I have a few questions...

[ellisd]

What do you mean by his camera was missing in the movie?
I remember the camera being shown when he packs his backpack in the bus before walking back towards civilization. Or do you mean something else?

I meant something else. It pertained to the fact that in the movie Chris didn't take many photographs.

[GoNorth]

Oh, ok, so you mean that we don't see "Chris" taking photos. Well, you know, there are so many details missing in the movie. I mean, think about all the stuff he wrote. In the movie you see him writing letters or postcards to Wayne and the rather short notes during his stay in the wild/at the bus (the movie doesn't show either that he left the bus for several weeks in the beginning, and that he didn't walk to the Tek and back in one day, but wrote down "...lonely, scared" when he was still near the uncrossable river, about 2 or 3 days before reaching the bus again). You never see him writing to Jan and Bob/Rainey and you never see him writing any of these long texts (in the third person) in his journal, during the 2 years, which he left with Wayne (together with all the photos he had taken so far) before heading north.
And there are many other things like that, which have been left out (or modified) in the movie. Probably some of them on purpose and others just because they didn't seem important enough to Penn and the team.
I could imagine that leaving out the photographing itselft rather belongs to the second category. Or do you have a concrete idea about what might possibly be the reason?
Or any other thoughts?

[ellisd]

no i don't mean anything more than i said, just the fact i noticed they didn't show "Chris" taking alot of self portraits or much of any photos. What made me notice was at the start of the movie where "Chris" never asked "Jim" to take a photograph of him at the head of the trail.

[SteveSalmon]

~SS

[GoNorth]

GoNorth my friend and pal, you sure seem to be coming off snappy lately. But, I know it's most likely not intentional.

Oh no, of course not. I didn't even suspect my posts to give that impression. Maybe I should use some more smilies sometimes , in order to clarify the intended tone (Which is a general thing about forums anyway: Sometimes a reader just imagines a different intonation of a sentence than what the writer had in mind when writing it)
So sorry if anyone got a wrong impression, like maybe ellisd here. I was really just curious about the question regarding the camera.

[GoNorth]

Chris took more than 500 pictures during his travels. It's safe to say that he had a distinct love for photography. It was a big part of him. Yes?
Showing Chris packing a camera into a backpack doesn't quite represent his passion accurately.---TO ME.

You're absolutely right. This is definitely a part of Chris's personnality which has been left out completely.
However, what I already tried to say above is that it's just one thing out of many that miss in the movie.
I mean, we could even make a very long list of all the stuff they left out or modified for the film.
Another example: In the book, we learn a lot more about his past, like the fact that he was a captain of the crosscountry squad in high school, or that he wrote editorials for the student newspaper of Emory. All that stuff that teaches us much more about the complex person he was, certainly not the complete hermit shown in the movie.

I will mention another burning question that I have. Chris gave twenty-five thousand dollars to OXFAM. Now, I dont know for sure, but, I AM willing to bet he didn't pick this organization at random, therefore, it must have meant something to him. So, I ask, are they still receiving donations? Will they from the new book/dvd sales?

Very good question indeed.