Ski

"A major announcement on the sale, back in minute..." SOLD!!!!!!!!!!!! Sno Mountain!!!

Uh oh...the teaser I just saw on WYOU said, "And today was 'supposed' to be the day Lackawanna County commissioners decided on the sale of Montage." Supposed to be? That's not good.

Thanks, Schif...nothing on the WYOU website. Man, tv news station websites in this area are lame.

War photography used to be the ultimate, but the rules have changed and there's no way I'd do it now. Press used to be off limits to bad guys, but now they cut your head off. F*cked up stuff. And there's not a lot of glamour in being embedded and having to go by US military rules...too much like being a PR guy. Typically, we'd accept an asignment and sign a contract with a news agency like Black Star or Sigma News Photos...they'd cut you a press pass and credentials from them, then you'd take care of shots, visas, and transportation. Then you'd simply fly into whatever country, find a good base motel or rental, then sign into the government press relations office. They'd usually give you credentials with a photo ID. But sometimes, if the government was hostile to you, you'd just fly in on a visitors visa and work quietly. My all-time favorite movie is "Under Fire" with Nick Nolte, which was about the original overthrow of the Somoza government by the Sandanistas in 1979...I believe the movie came out in '83. In 1985, I was sent to Nicaragua to cover the continuing war between the Sandanista government and the Contras (the US backed the Contras, who, ironically, were actually the former Somoza government national guard bad guys that had escaped to Honduras). But the current state of the world just sucks so bad. Being an American anywhere is dangerous, even for backpacking around Europe, let alone war zones.

I've been checking the news releases at the Times-Tribune website every hour and there's no news, yet...

I'd like to see some... I'm in a pretty odd position for a photographer, since the majority of my work is shot on film and I FedEx the undeveloped rolls to my company in Philly and never see my work. Sports photography is a lot about luck, especially when it comes to portfolio shots...you just never know. So since Ty was born and we moved up here, I'm like a ski racer that never sees his times. I had to come to grips with the idea that my work was simply about making money...now I'm happiest collecting absolute snapshots for our family albums; simple, clear recordings of events, with nothing fancy. I like what your boss said and totally agree: my personal favorite picture is my shot of a woman with leprosy. http://www.paskiandride.com/forums/index.p...ype=post&id=664 And it's one of the reasons I liked to work in war zones and shoot in b&w. Kind of the opposite of that spectrum is a website I sometimes lurk called http://www.glamour1.com/ Here's a fairly typical thread: http://www.glamour1.com/forums/main-commun...8-waitress.html It's a bunch of photogs and models that use each other and they post results and tips. It's kind of the soap opera of photography, but interesting. And lots of nudes, which are cool.

Technology has certainly made taking great pictures simple. You used to have to have some sort of training when exposures were manual and just loading the film was a project. I still have to stop and think when I'm trying to load a medium format camera. But what the improvements have done are to force the playing field, so to speak (I hate the word "progress"). It isn't just a matter of hitting the exposure and getting a choice of a few in-focus frames, anymore, because everyone can do that. As an example, hockey used to be the toughest assignment we'd get, especially when we covered the International League (or whatever it is where the Springfield (MA) Indians play) and couldn't use flash unless they were ceiling mounted. And even the college and high school hockey is still tough----how many freaking teams have dark uniforms? The ice is three stops different than skin tones, but then the lighting is different at every point around the rink. So you have to pop a manual strobe and so you are zoning for distance. Vivitar 283's w/400ASA film would give you f16 at 4 ft; f11 at 10 ft; f8 at 20 ft; f5.6 at 30 ft... Now we don't really have to worry about that stuff. We don't even have to bracket exposures because we can check them as we go. Being a great photographer means always putting another layer into a photo, without going too far. Say you are taking a picture of a flower. Easy, right? Now make it great. So you spray it with mist. That's adding a layer. Then you wait until the sun drops down behind it and use some fill flash. That's another layer. Then, you drop your angle down and you luckily have a ladybug land on a leaf by the flower head. Another layer. Every picture---even in sports---goes through this sort of process. Like great pics of Michael Jordan, where he may be dunking, but he also has his tongue out and you can see the sweat fly. But the biggest mistake amateurs make is not stripping away the garbage in a photo, leaving too much clutter. Consider: a painter begins with a blank canvas and adds paint. A photographer begins with an image and his/her first chore is to remove and isolate the subject. Once you focus on the subject, then you add relevant layers of interest. Amateurs with great gear can nail the first layer. Then comes the work. About Jeff? I don't diss him...not til I start beating him again in ski races. To me, photography has only been a means to an end. Ty has a book called "100 People Who Changed America" and although I long ago missed an opportunity to be on any sort of list like that, I went through it and realized I'd met and photographed 15 of them, including Wilma Mankiller, Ronald Reagan, and Jim Henson. And I've been to places no travel agent would ever book you to. Those things have always been more important than the pictures.

