American Southwest - Day Whatever

This trip was did not go exactly as planned. In fact, it wasn't planned at all. It happened spontaneously when an unexpected space of three weeks opened up so the chronicles of this trip seem to be going in fits and spurts, and now is going to take a detour altogether. I took a picture, my first large format ever, on the way down to Nevada in SE Washington. I was hoping to get a good picture of Palouse Falls, however, that did not happen. What did happen, was an amazing quality of light that was illuminating a fairly modern and working grain elevator. I was a little reluctant, because how cliche can you get when using an old 4x5 graflex camera with a 70 year old lens. I spent the night near hear, and then headed for  Eagle Cap Wilderness, the Steen Mountains, and the Alvord Dessert. This part of the trip was planned, but there just wasn't a lot of picture taking going on. I also ruined 4 negatives from this part of the trip because loading and unloading, exposing, and storing 4x5 sheet negatives is hard. I don't think any of the pictures I lost would have been that great. The reverse side of this picture was never even exposed (oops) so it was just a black square when I developed it. Goodbye $15. I don't know what happened there. 

I decided to post this picture next, because I have it scanned, and the next 4x5's I have aren't. Plus, I sold and shipped all my 35mm cameras and lenses right after mono lake, expect my olympus XA with I bought in Mammoth, so not much in small format either. Not to mention, the last few months have been focused on passing my boards and getting as many hours at work as I could. But as see the light at the end of the tunnel, I am now contemplating whether I want to spend 25-30 dollars for decent scans (each) or breaking down and buying an Epson Perfection V700 with a wet scanning accessory for about $700. If I decide to buy invest in the scanner, it will likely be a couple more months before the rest of my negatives make it to the blog, so I thought I better post something. Plus the bug is starting to build and I feel the creative juices flowing. I loaded up 4 sheets of B&W, 4 sheets of Fuji Velvia 50, and 2 sheets of Kodak Porta 160 VC. Yosemite? Redwoods? Bodie Ghost Town? Golden Gate Bridge? Pacific Coast? Lake Tahoe? Owens Valley? Bristle Cone? All 4 hours or less.

Palouse Elevator. This picture made me so nervous.

Also, I thought I'd share another photo from the portion of the trip in Death Valley. It is digital. My whole trip in the Valley was a bust, as far as the big camera goes, because of wind and user error. I do have a couple negatives to scan, but they do not look like successes. Time will tell.



Digital Bleh. I would have been all over this picture a couple years ago. Now I notice all the things that are just a little off. I do like that cloud swirl though.

One more bonus pic. This one is from just before I left Missoula in March. It is the Lakeside Marina as a late winter storm is coming in from the Missions. I really like the way this one turned out. 

Flathead Pier in Winter
Oooooo. Moody. Last roll of film with my beloved Olympus Stylus Epic.


Comments

  1. Becky PitcherJuly 31, 2012 at 8:04 AM

    That BW picture is awesome! It's true that film pictures can be so much better, but I just can't ever get a single roll to come out.


    ≥/…∂sd;'?:]
    0-=-. …dt÷

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