Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?

[brian mcweeney]

Re: Will I regret not taking my view camera to Big Bend NP?

Do you plan on making many more trips to Big Bend in the future? This might weigh into your decision ...

[Bernice Loui]

Toto_?_

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyCCJ6B2WE


Bernice

Another thing: if the park is crowded, do I want to set up my large format show with tourists having to step around me as I labor under the dark cloth, listening to comments such as “Mommy, what’s that man doing?

[Drew Wiley]

With luck and planning, you'll be out range of cell phone coverage. One more reason to leave those damn obnoxious devices home. A vacation should leave political pollsters, internet scammers, sports scores, stock market bobble-heading, and crank calls behind. A phone might or might not be useful if your car breaks down on a lonely road. That's the kind of scenario B horror movies are made of: gigantic tarantulas crawling out of the hills and eating both you and your car. And at the last minute you take and transmit a cell phone shot of its fangs opening wide; but nobody will believe it anyway, because every smartphone-camera these days has a "giant-tarantula-in-the-scene" app.

[Tin Can]

The cell phone camera will work, but I bet phone service won't

I await your prints as I never got there

Cell phones don't work many places where I live

The old Cable TV still has a lousy expensive monopoly

I refuse

[Alan Klein]

With luck and planning, you'll be out range of cell phone coverage. One more reason to leave those damn obnoxious devices home. A vacation should leave political pollsters, internet scammers, sports scores, stock market bobble-heading, and crank calls behind. A phone might or might not be useful if your car breaks down on a lonely road. That's the kind of scenario B horror movies are made of: gigantic tarantulas crawling out of the hills and eating both you and your car. And at the last minute you take and transmit a cell phone shot of its fangs opening wide; but nobody will believe it anyway, because every smartphone-camera these days has a "giant-tarantula-in-the-scene" app.

Whenever I'm going to be in an area with there's no cell Towers, I download the Google Maps right into my phone ay home so they're available offline. You can't get traffic reports, but the navigation system will work and you can actually see where you are. That's also handy if you're trying to figure out how to get out of a remote area although you really should have real maps and a real GPS for that kind of situation.

[Michael Wellman]

I live in Texas and I've been going there for almost 30 years now. I've been making it there 2-3X year for the last four years. I love this place despite the fact that it takes about 8 hours to get there. Here are a few suggestions I have that hope you find useful.

Big Bend is an ideal LF photographer's park. It's a beautiful park where you have everything from mountains to desert to rivers with great panoramic views. It's also one of the largest NP we have and you can spend a lot of time traveling from one area to the next. There are three main areas of the park, Boquellas Vista, Chiso Basin, and Castolon. They are 45-60 mins from each other. There are some great places to photograph in between these areas not to mention a lot of good hikes. Not sure how many days you will be there but I would recommend staying in one area for the day. The only place you will find cell reception is near one of the three ranger stations (Boquellas Vista, Panther Junction, and Castolon). If you have a high clearance vehicle and/or 4 wheel drive you can get on the back roads where there are some great photo opportunities. The night skies are gorgeous and you can see so many stars and the constellations.

Should you bring yours? You have to decide based on the logistics of not only getting it all there and back but the ease of shooting. This time of year strong winds (20mph and higher) are not uncommon. I was there last week. The first two days we had calm winds but cloudless skies. The last day beautiful clouds with strong winds. I took 4 images with my 14x17 waiting for the lull but none of those turned out due to camera vibrations from the wind. I had to try and get something. I would recommend a digital camera. This will allow you to go to more places and not be constrained by the logistics of getting camera/gear there and back as well as taking the images. It would horrible to have nothing but windy days while you were there unable to shoot with your LF. If you like the place enough then next time you come back you know where to go and what to bring. If you have any other questions about Big Bend let me know.

[Sal Santamaura]

With luck and planning, you'll be out range of cell phone coverage. One more reason to leave those damn obnoxious devices home. A vacation should leave political pollsters, internet scammers, sports scores, stock market bobble-heading, and crank calls behind. A phone might or might not be useful if your car breaks down on a lonely road...

