Winter where I live varies from cold (for us!) to hedonistically warm and pleasant. This day was cold and drear but I loved being out in it – a pleasant cold and drear that is savored for its very briskness.
Tag: 120
In California, we have been dealing with increasing drought over the years. Usually this creek runs with water falling from Nojoqui Falls in Santa Barbara County, but here it is dry. With the winter’s rainy season beginning, I want to return, perhaps after a storm, as this really is a lovely little creek when it’s moving along. Even dry, it’s nice.
One thing nice about a TLR is that it hangs around your neck at waist level. Tilt it up, tilt it down, and the world and perspective changes. With my old, creaky knees, it’s really a pleasure to be able to get closer to the ground without falling over!
Another tree, a shadow, and a curiosity to see how well the Yashica D’s Yashinon 80mm f3.5 lens could handle the distance. I think it did pretty good!
Inktober was not a big success for me this year!
We were hiking up an ever-narrowing canyon. Light disappeared the further we went. Suddenly, there was this tree, bright against the shadows.
The leftward movement caught my attention . . .
I have been taking my Yashica D TLR out a lot! Color and black and white film. I am finding it so much fun to use and I seem to be getting better pictures in medium format with this camera than with any of my others, all of which are vintage folders. Composing an image in the Yashica is a lot easier than with a small rangefinder view.
Besides using the Yashica D, I also did a roll of a new (to me) film: Ultrafine Extreme 400. For all 12 images in the roll, I applied the Sunny 16 rule, and nailed the exposures on all of them! As far as focus goes, I think my focus was good for most of them, but I think my scanning is a bit off as the film was rather curly even when I tried to flatten it. I am using an Epson V600 with Vuescan and Negative Lab Pro for this batch, but plan to use a digital camera and light table to scan some negatives as well.
These trees were taken on a hill near my house in the late morning.
I’ve been on quite a roll using my older cameras. This is one of maybe 2 or 3 images (out of 8 possible on a roll) taken with my only 6×9 camera, the classic Voigtlander Bessa RF from the 1930s. This my first experience with Fuji Pro 400H 120mm film. My scans were not the best, but worse was the amount of crud on the film. Processor or me?
Overall, pleased with both film and camera, especially how dark the trail was from being underneath so many trees, the fact that it was early morning, and that I had to handhold the camera – no tripod! – to get what I wanted. Oh, I guessed at all the exposures too!
While this is a pretty bleak looking landscape, it also shows you how the heat of summer dries the winter grasses. One match, and whoosh! Too many fires already in California.
The Glass Aerie 