Hey all. This past April I went on a backpacking trip in Southern Utah. The weather wasn't ideal, but I still managed to get some nice reflected light to work with. These photos were taken with my Ebony RW810 8x10 camera using Fuji Velvia 50 film. I was able to carry a total of 4 film holders, which gave me 4 sheets of Velvia, and 4 sheets of Kodak Ektar. I was hoping to spend more time on the backpacking portion of the trip, but I ended up bailing a bit early because the weather wasn't ideal. It turns out that was a good move because a storm rolled through earlier than anticipated, and I was able to hike out of this canyon well before the rain hit.
The first photo is one that I shot on my third day of the trip. I found this tree the day before, and knew it would be best photographed in morning light. Though there were some clouds that day, I had a nice break between them with blue sky to give the the sort of light I was hoping for. This was taken with a Fujinon 300mm C lens at f/45 with about a 3 second long exposure.
The second photo is the scene I photographed the first day I arrived at the canyon. I loved the wall of desert varnish, and found this cool looking tree up against it. I liked how the tree had some character, and how half the tree had been sheered off, yet the tree was still thriving. It's pretty crazy how much abuse these cottonwoods can take. I call this one "Unbroken" because of the unbroken spirit of the split tree. This was taken with my Fujinon 600mm C lens at f/45 with about a 2 second long exposure of Fuji Velvia 50 film.
I'd be interested to see that pack, Ben. I'm planning to do some pack humping out at Yosemite end of October but I'm only doing 4X5. Among other things.
Kenj8246 wrote:
I'd be interested to see that pack, Ben. I'm planning to do some pack humping out at Yosemite end of October but I'm only doing 4X5. Among other things.
Kenny
ps Lovely images.
I got my pack down to about 58lbs, which wasn't all that bad, but also I wasn't hining at high elevation. Next year I'll have a lightweight intrepid 8x10 camera which will shave some more pounds off my pack.
dmacmillan wrote:
Lovely! There's nothing like throwing the dark cloth over the back of an 8x10 and staring at the ground glass. It's like going from a 21" TV to IMAX.
I love the isolation of a dark cloth and ground glass to be able to really concentrate on the composition. I will soon be getting an Arca Swiss 8x10 whicj is suppose to have an amazing ground glass. I am looking forward to it!
Always very Ben work when it pops up. Great stuff. I'm wondering if you could have used some movements in the first image to straighten out the back wall? 2nd is baller. Simple and effective. Fun!
aFeinberg wrote:
Always very Ben work when it pops up. Great stuff. I'm wondering if you could have used some movements in the first image to straighten out the back wall? 2nd is baller. Simple and effective. Fun!
aF
You are very observant Aaron, and very good question! When I go backpacking, I take a super lightweight normal lens (Fuji 300C). It covers 8x10 with enough room for some decent movements, but the lens is tiny, and I felt I probably should avoid using any extreme movements. I'm still new with this lens, and thought I might be taking a risk by putting the front rise to the test.
After sharing the photo and mentioning that I was reluctant to use front rise, someone chimed in and said that the Fuji 300C is great in the middle, but as you move away from the center of the image circle, it really falls apart, and that not using front rise was a good move. If I was using my Nikon 300 lens, I could have maxed out the rise and be sharp all the way through.
That being said, in this case I think the perspective helps put some more attention on the tree and makes it feel bigger than it is. Also, I don't think I could have totally straightened those lines anyway since I had to look upward a lot.
