L.L. Bean App Trail issue

[A-Train]

My grandparents saved their fall 2004 LL BEAN catalogue before throwing it out, because it "featured" the Maine portion of the AT. Basically there are different photos, mainly taken during peak foliage of various sections of the AT. A couple great shots of Katahdin and others of the Bigelows and lots of the 100 mile wilderness. There is a blurb on a LL Bean employee who hiked from Washington to Katahdin. There is a URL for the website based on another employee who supposedly thru-hiked in 2003, but when I went to the site it had never been updated. Also mentioned quite often is the new Highland Center at Crawford Notch in NH as well as the numerous pieces of gear donated by LL BEAN to the center. L.L. Bean Club maintains about a 20 mile section in the 100 mile wilderness and I assume this is how the article took off. Its a bit silly as all of these pretty pics are sandwhiched between pages of moave khakis and pink golf polos.
I also thought it was funny that many names are adopted from the AT, such as the color Rangley Blue and the Bigelow Pack.

Just an FYI to anyone who may recieve the mag, keep a lookout. Could be a nice collectors piece someday :)

[chomp]

It was one of Whitebalze's own members that took all those shots. I'm not telling, tho.

[Lone Wolf]

Old Fhart!! :banana

[icemanat95]

I also thought it was funny that many names are adopted from the AT, such as the color Rangley Blue and the Bigelow Pack.

Just an FYI to anyone who may recieve the mag, keep a lookout. Could be a nice collectors piece someday :)

LL Bean is an old time Maine company, founded in 1912, pre-dating even the conception of the AT by 15 years and the actual founding of the AT by 25 or more. Unlike many Maine companies, LL Bean has maintained it's headquarters and most of it's operations in Maine (though manufacturing IS outsourced to wherever it makes the most business sense). Bean also works hard to support other Maine businesses, publishers, manufacturers, etc. Rangeley, besides being a side stop on the AT actually derives most of its income from hunters and fisherpeople who flock to the area during the respective seasons. This has been a significant feature of Rangely since before the AT was conceived. Likewise the Bigelow Range is an important Maine mountain range aside from it's association as a route of the AT. LL Bean works very hard to maintain a strong connection to Maine, which it does by naming it's stuff after Maine institutions and landmarks.

Also, there are a heck of a lot more dayhikers out there who log just a few miles every outing and often do it in comfortable khaki's, and polos rather than in filthy, goat-funked Coolmax and Supplex that has travelled 120 miles since its last washing. I sometimes find the implied and sometime blatant self-importance and elitism of some long-distance hikers to be distressing, especially since I suffered from it for a while before I realized that a thru-hike is little more (objectively speaking) than a really LONG hiking vacation.

Without organizations like LL Bean, REI, EMS and other companies that make money off Khaki's and Polos, the AT would have A LOT less money to spend on trail maintenance and lands acquisition. Think about that before you start making fun of them for the products they sell and the way they name them. AT hikers do not have some exclusive claim on the lands the trail passes through or the use of the names of the mountains, rivers and regions.

[Jaybird]

i saw the LLBean catalog...good photography....didnt know T.O.F. was freelancing for the "Bean folks". hehehehehe :D

[A-Train]

Old Fhart- Really nice pics buddy! Good work.

Ice Man- Thanks for the info, but I didn't mean to be the elitist A-hole ex-thruhiker you're making me out to be. I'm aware of the Maintenance the company does (thru their club) and the money put into the Trail which benefits hikers, like myself, and anyone else who has enjoyed the Trail. I wasn't making fun of the names, in fact I think they are pretty neat since they correspond to the region. I was simply stating it seems sort of silly that all these leisure clothes were advertised with beautiful foliage pictures interweaved. Face it, these clothes are for sipping a coffee on your front porch during a cool september morning, not for doing extreme hikes. Maybe I was too busy enjoying the beautiful scenary, but I never saw one day hiker in Maine or anywhere else on the AT in a polo in Khakis. I'm not knocking the clothes or the lifestyle, just that the two don't so smoothly connect

[Youngblood]

A-Train,

For what it is worth, I understood what you meant when I read your first post.

Youngblood

[The Old Fhart]

The pictures of mine L.L.Bean used were in the spring catalog that featured the A.T., I haven't heard about the fall catalog so I assume none of those are mine. Any of you who have been to the Freeport store may have noticed a couple of my photos that were made into large banners. As much as I'd like to take credit for those shots in the fall catalog I'd prefer the payment for the photos instead, they paid quite well. I believe I'll have some shots in an book on "Classic Hikes" to be published by W.W. Norton and I'm waiting to hear on that. W.W Norton had used some of mine in the book "Advanced Backpacking" by Karen Berger. The ATC and Aldha have also use some of my photos.

[MOWGLI]

Mr. Fhart,

Could you tell us a bit about your equipment. Do you use strictly SLR? Digital? A bit of both? Film?

Thanks.

[Pencil Pusher]

What the...? Dagnabbit, Iceman, they forgot to send ol' Dave in Seattle a catalog! Man, I have been saving up my pennies for that pink golf polo. Oh Santy Claws, please please please...

[Youngblood]

Mr. Fhart,

Could you tell us a bit about your equipment. Do you use strictly SLR? Digital? A bit of both? Film?

Thanks.

Sorry if I am out of line answering for TOF, but I have noticed the quality of his photos and paided attention to his comments about cameras. If you go to ADVANCED SEARCH, use "Camera" for KEY WORD, "The Old Fhart" for USER NAME and click on SHOW RESULTS AS POST, you should find a post of his from 3-12-2004 where he talked a little bit about this.

Youngblood

[The Old Fhart]

First, thanks Youngblood for the comments on my photos and helping with the answer. The referenced post was http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?p=37394#post37394 where I talked about cameras.

Some people don't want to carry a large 35mm SLR (single lens reflex) camera with a zoom lens like I carry. I've seen good prints taken with disposable, point-and-shoot, and digital cameras and as far as posting pictures in the WB gallery, almost any type of camera will work. However, I have made some 2foot X 3foot prints from some of my slides and they look technically good and I know I couldn't please myself if I tried to do that with another camera. Whether you'd like my pictures or not is a matter of taste but I'm talking about grain, sharpness, etc., not aesthetics. "I don't know art, but I know what I like" is a saying that I believe in.

I am not a photographer by trade, it is just a hobby. I retired from G.E. where I was a techo-geek (now I'm a techno-geezer) and had nothing to do with art. I have been taking pictures for many years. Because of the interest I will post a couple of non-hiking related photos in my members gallery over the next few days. The photos we all have posted in the gallery have meaning because we are all interested in hiking and may have been at that same spot to see the same view. Seeing some shots that aren't hiking related you'll be more likely to think of the picture as art, or trash. Again, thanks to all who have made comments on my photos in the WB gallery.

[MedicineMan]

But I do enjoy looking at everyone's pics posted about the trail....I go through the albums again and again, and not just here but also at www.paddling.net since paddling is another passion....the pics are a great way for many of us to stay on the trail even when we're stuck in our cages.