Hi Charlie,
It is unfortunate that the May charter with 315 and OB was not well-patronized. I've done many charters over the past few years and the C&TS is one of my favorite places in the world. Although I was very interested in 315/OB, I personally passed on that trip for the following reasons:
- Time of year. The light in May is only optimal until about 9:30 AM and after 3:00 PM. For most of the mid-day the sunlight is indirect, resulting in deep shadows on the running gear. I prefer charters in the fall and winter time frame, when the light is better all day. I'm wondering what time of day you shot your image of OB? That one's a beauty.
- Accommodations. Until recently, the charter operator had been advertising that patrons would have to sleep en-masse in the dinning hall at Osier. I'm a light sleeper and I function best on 7 hrs. A couple of nights at Osier and I'd have been a zombie.
- Recent experience. I rode all 4 days of the 315/463 trip in October of last year with the same operator. That trip was also quite expensive....$2300/ticket, as I recall. While we did get some good pictures, we did not get any sunrise or sunset stuff....nothing really even close....despite having 4 days of severe-clear weather. I know that a lot of folks were really disappointed. $2300 is definitely a hard-core photog price, and I'm absolutely more than willing to pay that kind of price if the operator is aggressive about providing the photo ops in dramatic light.
When I saw John Bush's announcement for the August trip, I was definitely interested, but with the trip date only a month out, I was unable to find an air fare under $800. I have since booked to visit Chama in September, and found an air fare for $330! I have also signed up for all of Pete Lerro's charters in Oregon and Washington. That should be an awesome week!
/Kevin
