Fog and Rain

Here is a day we had fog and rain in north Texas and I was west of Cowtown out in Palo Pinto County.  I like doing this drive as it is an interesting place of winding roads, some hills and valleys, some neat views, and you are highly unlikely to run into other photographers interested in the same subject.

This was a large format day when there were several of us with our 4x5 cameras and we had driven west in the dark, stopped for some Dublin DP, and gotten here in the early gloom of a rainy day.  

I like days like this, it is ideal for moody black and white and being in the green of summer, it was the order of the day.

I waited out some rain as it seemed to vary in intensity.  Set up and went into focus mode.  Ended up covering the camera with my jacket once when it picked up a little and then finally got my shot ready.  Efke 25 was the film.  DR-5 was the processing so I could get a chrome.  Scanned it and tweaked for contrast in Photoshop.

One of those good days.  I think I ended up with 3 or 4 nice images that day.  Also, if memory recalls we made it down to Granbury for fried chicken, and that was pretty good too!

El Cap and the Guads

El Capitan rises from the deserts of west Texas in dramatic fashion.  The sheer end of the Guadalupe Mountains is a sight to see and a frequent subject of my cameras.  I find the views varied and all of them superb   I often wonder why other photographers do not make the trek to photograph this park.  Then I remember, its here in Texas and for some reason people think all the good parks are in California or Utah.

Too bad for them.  Great for me.

On a fine fall afternoon, I arrived south of El Cap by one of my favorite roadside views of the mountains to find that fall rains had brought on some wildflowers and I instantly knew I had my image for the day.

Set up low.  Go wide to take it all in.  Use a grad filter to hold back the sky.  Stop down to f/45. Wait for the wind to slow enough to hopefully get the flowers sharp.  Then wait four weeks to see if you got the image.  You gotta love large format.

I mostly got the shot.  Trying not to blow out the yellow in the flowers it does get kinda dark in the shadows, but as Galen Rowell always said-expose for the most important highlight.