Went up on hill to try out telephoto lens, but did not have plate magazine loaded right, and could not shift plates. Broke one plate. The plates are rather hard to shift in cold weather, and the telephoto attachment is difficult to focus, as it is so long that I cannot focus from rear while looking at screen, so it take a good deal of experimental adjusting.
Bought two dogs from Okyumik for one .45-70 rifle and two boxes of No. 2 1/3 primers. This was one of the three rifles without any cartridges from the Duffy O’Connor outfit. Okyumik has a few old cartridges which he can reload. One large yellow dog is named Ekallukpiak; one medium black dog named Krengak. Bought from the old man Nachinn, one dog named Komingyuk, for one tin powder and two boxes primers. Bought from young man Kauinak, one dog named Utuayuk, for one machete.
Rudolph M. Anderson
Zoologist and Head of the Southern Party
Diary of Rudolph M. Anderson © Canadian Museum of Nature
Today, it is hard to imagine the difficulties of using the early photographic apparatus in the Arctic, especially in winter. Technology certainly has changed, even in my life span!
When I started using a 16mm movie camera in 1968, the camera used 100 foot rolls of film which took about 4 minutes to expose, before you had to reload. In winter I had to pull my parka off, drape it over me, and use it as a darkroom in order to change reels with out having the film exposed by the sunlight. And at minus temperatures, the film would freeze and often break, and your fingers would become numb from trying to re-thread the film.
Now, I can leave my video camera out in the weather at -40 C for over an hour, before I have to put in a warm battery from my pocket, and I can shoot for an hour with one tape. The only problem is that the viewing LCD display freezes and can’t keep up with what is actually happening in front of the camera.
David
