Ok, so I didn't get even half the shots I was after. I did take two 4x5 shots of Halema`uma`u from Volcanoes NP, but I haven't developed them. The air was so thick with volcanic gases it was difficult to breathe, much less take decent photos. But one nice thing with film vs. digital is that it's always possible to get more contrast out of a negative. Sometimes analog really is good. In this case I metered off the sky and set things up so it should be rendered 18% gray. That gives me the most latitude for rendering texture in the sky to bring out the plume.
I also got a 4x5 shot of the lava flowing into the sea at Kalapana. That is also not developed yet. I've got some concerns about metering, but with any luck it should also hold enough sky detail to get good contrast. The color digital shots I took had plenty of contrast in the sky, so I've got hope.
It's odd, I didn't think the lava flows would make good subjects for B&W photography, but except for the orange glow from the lava everything was shades of gray to begin with. So if the exposure came out at all, it should be a usable shot.
But the real story for me was the KAP at Kalapana, or rather the lack thereof. While my friends from work were happily using some of the best light I've ever seen on that coastline, I was madly running around with my KAP bag on my back trying to find the person I should ask to get permission to fly a kite. I asked the rangers who were volunteering at the viewing area, but as they pointed out they were volunteers and had no real jurisdiction. I asked the police who were out there, but they were there to insure human safety and didn't want to make that call. I even asked some guys who turned out to be from the forestry service, but they were volunteering to help with parking. In the end I wound up driving all the way back out to the County Civil Defense Command Post, some 2.5 miles from the end of the road. There I talked to some really nice folks, including a guy named Scott. Scott was the guy to talk to.
The upshot is that Scott's primary concern was safety, and minimizing risk of life and limb. In the end he gave me permission to fly, granted that I wasn't putting anyone at risk (no gear over people's heads) and that I understood recovery options for downed gear would be limited (if the folks at the viewing area said no, the answer was no.) Since I fly my rig over water a lot of the time, and since recovery options for a water landing are practically zero, I felt fine agreeing to those terms.
So I raced back to the viewing area, only to find the wind had died and the light was gone. ARGH!
But there's a good post-script to this story: On the way out I stopped to talk to Scott again, and told him I didn't get to fly my camera. I wanted to make sure the permission was a standing offer kind of thing and not a one-shot kind of thing. I told him I wanted to come back, and he was very enthusiastic. He closed by telling me to keep the dream alive. If that's not encouragement, I don't know what is!
We got home at almost 11pm at night, so I didn't even unpack my Jeep. I wanted to go back the next day, but life got in the way and most of Sunday was spent doing surveying and drafting. Not my favorite activity. But my daughter, who was utterly disappointed at not getting to go to Kalapana, gave me a date: We're going back next Saturday. I have permission to fly, I'll have time to test the changes to my rig (pan axis gear reduction and a new AuRiCo controller), and we'll get to show up a little earlier so I've got more time to get things ready and airborne.
In addition to getting some good aerial shots of the lava, my goal is to demonstrate my own willingness to work with people, the safety of my gear, and the effectiveness of a camera suspended from a kite. Since there are national park rangers volunteering at the observation area, my real hope is that they will then take word of this back to the park, and eventually I might get permission to fly my rig inside the park boundaries. There are so many places in the park where a low-altitude aerial would be my vantage point of choice, I can't even list them all. This is a door I'd like to see opened, not just for myself, but for other KAPers as well.
So despite the disappointments, it was a really good weekend. Besides, I had four keepers from the shots I did with the 20D. Getting even one keeper from a trip, much less a trip with some major technical hurdles, is good. Getting four? Almost unheard-of. Can't wait to go back!
Tom
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