Sorry I haven't been as active commenting on here as I should be... its been a hectic few months auditioning for residency positions.
These aren't exactly "high art," but they amused me... shots of my wife out at Mount Rainier National Park. All with the Leica M6, Elmarit 28, Yellow Filter, and Delta 100.
Did you summit? Life at 14k' is certainly interesting, even if it's not The Death Zone that 26k' is.
IMHO, I'd find these images better in color. Yes, I know that Ansel shot in B/W. But as a peak-bagger, I find images that show verdant summer at lower elevation w/ snowcapped-peaks up high to be an awesome contrast.
Nice, Evan. I like all of these for different reasons.
1. I love her expression and the distant mountain in the back - I'm guessing Mount Adams.
2. I really like the contrast in both the snow and the clouds and somewhat little person in big environment feel.
3. Again, I really like her expression. I can feel her sense of accomplishment. I also like the clouds around the peak, and how there's just enough of a hole in them to make out Gilbraltar rock. Otherwise, I don't know that I'd recognize where you were, without you telling us.
Are you in WA state now, or just visiting? I'm curious why a yellow filter over say a red or orange? I haven't done much BW shooting and even less with filters, so I was just curious what caused you to choose that.
Didn't summit this trip. No time, but one day I will!
Was auditioning in an Emergency Medicine program in WA... just there for a month.
Yellow filters are a good general-purpose outdoor filter. They darken blue skies and give more definition to clouds, they tend to lighten foliage, and they also give realistic skin tones. They tend to increase contrast overall. Back in the day with different emulsions, many said that the only way to get realistic tones from BW was with a yellow or yellow-green filter... and some folks still feel this way. Yellow filters also only cost you one stop of light. Red or orange filters tend to give more dramatic effects (dark or black skies, porcelain skin tones, etc) but are less "realistic" and also cost 2-3 stops of light, which begins to be troublesome with a lower ISO film, smallish apertures, and hand-holding.
I use orange and red filters for some of my landscape stuff, especially with the 4x5... but on the leica yellow is about as far as I usually go.
Evan Baines wrote
Was auditioning in an Emergency Medicine program in WA...
You know that Ed Viesturs gave up being a veterinarian to make a career out of mountaineering, right? Plenty of "opportunity" to practice emergency medicine at 26k'+...
In any case, do post more from the Pac NW- rather gorgeous scenery out there. Planning on doing any of the other Cascades?
Thanks for the info, Evan. That's very good to know. I love that last shot as well. You really got around the park, didn't you? That last one appears like it could have been from Tolmie peak? Did you hike *that* far, that's quite a hike from your first photos!
