Hiking from Cooper Gap to Woody Gap on the AT - 10/13/16

Had quite the hike yesterday - over 11 miles total, over/through many gaps and creeks.

I brought my 2x3 Century Graphic again (actually 2) and 38mm XL, 80mm Xenotar, and 105mm APO Lanthar lenses. I shot two rolls but only developed the b&w roll so far.

Here's a few images from that roll (Fuji Acros 100, shot at 80, dev'd in Rodinal 1:50 for 10 minutes):

 

 

 

The last vista above was the best view of the day. Luckily it's only about 2 miles from the Hwy 60 Woody Gap parking area and trail access - I definitely plan on returning here on a day with clouds and shooting this again.

Sunflower Field

Had a pleasant afternoon at a corn maze and a sunflower farm. I shot a roll of color film and one of b&w, but I haven't been able to develop any color yet due to my current darkroom situation.

Here's some sunflower photos:

 

 This last image was my mom fooling around making a face in the flower, which a lot of people had done. These were shot with my Leica M6 and 50mm or 21mm lenses.

Hightower to Horse Gap on the AT - 10/6/16

I took a shorter hike Thursday - about 3.5 miles round-trip from Hightower to Horse Gap. But near Horse Gap are some wicked climbs! I also accidentally went down into the valley at the beginning and hiked straight up the side of the ridge to get back on track.

I decided I wanted to finally try shooting a roll of 35mm Kodak Technical Pan I had been holding onto for years. This legendary film has quite a reputation but the slight increase in resolution was not really worth the trade-offs in film speed and extreme contrast. For reference, I shot the roll at an EI of 25 and developed it in FX-39 1:19 for 7 minutes. I think an EI of 15 would've worked better with a development of about 5 minutes, for good contrast, but I don't have any more TP anyway. I shot the roll with my Bessa R2S and 15mm, 25mm, and 50mm Voigtlander lenses:

 

 

 

 

 

   

I also brought with me a little 2x3 Century Graphic, along with a Voigtlander 10.5cm f/4.5 APO Lanthar lens. I shot a roll of Plus-X with it (dev'd in Rodinal 1:50):

On the way back I took one more image of this interesting rock wall hewed from the cliff to put in the road I assume:

Luckily I found that I could park at Horse Gap so I will be continuing from there soon and working my way towards Woody Gap at Hwy 60.

Jacksonville Bridge and Jax Beach Pier

While in Florida last week I also went to Jacksonville to see a wonderful photography show at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Afterwards I and some friends went walking around downtown and found ourselves on the Main St. bridge. I shot some images with my Contax I and 35mm f/2.8 Biogon and 50mm f/1.5 Sonnar:

Afterwards we went down to the Jacksonville Beach Pier and walked on the beach for a while. This time I brought along my 2x3 Century Graphic with 80mm f/2.8 Xenotar and 4x5 Sinar Handy with 65mm f/8 Super Angulon:

Always nice to shoot in Florida, I hope I can go back soon.

St. Marks and the "Forgotten Coast" of Florida

Last Thursday I traveled to Tallahassee to visit a friend and go shoot. We drove to St. Marks and then west to Carrabelle, exploring a number of state parks and access points to the Gulf within the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge.

Inside the city of St. Marks is San Marcos de Apalache Historic State Park. This little-known park has some nice views of the St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers. I had a new 4x5 camera I wanted to test - a Sinar Handy. This camera is easy to use and is somewhat meant for handheld shooting, but for landscape it is quick and easy to setup, which is nice. I used a 65mm f/8 Super Angulon to shoot these images at "Tucker's Point" - the confluence of the two rivers I mentioned:

We also went to some of the boat ramps and Gulf access points within the St. Marks Wildlife Refuge. Here are some images, this time in fact handheld, some with my 6x12 back attached to the Sinar:

 

Finally, we went into the woods at the Aucilla WMA and I took two more photos:

The clouds this day weren't in our favor but I enjoyed shooting anyway, and got a few nice shots I think. The Sinar was a joy to use. This area of Florida is quite nice, but I had not really explored it extensively when I lived in the south GA area. Perhaps I will find some time to further photograph some of the interesting small towns and such another day.