A Scoutmaster's Blog

When I was at the Philmont Training Center for a week last June, I gave my camera quite a workout. I think I came back with around 900 pictures from the trip. That is a lot, even for me. I remember my first trips to Philmont for 10 day backpacking treks in the 1980’s when I took 150 photographs and thought that was a lot of photos. Just goes to show the difference between film and digital technology I guess.

Almost every night during my stay at PTC I would wonder on over to the Philmont Base Camp and look around, take a look through the trading post, and maybe stop by the snack shop for a bag of popcorn or an ice cream cone. One evening I decided to play with the camera and see what kind of night shots I could take. Would this simple point and shoot Canon camera take good pictures when there was little light? I was going to find out.

I was pretty happy with the pictures. So was Bob, the district executive from our council who also went to PTC that week. I thought it might be fun to share the pictures with you so I posted 14 of them to a Flickr album for you all to view. Check them out and let me know what you think of them. The link can be found at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejb68/sets/72157645252031607/  .

It is usually not a problem keeping Boy Scouts busy when we go to summer camp. Between merit badge sessions, troop activities, and open programs there is plenty for them to do. Summer camp is designed to keep boys busy.

Adult leaders have more free time. Oh, we could follow the boys around as they go to their classes. We can partake of a few training adult leader training sessions or activities, but we still end up with time to kick back and relax. And think of things to do.

I do not know why, but when I packed for camp this year I threw a little Piglet figure (Winnie Pooh’s friend) into my briefcase. When I got to camp he moved into my day pack with his head peaking out so that he could see where we have been. The Boy Scouts pulled him out during lunch early in the week and had a little fun with him. When the dining hall steward walked by our table we gave him Piglet. He put it on his hat and made a face while I took his picture.

Then it hit me! I have a mission for the week. How many members of the camp staff could I get to pose for a picture with Piglet?

I took Piglet with me nearly everywhere I went: to the beach, to the ranges, to the climbing tower, wherever.  The staff had fun with it. I was even able to get the camp director and the program director to pose with the little guy. But the end of the week I had pictures with 17 members of the staff, plus a few other pictures with the troop.

The pictures have been posted in an album I created on Facebook. Check them out by clicking HERE.

I have finally completed a major part of a goal I have which is to scan all the Scouting pictures I have taken over the years. On Friday, I finally scanned the last of the pictures from the 1980’s. That is over 2050 photographs that use over 1.5 GB on the hard drive. I have already backed them up onto two other hard drives, and plan to copy them all to a data-dvd. I also plan to post many of them to my Flickr account as another way to back them up, and to allow other Scouts and leaders to visit our troop of the past.

It has been a lot of work, but also fun reliving memories that come from looking at those photos again. Many of the Scouts from that time have families of their own. I know of a couple who have boys in the Cub Scout program. Some of them are now friends of mine on Facebook. Unfortunately, I have lost touch with many of them. I know of three of them who have died since they left Scouting.

Now it is time to start working on the photos from the 1990’s, and I know there will be even more photos to scan than I had from the 1980’s. As the years went by I began taking more photos during troop activities. I would be willing to bet that the number of pictures will be between 3500 and 4000. The pictures from the 2000’s will not take as long to scan because in 2004 I switched from film to a digital camera. Of course, with the digital camera I began to take 3 to 4 times as many pictures.

If you would like to see the pictures from the 1980’s that I have posted to Flickr go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stevejb68/sets/

100 Days of Scouting: Day #68.

When I was a Boy Scout in the 1970’s there was no such thing as a home video recorder, so there was not a Cinematography Merit Badge. There was the Photography Merit Badge, however. I like taking pictures so I thought I would try earning that badge. I grabbed my Kodak Instamatic camera that used 126 film, a merit badge book, and began taking pictures.

One of the requirements for the merit badge was to tell a story with photographs. I decided to do a story of the missing cookie mystery. The members of my troop would be the “actors” of my story. Even my scoutmaster got in on the action. He held sheets of paper with my opening and closing titles. I discovered, after the film was developed, that the writing on the paper was not dark enough and it was difficult to read the titles.

The plot of the story was simple. The troop’s snack, a batch of cookies, had disappeared. It was up to the troop members to find them. They began searching the building in which we had our troop meetings. Pictures were taken of my fellow Scouts looking in various nooks and crannies. They finally catch the cookie thieves in a corner of the balcony, eating the evidence.

Unfortunately, I never finished the merit badge. I do not know why not. Maybe I lost interest, or we lost our counselor. All I know is that I still have the photographs of my picture story. Here are the pictures for you to view, in the order they were meant to be used. The photos are thumbnailed. Click on any for a larger view.

100 Days of Scouting: Day #10.

If you have been following me for awhile you are aware the I have a Flickr account to which I have posted thousands of pictures featuring over thirty years of Scouting in Melrose. I also belong to several Flickr Scouting themed groups, and I am the administrator for the Flickr Wood Badge Photos group.

I wanted to recently find a group to share photos from Eagle Scout ceremonies and celebrations. I did a search and to my surprise I did not find a public group. So I decided to start one. I decided to name it simply “Eagle Scouts”. It can be found HERE.

I invite you to share your photos of your troop’s Eagle Scout courts of honor and celebrations. Be sure to join the group. Let’s make this a great group to showcase those special Boy Scouts who have attained the rank of Eagle.

Boy Scout, photo, Cub Scout, Explorer, Varsity

Do you like taking photos of your Scouts? Are you a listener of the podcasts found at PTC Media? If so, this is a contest that you should enter! Beginning January 3rd and continuing through March 22nd, PTCMedia with TrailStop.com and ClassB.com are running a photo contest.

Grab a copy of one of the PTC Media flat Scouting buddies (found at ptcmedia.net), print & cut it out and take photos of them with your Scouts, family or other leaders doing cool Scout stuff (hiking, camping, mountain climbing, running a Roundtable, etc.). Photos will be judged on creativeness and Scout spirit. Kids and adults are eligible to win.
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Every couple of weeks, a different show will choose a winner and announce it on their show:
January 17th: An Hour A Week?
February 1: The MISS Show
February 16: The SMM Podcast
March 4: True North
March 10: Around The Scouting Campfire
March 22: The Leader’s Campfire

The winners will get a $20 coupon toward products at TrailStop.com.

Then, on April 1st, we’ll open a contest between the 6 winners and let the PTC Media listeners vote on their favorite. The overall winner will get a $50 coupon toward an order with ClassB.com.

How To Enter:

Choose one or more of our PTC Media Scouting buddies found at ptcmedia.net, print and cut them out.
Take a photo of them (and you or your Scouts/Leaders) doing cool Scout stuff.
E-Mail your photos to cubmasterchris@gmail.com with the subject line “Photo Contest”.
It’s that simple!

Now that I have been playing around with my Flickr account and adding pictures to the site (over 4000 so far), I thought I would share a few of the Flickr groups that are dedicated to sharing pictures of Scouting taken in the United States and around the world. Check them out when you get some time. You just might get a few ideas for your troop’s or pack’s program. Don’t be afraid to join the groups and add your own pictures to the groups.

It has been awhile since I have placed a slideshow of Troop 68 on the blog, so let’s go back to 1983 for a look at what the troop was up to nearly thirty years ago. (Sometimes, I find it hard to believe I have been a leader of the troop for that long.) There are 111 photographs in this set.