Tuesday, April 27, 2010

A New Beginning


I did something this month I thought was almost unthinkable a few months back......I learned to load a traditional film holder.

I have used nothing but Fuji Quickloads since I started in large format photography. A Quickload holder and a couple boxes of Velvia Quickloads were all I needed or ever wanted. When I heard earlier this year of the demise of Quickloads, I was numb from loss. After going through sadness and anger I gave fate a chance. A friend loaned me a conventional holder and I got a 10 sheet box of Acros to practice with. I loaded up two sheets and went out and shot them. Then two more. Then two more. Until finally the box was gone. It takes a while to even use a box of 10 sheets when you only have one holder. After using them all, I had thee sheets processed. I was not sure what to expect and was quite pleased when they were all decent. Hey- I did it and did not ruin the film!

It was not so bad after all.

So I went and bought a few holders of my own. On top of that I decided to try something else new too. I have enough Velvia Quickloads in the fridge to last me many months so I decided to use B+W film in the conventional holders. Why not start something new with this new skill?

I ordered 100 sheets of Efke 25 and am ready to start down a new path in large format. It is exciting and very much a new beginning to be out chasing the B+W landscape (on top of still chasing the grand landscape in color).

The image here is from one of those days with just one holder. I was out at the Great Falls of the Clear Fork of the Trinity and made a total of two images (with one holder, thats all you get!). This is the set up for one of them.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Snow at Grand Canyon



Snowfall as seen from Hopi Point at the south rim of the Grand Canyon.


This was a fantastic sunset from what I think is the best sunset viewpoint in the park. Hopi offers up views both east and west. I went here for hopes of seeing the full moon rise over the length of the canyon. The weather you see here blocked that moonrise, but I think seeing it snowing on the north rim while I was in the sunshine was a good trade!