, or Baldy with a snow-capped
Wheeler Peak in the background, etc.). One copy of the personal shots
of each Scout are put in a pile dedicated to that Scout (which goes to
him first thing), while the second is placed in an "all-hands" pile
(more of this below). This usually leaves around 800 photos with more
than one Scout or scenery or animals, etc. These are laid out for Scout
selections on a "photo-picking" night. The photos are laid out in
chronological order. Each photo has a large sticky note attached for
the Scouts to write their initials on if they want one. We discuss all
this in advance, and repeat at the start of the picking. When done,
those photos with more initials than available prints are gathered up
for making reprints; this is maybe 250-300 photos. All remaining photos
that had only one set of initials on it (or if both copies are still
present, only two sets of initials on it) are given out right there to
those Scouts. Then the Scouts are allowed to pick (one at a time, in
sequence) from all the remaining photos that had no initials on them,
until they're all gone.

After getting the reprints made, they are divvied up among the
appropriate Scouts, who are charged the going rate for those extra
reprints only. I have had Scouts who ordered no extra reprints, and
Scouts who ordered over 200 extra reprints. Depending on the year, I
have gotten these for from 4/dollar to 3/dollar.

I mentioned above that I keep the extra personal shots of all trekkers
in a separate pile. These are divvied up such that every trekker ends
up with 2 or 3 personal photos of every other member of the Crew. I do
this because I noted on my first trek that most Scouts will only pick
photos of himself, forgetting everyone else.

In this way, everyone ends up with a personal album - usually hundreds
of shots, not just one or two disposable's worth - that is both unique
and features himself on numerous occasions and activities. When
combined with the diary, it brings Philmont back very vividly, next year
or four decades hence. If it isn't already obvious, I consider this to
be one of my primary jobs when trekking. Based on the feedback, both
the Scouts and their parents are very happy with the end-results.

Note that this is clearly more expensive (and certainly more
time-consuming) than putting everything on a CD, and the Scouts would of
course get even more photos if you go this route. However, a cautionary
note - we have had two events now where we went with CD's, and when I
ask the attending Scouts whether they have looked at their "CD-album",
the answer is coming back "No" almost all the time; I don't know why.
Whereas regular (hard copy) photo albums are being constantly looked at.
  Something else to keep in mind.

- Dr. Bob

James H. Moss wrote:
> I would be very careful with the idea of a crew photographer or limiting
> cameras. Consider this scenario when Johnny gets home.
>
> Mom: Johnny, let's see your pictures.
>
> Johnny: Well I didn't take that may because the crew photographer was given
> priority. But this is what he thought was important.
>
> Mom does not want great photographs. She wants to see what Johnny saw. I
> have a minor in photography and worked for 3 years as a wildlife
> photographer out of college. I've been published in dozens of magazines.
> I've taken my nephew in the boundary waters, rafting down the grand canyon
> and up the Amazon river. I have done professional slide shows of grand
> canyon trips. My sister could care less out her brothers fantastic
> photographs. (I don't even think she has seen my grand photos.) But she has
> everyone of my nephews slightly fuzzy, slightly funny photographs as her
> screensaver!
>
> Of the thousands of slides I have categorized, the ones I enjoy the most and
> look are regularly are the ones my nephew took. Those are on my laptop that
> I travel with because those give me the most joy. They may not be worthy of
> national geo, but they have been seen by as many people in South East Ohio.
>
> Kids are not going to Philmont (or the boundary waters or sea base or even
> summer camp) for the perfect experience. They want a kid experience. Our job
> as leader's is not to make the trip perfect, but to help Johnny make the
> trip "Johnny perfect." I guarantee that "Johnny perfect" is not perfect. It
> includes disasters, slightly overcooked or undercooked food or and maybe a
> slightly damp night. Slightly damp is not miserable drenched. How do you
> tell the difference?
>
> One is training and follow up checking while the other is a leader yelling,
> setting up tents and kids getting in trouble because they are bored. It's
> the difference between sleeping through a light rain and keeping your ears
> open during a downpour. It's the difference between a little conference with
> the crew leader and a crew leader wondering why they have the title (unless
> that person is the prodigy of the leader......)
>
> Do you think as a young man Johnny remembers the perfect meals he cooked or
> the one that was not quite perfect. Safe is one thing, perfect is called a
> leader run, leader cooking, leader in the front trip.
>
> Let's strive for great trips for Johnny you will be remembered forever as
> well as having your own memories. Johnny's memories will change as he/she
> grows older and will include more of you as a unit leader and mentor and
> less of you as a memory they would like to forget.
>
> Jim
>
> James H. Moss
>

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Received on Sun Apr 11 07:39:36 2004