I miss my che-ez snap toy camera

I miss my che-ez snap.  It was really a horrid little device that made .2, yes POINT 2 megapixel images.  Grainy as hell, edges blurred, under exposed and contrasty.  It was a toy camera.  I adored it and the images it produced.  When others around me were busy with cell phone pics and using their big boy cameras I had that with me to take images as well.  Hundreds.

You see, that simple fixed focus, pinhole view finder 1 inch by 1 and a half inch camera made wonderfully artsy images.  You can spend hours trying to duplicate in Photoshop, but why do that when the camera does it all. All you have to do is concentrate on composition.

Sadly my last one died a horrible death...battery overheated in recharge and its been out of production so long can't even find a left over on Amazon.  If I could find one, I'd be all over it.

The self portrait here, actually my first selfie was made in 2003 when I got the first one.  What a fun toy that was.  More images in my flickr set.

I'm so glad that I used the zone system

And good old Kodachrome 64

This image was made summer of 1981 while I was living in Death Valley.  I drove up to Dante's View a few thousand feet directly above Bad Water, the lowest point in the USA.

I rememver the evening vividly. Yes, it was hot out, well over 100 but oh so gorgeous view.  But I digress.

To make this shot I spot metered the dude on the rock. The closest ridge and the distance.  I knew I wanted detail in both areas so I shot mid point. I love this image looking north into Death Valley, the dude ads scale to how big that place is.

This is what a drought looks like folks

This morning I was all set to walk along the San Gabriel River.  A lovely stroll along the river is what I envisioned.  Didn't happen.  The Azusa River Wildnerness Park in Azusa was closed because of mudslides 2 weeks ago, and to add insult to injury it was a high fire danger day so they didn't want us anywhere near the brush.

But I did take a drive into the canyons along the river today.  I was absolutely gobsmacked by how low the waters was at the dams.  One day in particular, the San Gabriel Dam, an earthen dam, was so empty all that was left was muck, flotsam and jetsam and general debris in the bottom.

For those of you not in the Los Angeles Area, or California, you probably aren't aware that we are in a severe drought.  Its been several years since we've had "normal" rainfall and our dams are really showing it.  This year we are down something along the order of 2/3 of "normal" rainfall which explains the pathetic condition of these dams.Doesn't bode well for us down the hill that rely on this water to recharge our aquifers.

I'll try next week to take a walk along the river in the Azusa River Wildnerness Park.  Again

These images were shot with my EOS60D.  They are photomergrned into panoramas with the help of CS5.  They click to embiggen.  If you want the full megapixel view check out my SGV & SGR set on flickr.