The Clear Fork of the Trinity River is a small river by almost any standard. It forms in Parker County, just west of Fort Worth and runs southeast into Tarrant County, where it turns northeast and runs to downtown and joins with the West Fork. All told 40-50 miles or so.
It is the river I live along and one I do like to photograph. Usually I walk or bike along the length of it looking for photographs. I also will drive out into Parker County and look for vantage points of the river. Usually that means finding roads that cross the river as it is all on private property here.
This is one such location I can see from a bridge. Luckily this is a unbusy side road that lets me safely visit early in the morning and make images.
On this spring or early summer morning I was able to set up my camera and work with with greens and the river to make this image with black and white Efke 25 film.
I like the forest view here. The river is young and not really much more than a stream.
It makes me wonder what the view is like around the bend.
I was out photographing the prairies here around Fort Worth one morning. I had parked near a railroad track and was photographing a ranch road as it went across the prairie grasses. After making my shot I packed up and put the large format camera back in the SUV.
Then I heard the train. I decided to see if I could get an image with the 4x5. I knew the train was close, I had maybe 90 seconds to get set up. Maybe.
I sprung into high gear. Set the tripod back up. Opened the camera pack and grabbed the Arca. Racked it out. Put on the 75mm. Did a quick rough focus. Leveled. Put in some Efke 25 and used what I had metered before as my exposure. Cocked the shutter and pulled the slide. The engine was less than 100 yards away. As it sped past I fired this image.
Speed and luck were with me this day.
The Arca made this possible as it is so easy to set up and use it can be done quick. My buddy with a folding wooden field camera also tried setting up but got no where near ready.
Gotta love the Arca!!
FWIW, I took the top image after the train had passed. I was lucky to get set up so quick but had no time for the obligatory camera on tripod shot before.
Winter on the Upper Mississippi River is a fantastic time to capture images in another little photographed location. Wisconsin, with the possible exception of Door County, is not much of a vacation destination, let alone a photography destination. However, do not let that fool you. Here on the Upper Mississippi River south of the Twin Cities is a true gem of a photography destination.
Most people presume the Midwest is all flat, they are wrong. The glaciers of the last ice age missed this area and the bluffs along the river here are around 500 feet tall. It is like being in the hill country.
I was lucky enough to have to do a several week job assignment in the area and jumped at the chance to photograph this place in January and February. Yes, it was cold. Several mornings were minus 25 or so. However that did not deter me from getting out early with the camera to chase the winter light.
Here is a set up and shot I made in the marshes along the Mississippi River near LaCrosse, Wisconsin. It was below zero this morning as I hiked into the area in the dark. I found a view of the bluffs and slowly began to set the camera up. Slow and methodical being the key here. Large Format is naturally slow, but the cold adds another layer to it. You have to think about things and you have to be mindful of how you breath. In other words do not exhale under the dark cloth as that will freeze on your ground glass and your day will be over very quickly.
I took my time and then waited for the shot. In the clear morning sky the moon hanging over the bluffs was the best composition I could see.
You may also notice the bag hanging from the tripod. I stored my lightmeter and digital camera there and wanted to keep them out of the snow. My large pack was sitting upright in the snow behind me in an area I had stamped down to keep the bag from sinking in the powder. That helped keep things dry and the snow out.
Autumn on the Great Plains is a little different than most places. Primarily that means you have to look harder to find fall colors since you have to work more to find trees. The grasses of the prairies can put on their own colorful display but let's be honest, most people still want trees to photograph.
That usually means looking for cottonwoods along streams and rivers. However, if one knows where to look there can be other places of color.
One such place is the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge in southwest Oklahoma. Smack dab in the middle of the south plains between Wichita Falls, Texas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma a small range of granite mountains pop out of the flat prairies.
Some of the rocky hills here rise around 800' above the surrounding flatlands. Streams and small lakes fill the flat valleys between the hills. Bison, elk, and longhorn roam the refuge. At some 50,000 acres it is one of the largest areas of public lands on the Great Plains. It is a fantastic location that is off the beaten path of all but a few local photographers.
It also can put on a great little fall color display. The rocky slopes of the hills and some of the narrow zig-zag valleys contain some oaks that will put on a little color display in early November.
Here are a couple of images of one early November a couple of years ago. This is Mt. Sheridan (I presume named for General Phil Sheridan of Civil War fame) in predawn light.
The colors were in great shape that year and this display was one of my favorite scenes. I am glad I captured it then as the drought of 2011 was severe here and hundreds of acres of the refuge burned that year. This mountain was one that the fires raged on and today many of those trees are just charred remains. So while nature has renewed itself, it may be a few years to capture this scene again in full autumn glory.
Another view of the falls on the West Fork. After taking the image in the last post I got in closer for more of a profile view of the falls. I really wanted to compress the scene as best I could so I went with a bonus lens I have-the old Bausch and Lomb Rapid Rectilinear.
This is 80+ years old that a buddy found and gave me. The shutter only partially works. It will not stop down, so you have to shoot wide open. The speeds are inaccurate at best, but if you need a 2 second or four second exposure, those are easy to do by just counting. It is also a convertible lens, meaning I can remove one element to double the focal length.
So with on element removed this is about a 300mm lens which makes it my longest. Now when I go this long that means I also have to have my extra rail and my standard sized bellows as my normal rail and the bag bellows I normally use are too short for this.
With the right set up I am able to bring in my view of the falls to make the water a center piece of my image and not just a small element.
The sky is overcast and I have no problem making it a long exposure to get it right.
One morning and two images/compositions in about 15 minutes. You know in large format, that is a pretty good day!
The Clear Fork of the Trinity River is a small river by almost any standard. It forms in Parker County, just west of Fort Worth and runs southeast into Tarrant County, where it turns northeast and runs to downtown and joins with the West Fork. All told 40-50 miles or so.
On this spring or early summer morning I was able to set up my camera and work with with greens and the river to make this image with black and white Efke 25 film. 
