FedEx St. Jude Recap, Flying with Film & Kodak Portra 400 Scans
Posted by Pat Hathaway | August 19, 2026
The Central Coast fog is doing its best to wash away the memory of the Costa Rican heat, but the coffee is still dark roast, and Big Boy Dan is still sweating. He’s currently parked on my couch, obsessively checking the entry list for the BMW Championship up in St. Louis, trying to figure out how to dig himself out of his latest hole.
The Sprinkler Head and Dan’s Desperation
If you followed the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis over the weekend, you know Dan’s gambling theories completely imploded yet again. He bet heavily against Scottie Scheffler, assuming the brutal TPC Southwind humidity would wear the world No. 1 down.
During the final round, when Scheffler’s ball took a freak bounce off a hidden sprinkler head on the par-5 third hole and rolled straight into the water, Dan actually cheered. He thought his underdog tickets were finally going to cash. Instead, Scheffler shrugged off the bad break, rattled off five birdies, and won by a commanding eight strokes. Dan was in such a panic watching his bankroll evaporate that he started researching
how to bet on sports from Oklahoma, hoping that finding an out-of-state sportsbook might somehow change his luck. I had to gently remind him that crossing state borders doesn’t fix a broken strategy.
For the real analytics on the upcoming FedExCup Playoffs, you can check the
official PGA Tour portal. As for Dan, I’ve advised him to keep his wallet shut for the BMW Championship. Desperation is a terrible handicapper.
Dodging the X-Rays and Saving the Portra
While Dan is mourning his tickets, I am just relieved my negatives made it home in one piece. If you read my last entry, you know I was terrified that the new 3D CT scanners at the airport were going to completely fry the medium format Kodak Portra 400 I shot down in the tropics.
Thanks to a stubborn refusal to put my camera bag on the conveyor belt and some very patient explaining at the security checkpoint, the heavy Wetzlar glass of my Rolleiflex and the exposed emulsion made it back to the California darkroom unscathed. If you are carrying analog gear through modern transit hubs, you have to be relentless about asking for a manual hand-check. You can read the technical breakdowns on how radiation aggressively destroys latent images over on
Kodak’s film transportation guide. Once the X-rays hit that film, the color shifts are permanent.
The Hub and The Judge’s Verdict
I spent yesterday processing the Portra 400 and pushing the negatives through the flatbed scanner. The color latitude of this film is absolutely incredible, capturing the deep, shadowy greens of the Nicoya Peninsula perfectly without blowing out the harsh tropical sky.
I’ve curated the best frames and uploaded the final, high-resolution 6×6 squares to the
California Views Gallery Hub. Go take a look at what a purely mechanical camera can do when paired with the right chemistry.
Naturally, Judge Roy Bacon sent me a surprisingly brief email this morning after reviewing the new tropical scans.
“A mechanical camera, analog film, and surviving the TSA without a digital toy in sight. You are walking the righteous path, Patrick.”
I’ll take the compliment while it lasts. The vintage Leica M4 is coming out of the safe this weekend. Keep your lenses clean, demand hand-checks at the airport, and stay away from the sportsbooks.
Comments
BigBoyDan: Scheffler got lucky, Pat. No one bounces back from a water hazard like that unless the golf gods are on their side. St. Louis is a completely different track. I’m telling you, the underdogs are going to feast at the BMW.
JudgeRoy: A triumph of patience at the security line, Patrick. Never surrender your film to the machines. The Wetzlar glass continues to prove its superiority over your plastic computers.
