MorseBlog

After a lull in my photo taking I have decided to explore the idea of intimate landscape using a panoramic camera. I have a few possibilities in my camera stable. The smallest is the Fuji GSW 690 which gives me a 65mm lens on a 6x9 negative. I also have 6x12 filmback for my Intrepid 4x5 camera which I can coupled with my 90, 150, and 240mmm lenses. Finally the widest is the Fuji G617 which gives a 6x17 negative couple with a 105mm lens.  I made this overlay to show the difference between the G617 and the GSW 690 that while the GSW has a much wider lens 65mm vs 105mm the G617 still wins in terms of wideness.  6x17 (Portra 400) vs 6x9 (Portra 160) formats. (same tripod location) Moon moved due to different times when photo was taken. The challenges with the G617 are many. First it has a center filter to reduce vignetting due to the wide angle. This removes about 1 stop (2x darker as marked on lens). This means ISO 100 film needs to be metered at ISO 50 for instance.  Next...

I was out again last week at Woodwalton Fen in the early morning as there was a forecast of some fog. I wasn’t disappointed as I walked in the pre-dawn darkness. I stopped in the middle of the reserve where a bench is located by a small pond. I sat and sipped coffee and ate my breakfast while I waited for the light to come up. When the light and color saturated I picked up my equipment and walked on.  I headed down a track I last travelled last summer along a line of oak trees. This lead to a little used trail and I found my first photo. Three interesting shaped trees in the mist. I setup first with my 150mm lens but needed the 90mm lens to capture it. This lens does not get much use. It is difficult to see the image on the ground glass because of the way the light disperses.  I was using my SINAR Zoom film back exclusively today and had loaded a roll of Fuji Provia 100. My limited experience with shooting in mist in fog has me favoring Fuji Astia and Provia. I find that Fuji ...

It seems I am making regular rounds to my 3 local woodlands. Each has a unique character and rather than being repetitive I find new areas to explore afresh in some and comfort in the familiar places of ones I know better. Of course these woodlands change all the time, with the seasons, the weather. If one looks carefully enough and is sensitive to subtleties there is change all around.  This morning it is Monk’s Wood. Growing up a a hillside on determinedly clay soil it is markedly different from the he two fen woodlands of Holme and Woodwalton. These latter two are pancake flat being in the drained marshes of the fens. They are also relatively new.  The silver birches of Holme would not have turned up until after the draining of the fens as they prefer well drained soil. The nearby area of Whittlesey is the last of the fenlands to be drained so the forest is perhaps 150 years old.  Woodwalton Fen was purchased by Charles Rothschild in 1910 as a nature reserve. I am not ...

I slept in on this Sunday morning and probably missed the best of the fog. By mid-day there was still some fog around the house and I had the chance to venture out for a couple of hours. I drove down to Holme Fen if only because I hadn’t been there the longest.  When I arrived there were lots of parked cars; more than I have ever seen before. The weather was dry so I can hardly blame them. I went out to the eastern-most coverts as I haven’t been to then in a while and the forest opens up in a few areas so I might exploit the fog there better.  By the time I got out the fog seemed to be slacking and didn’t provide as much mood as I had hoped. The autumn was moving on and many of the silver birch leaves were turning from yellow-green to a more orange brown color.  Gone now is the tyranny of green; to such an extent the eye thirsts for fresh green growth amongst the mostly brown bracken and naked tree limbs. The oaks however hold onto their leaves; for now at least. I pass t...