While I have similar feelings about cell phones (won't regularly carry one myself, but there's a prepaid version in my car's center console, kept turned hard off, for emergencies only), a bit of misinformation needs to be corrected. If one possesses an iPhone 14, its "Emergency SOS" capability via satellites means that "breaking down on a lonely road" will never be "out of range."

[Drew Wiley]

GPS Navigation systems are infamous for getting people into serious trouble on remote roads in the West. I don't personally consider the rogue Republic of Texas part of the "West", but it's big enough to no doubt have analogous road issues off the beaten track. And due to all the huge storm activity in recent years, road conditions might well have changed. When in doubt, always check locally before heading down some lonely route. And for National Parks, check their website for current access and road conditions. Obviously carry a lot of extra water and supplies. And often dirt roads which look relatively tame the first couple of hundred yards can turn gnarly quickly, requiring high-clearance 4WD.

This fall I'll accompany a fellow even older than me into a back country area beyond cell phone access. His wife told him to either buy a satellite phone or don't go. So he bought one. The problem with less expensive satellite emergency beacons is that in some parts or the country, there might not be any response capability to them, while in others, these devices are so popular, and so many people "cry wolf" due to mere trail inconveniences, that response teams often get overwhelmed. If in doubt about risks in Park jurisdictions per se, inquire at the NP office first. For BLM or Forest Service lands, inquire at their offices, either in person or by phone in advance if possible.

And in recent years, due to our huge fires and weather emergencies, there was a backlog of over 500 emergency all at the same time, with ordinary rescue helicopters unable to even fly safely, jamming the whole system (military choppers and combat pilots were brought in, but risked their own lives to do so, and it took up to a week to reach everyone stranded). So one really needs to be somewhat self-sufficient too, on any trip.

I can't imagine going someplace like Big Bend without serious film camera gear, especially LF. But due to inevitable dust conditions, wrap things especially well in plastic bags etc. What is you end goal for all that effort? - serious darkroom printing, or just adding a few more to the millions of web digi images?

[Ben Calwell]

I live in Texas and I've been going there for almost 30 years now. I've been making it there 2-3X year for the last four years. I love this place despite the fact that it takes about 8 hours to get there. Here are a few suggestions I have that hope you find useful.

Big Bend is an ideal LF photographer's park. It's a beautiful park where you have everything from mountains to desert to rivers with great panoramic views. It's also one of the largest NP we have and you can spend a lot of time traveling from one area to the next. There are three main areas of the park, Boquellas Vista, Chiso Basin, and Castolon. They are 45-60 mins from each other. There are some great places to photograph in between these areas not to mention a lot of good hikes. Not sure how many days you will be there but I would recommend staying in one area for the day. The only place you will find cell reception is near one of the three ranger stations (Boquellas Vista, Panther Junction, and Castolon). If you have a high clearance vehicle and/or 4 wheel drive you can get on the back roads where there are some great photo opportunities. The night skies are gorgeous and you can see so many stars and the constellations.

Should you bring yours? You have to decide based on the logistics of not only getting it all there and back but the ease of shooting. This time of year strong winds (20mph and higher) are not uncommon. I was there last week. The first two days we had calm winds but cloudless skies. The last day beautiful clouds with strong winds. I took 4 images with my 14x17 waiting for the lull but none of those turned out due to camera vibrations from the wind. I had to try and get something. I would recommend a digital camera. This will allow you to go to more places and not be constrained by the logistics of getting camera/gear there and back as well as taking the images. It would horrible to have nothing but windy days while you were there unable to shoot with your LF. If you like the place enough then next time you come back you know where to go and what to bring. If you have any other questions about Big Bend let me know.

Thank you, Michael (and everyone) — I’m going to take my Wista DX and my Fuji digital camera for which I have a normal lens and an ultra-wide. The Fuji and the lenses are small and fit in the same backpack as my LF camera. I can carry it on the airplane. At Big Bend I’ll probably end up using the Fuji more (I have a separate waist pack for it), but at least I’ll have my LF camera in the rental car in case I see something that screams large format and it’s not too windy. I’m going to ship loaded film holders to our destination and ship them back home.
I hope TSA won’t mistake my Pentax spot meter for a pistol.
Thanks for all the great advice.

[Tin Can]

Big Bend Texas Images