Jungle Fungus, MetLife Winds, and Dreaming of Highway 1
Posted by Pat Hathaway | September 10, 2026
The Tarrazú coffee is officially gone, the Costa Rican humidity has finally broken my spirit, and my rental in Santa Ana currently smells like rubbing alcohol and silica gel. It is Thursday morning, and I am finally packing the gear to head back to the States.
Dan and the MetLife Winds
While I am meticulously cleaning vintage glass, Big Boy Dan is pacing around my kitchen via FaceTime, already spiraling about the opening week of the NFL season. He spent the last 48 hours hyper-analyzing tonight’s 49ers-Rams game in Melbourne, Australia, but he has already moved on to Sunday night’s matchup.
The Dallas Cowboys are heading up to East Rutherford to play the New York Giants on Sunday, September 13th. Dan is absolutely convinced that the swirling winds at MetLife Stadium are going to completely ground the passing game. He is currently running the math on running back prop bets like a madman. If you want the actual injury reports and sensible game analytics instead of Dan’s frantic gut feelings, you can check out the
NFL coverage over at ESPN. I told Dan to take a deep breath and save his money, but the man is physically incapable of watching a football game without a financial stake.
Fighting Fungus and Packing the Pelican
I have bigger concerns than the NFC East. Taking vintage mechanical cameras into the jungle is incredibly rewarding, but the tropical humidity is the absolute enemy of optical glass. If you leave a 1960s Carl Zeiss lens in a damp camera bag for even a few days, fungal spores will take root and permanently etch themselves into the anti-reflective coatings.
Before I even thought about putting the Rolleiflex 2.8F or the Contax G2 into my Pelican case, I spent three hours this morning giving every piece of gear a deep clean with isopropyl alcohol and a microfiber cloth. If you are planning a trip to the tropics with analog gear, you need to understand the science of moisture control. You can read a comprehensive guide on preventing lens fungus over at
PetaPixel’s photography archives.
I packed the camera bodies into airtight hard cases loaded with rechargeable silica gel desiccants. For anyone looking to build a bomb-proof, moisture-sealed travel kit, the heavy-duty storage solutions available through
B&H Photo Video are practically mandatory. Do not trust a canvas backpack in a rainforest.
Highway 1 and the Hub
I am eager to get out of the tropics and back to the dry, predictable air of the West Coast. As soon as I drop my bags at home, I am loading up the truck for a proper road trip from California. I’m thinking about heading up Highway 1 through Big Sur and Monterey, taking the heavy Mamiya RB67 medium format anvil out to capture the jagged coastline in classic black and white. There is nothing quite like the Pacific marine layer to make you appreciate a good silver gelatin emulsion.
Before sealing up the laptop for the flight, I finalized the last batch of my Santa Ana jungle scans. I’ve uploaded the final high-resolution images to the
California Views Gallery Hub. Take a look at the vivid greens and the punchy contrast of the Ektar 100 film before I switch back to shooting foggy California grays next week.
Keep your lenses dry, ignore Dan’s betting advice, and I’ll see you back in the Golden State.
Comments
BigBoyDan: You can’t ignore the MetLife aerodynamics, Pat. The under on total passing yards is a lock. I’m placing the bets as soon as you land.
JudgeRoy: Proper optical maintenance is the hallmark of a disciplined photographer, Patrick. I am relieved to hear you are taking the silica gel seriously. I look forward to your return to proper California monochrome.
