Dan, Nice story and I really enjoyed the shot. Not something one can really go out and see - nice work!
-- Best regards, Bruce Friday, May 23, 2008, 6:50:50 AM, you wrote: DJM> I had a bit of trouble deciding what to submit for the June PUG, as DJM> the theme seemed pretty open. I ended up submitting what I think is DJM> the first shot I submitted to the PUG, in 2000. It was also one of my DJM> first efforts with the ancient (but then new to me) 6x7. DJM> In the process of picking a submission, I also considered shots from DJM> my first Pentax camera. In 1966, I was stationed in the Far East, and DJM> I flew to Japan to deliver a plane for maintenance and bring back one DJM> that had been serviced. While there, I purchased a camera and other DJM> things I couldn't get where I was. I intended to buy a Minolta SRT DJM> 101, since I had borrowed one from a friend, and liked the way it DJM> operated. The sales person at the PX, however, showed me a Spotmatic, DJM> and said that it was mechanically similar, but had much better DJM> "glass." [Very perceptive] He also said that the same camera was DJM> being sold in the states as a Honeywell, which was a brand name I knew DJM> and respected. On his advice, I bought an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic. DJM> That was about 2 years after the Spotty was introduced in connection DJM> with the 1964 Olympics. I used that camera for 20 years, before DJM> replacing it with a SuperProgram. I still have my first Spotmatic, DJM> and it still works. I also have a Honeywell Spotmatic, a Pentax DJM> Spotmatic (without the Asahi name), and a Sears clone that used the DJM> screwmount lenses. DJM> This is probably not my first photograph with the Spotmatic, but it is DJM> from my first roll of film, and it is the only one I have left from DJM> that original roll. This is a scan of a print from a slide, but most DJM> of the imperfections are on the plexiglass through which the image was DJM> taken. DJM> http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5242937 DJM> The shot was taken on our way back from Japan. Our F-4 fighter jet is DJM> being refueled from a tanker. The photograph shows the connection. DJM> The "male" part of the connection is our refueling probe, which was DJM> extended from the side of the plane just before approaching the DJM> tanker. The circular "basket" or drogue is the female connection at DJM> the end of the fuel line trailed by the tanker. It is the target used DJM> by the pilot in connecting to the refueling line. As the plane's DJM> radar intercept officer, I took this shot from the back seat while DJM> refueling was in progress. DJM> Comments, of course, are welcome. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