AJ is from Greece, NY, and was a member of the Swain Race Team. He still goes back to Swain, where they have a junior race series named after him. AJ's name isn't all that well known outside of NASTAR these days, but he's an absolute top flight coach and works great with kids. AJ's best year was in '92, when he finished 3rd in the World Cup downhill standings, behind Heinzer and Mahrer. It's definitely more 'real' than Shawnee's claim Jean-Claude Killy founding their ski school...how much more 'real' remains to be seen, but if BC's willing to pay, AJ would do a lot for them.

And just one more thing about gear...over the years, I've run into thousands of people with absolute top of the line gear and they still manage to take shitty pictures. Buy gear that fits your needs and put effort into the entire process. I used to take interns out with me and make them shoot without motors and just one 24mm lens...or just a 50 or 180. A unique angle and creative use of light is far more important than collecting ultrasonic lenses... Just my 2 cents.

Yeah, it's now a matter of hours...

I was a full-time staff newspaper photog from 1983 to 1992, with some stints with NYC picture agencies overseas. Since '92, I've worked as a sports photographer full-time for a company that's based in Philly, while freelancing for the Associated Press. I've never really done anything else, other than learn that I didn't want to be an attorney right after school. So I guess I've been a photog for 23 yrs...holy sh*t... It's a tough business. I loved newspapers, but there's a pretty low salary cap, for sure. I got a little sick of 60 hr weeks for $500 paychecks. I'd much rather work 20 hrs/wk for half that and do lots of skiing. 8*) I used to use Allen's Camera when I lived in Levittown, but just for his repair service. Allen is WAY overpriced, compared to http://www.keh.com for used gear. He's like buying from a local ski shop. If you do use Allen, tell him one of the old Davor Photo guys sent you...might only get you 5% off, though...

Here's just how ignorant people are about the actual state of affairs at Montage. This is part of a letter to the editor in today's Times-Tribune, written by a former county executive: "Beginning the next year, $1.4 million per year in mortgage cost would be gone and Montage could be a steady source of revenue for Lackawanna County, especially as snow tubing, snow boarding and free-style skiing parks have re-energized ski areas. Those are facts. BILL RISSE FORMER LACKAWANNA COUNTY DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY AFFAIRS, CLARKS GREEN" ------------------------- Well, Bill, you haven't been to Montage recently have you? If so, you'd see 60 cars in the lot on a Saturday afternoon. Maybe 20 cars on a weeknight. Glad to know that you are an expert on how tubing, boarding, and "free-style" have re-energized ski areas...how many of those 20 cars on a Tuesday are from those "free-stylers"? Maybe you should have done some of the same homework that Sno Mountain did before they opened their mouths.

Well, they do some creative packages there...the camera listed is a grey market camera that they probably will tell you have an 8 week delivery date. I'm wary of them because look at the price of a 1 gig high speed flash card. That's crazy. Best Buy has them for $80! Plus, be sure when ording a package that the lens is Nikon, and not just "made for Nikon". A crappy knockoff may be worth $30 and give lousy images, no matter how great it sounds. The worst Nikkon lens is still better than most independant lenses. A lot of their packages list non-Nikon zoom lenses. Unscrupulous dealers will open the original boxes and strip out the dvd's and cables, then try and sell them back to you. It really looks like what that place does. And a lot of those packages come with 128mb flash cards, which means you still have to go out and buy a flash card. A good shop will sell everything that comes with the original packaging and won't hide the price of the body and "normal" lens. If you use that place, be sure to use a credit card so you have protection. It looks like you'd need it. Ha, my 1/2 day rate is $275 and my day rate is $450...you owe me more than $25, son.

AJ's a great guy. That's a really good move to get some interest sparked for the urban market down that way.

All these people on this MB that have never skied Montage have no clue what we've had to get used to...and how this will be like XMas morning.

You're right. Lens mounts are unique among each manufacturer. Even independant lens makers like Sigma, Tamron, and Vivitar have to make a different mount for each different brand of camera.

