Dad was a Lake County farm boy made good. Two degrees from University of Florida and his DMV from Auburn. By the time I was in my early teens he was making a good living and we had begun taking vacation road trips to North Carolina each year. Dad got into photography, which isn’t to say he was really any good at it, but he certainly was good at getting the gear. He acquired a very nice Minolta 35mm rig with some extra lenses, filters, etc. and would shoot several rolls of film wherever we went. The mountains of North Carolina certainly provided a target rich environment for an aspiring shutterbug.
We were at Grandfather Mountain near the swinging footbridge that offers amazing panoramic views. Not content with the ample photo ops available from the bridge and surrounding area, dad was convinced that a once in a lifetime picture could be had if he stepped over the protective guard rail, slithered on his belly over the rocks out to the edge of the canyon ledge and shot a picture straight down the sheer rock face with his telephoto lens. This ought to be good!
Family friend, GZ Smith, was along with us on the trip and was also well equipped with camera gear. However, he was not sold on dad’s plan and was content to stay back with the rest of us and watch as dad worked his way out to the edge. As planned, dad went all the way to the edge of the cliff, hung his head and camera out and shot several pictures straight down the canyon wall. GZ, meanwhile, took several pictures of dad taking the pictures.
Dad was exhilarated by his death-defying adventure to acquire the ultimate vacation photo and assured us we’d never seen anything like what he would soon show us when the film was developed. He wound the film back into its sealed spool (surely you remember how that worked) and popped open the back of the Minolta 101 SLR. To his abject horror he found the compartment empty – in all his planning and preparation he forgot to load film in the camera! GZ, on the other hand, successfully captured, in sharp focus and the best Kodak color of the day, dad risking life and limb to take a photo while hanging over the edge of a cliff with no film in his camera. Now THAT’s a picture dad never lived down!