It also came down to which cameras you wanted to lug around...and before DSLR's, newspaper photographers rarely used zoom lenses, because of the drop in quality wide open. So you had three bodies everywhere you went. I still use the Canon T90s for about 60% of my work. Rugged? Two have repair stickers in the film wells that are dated from when I sent them off in the early 1990's. Canon T90 Nikon F3HP&Md4motor

The Times-Tribune editorial was AGAIN anti-sale. Typical ignorant newspaper editors...I dealt with them for years. Newspapers, btw, are in the same boat as ski areas, when you think about it: *Rarely is a new newspaper ever started. *Every year, more and more newspapers go out of business. *Morning and evening editions have been combined, which has meant staff layoffs. *Competition from TV news and now the intenet has killed ad revenue. Now, say the Times-Tribune was losing $1 million, or so, every year...and their staff and customers feared they would close for good. Imagine the plumbing was shot to hell and they were running out of working presses and the ink was sometimes not available. Then, when a financially solid company comes along and makes a fair offer, with amazing plans for growth, a bunch of know-it-all skiers suddenly decided the newspaper surely must be worth more and wants to kill the deal. So I have a question for the managing editor of the Scranton News-Tribune: what's your news hole these days? In other words, what percentage of your paper is left for news, as opposed to advertising? You look like the same weekly grip and grin ad rags you used to make fun of 30 years ago. You guys have run the newspaper industry into the trash, now you are fiscal experts?

From a letter to the Times-Tribune, today: "The next ski season is approaching and we are behind in getting equipment ready for the season as well as brochures, billboards, ticket plans, etc. All preparation for the season should have begun in May. We need to know what is going to happen at Montage. It is best for the employees of Montage and the residents of Lackawanna County if the facility becomes Sno Mountain. Please keep in perspective what is good for the majority of the people and do not let unnecessary delays stop the progress that has been made." RICHARD I. SCHWARTZ GENERAL MANAGER/CONTROLLER MONTAGE MOUNTAIN SKI RESORT

Fraternal twins, for sure.

Ha, well I was attacked by our pet whitetail deer when I was a kid. Not sure if that was more or less traumatic than watching my dad blow a hole in her with a .20 guage... Ah, childhood memories.

Yes. I think everyone will suddenly come to the realization that this just never happens anymore. Ski areas that lose huge sums of money shut down. Ski areas that lose a little money shut down. We all know about it, but people that don't ski/ride have no clue as to the reality. These people think they are dealing with a bowling alley or a movie theatre, or something. They don't get what the trend in weather has been and how one warm week over the Christmas holiday means you lose money for the entire ski season. Sno Mountain is a f*cking miracle that Lackawanna County should get down on their knees for.

Well, we just want a signed deal. Snow Time is fine, but they came along just as Sno Mountain LLC was about to close the deal. Any delay beyond July 10th's deadline and there won't be improvements for this coming winter. Lackawanna had a great offer and Sno Mountain was all ready to start pouring money into Montage in the next few weeks. Now it's a bunch of "ifs" and jerking around. One of the commissioners (Washo) would rather risk the deal and be greedy than just get it done. He's a little attention starved and needy. He acts like having the county lose a million dollars a year has put them in good bargaining position.

No jokes...I like smaller-breasted women.

Thanks, Nick...I'm actually a professional sports photographer. It's the 'snapshot' stuff where I'm trying to match what I need with not minding beating up or losing. The reason I took the Rebel XT over the D70 was because the menu is basically the same as some of my work cameras. Plus, I shoot a lot of longer lens stuff on manual focus. Canon and Nikon lenses focus in the opposite direction. It used to make me nuts when I used Nikon F3's, but my newspaper pool equipment was Canon. A lot of newspapers have long, expensive lenses and camera bodies that are shared among the staff---they are too expensive to own by each photographer for so few assignments. The only real reason to lug a 600 f4 or a 400 f2.8 lens around would be for sports. So I'd be shooting my wider lenses focusing one way, while trying to follow focus on the field focusing the other way. And blowing a lot of shots. Anyway, that's why I stick with Canon for everything. You're right about the D70; I picked it up and played around with it and it does have a better feel. And while Nikkor lenses were better than Canon, I'm not so sure the crappy glass in either low end lenses make much of a difference. Thanks for the input...even though it's been my job for a really long time, I'm the opposite of a gear geek. I know amazingly little about gear when compared to just about every photographer I meet. I want simple and to not have to think about it. Ha, good morning, Sib! I was typing while you were...and as I wrote, I'm not a gear person, so I never turn away advise. In fact, I shoot almost all my exposures--even flash--on manual, mostly because I dreaded ever opening an owners manual.