This image was a bit of an experiment, and in that regard it was highly instructional. I was exposing a roll of Rollei Infrared using an R72 filter, which I generally calculate about a six stop filter factor when using. But since six stops still leaves me with much faster shutter speeds than I prefer AND because I was using my Hasselblad Flexbody which I like to shoot wide open so as not to diminish any tilts I apply, I find myself coupling a strong ND filter onto the R72. I have a few different NDs in my bag. There are a couple older ones by Hoya that are about 8.5 stops, and then I have a 10 stop by Hoya as well. And finally I have a 15 stop ND for those occasions when I want to avoid stacking my 8.5 stop NDs. But when I was metering this scene the 8.5-9 stops I was factoring for my Hoya ND combined with the 6 for the R72 just wasn't getting me long enough. It was a bright day and I was photographing at f2.8 and I think my exposure was somewhere in the .5-2 second range, which is kind of an awkward span of time for a lot of the subject matter I photograph, such as clouds. So I pulled out my 15 stop, but the issue that concerned me here is that that filter has an IR coating on it to cut down on infrared light passing through the filter. This becomes an issue with heavy ND filtration where the UV and IR ends of the spectrum don't get held back as much as the visible portions of the spectrum, so you end up with red or blue tinged photos from overexposure of these wavelengths. My concern was how much of my IR exposure the coatings on my 15 stop would nullify. Of course, such conundrums lead me toward photos instead of away, so I figured I would give it a try. As it turns out, I still get some exposure but this neg is easily two and maybe three stops underexposed. Good info for later use. Funny enough though, despite it not being the exposure I quite wanted, I ended up kind of liking the image. About all you can see are the clouds over the capitol building but those clouds were kind of what got me to stop to make this photo. Anyway, value is always subjective. An image can be important to you not because it turns out but because it teaches you something. It can also be good not because it turned out how you expected but because it turned out differently, showing you something you had not previsualized. This is always a good lesson to keep in mind.

Hasselblad Flexbody
Rollei Infrared

Tags:   Hasselblad Flexbody Oregon state capitol Rollei Infrared infrared film Medium Format 6x6 black & white cloudplay underexposed long exposure Oregon Pacific Northwest Salem zaahphoto monochrome clouds

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Hasselblad Flexbody
Rollei RPX 25

Tags:   Hasselblad Hasselblad Flexbody Rollei RPX 25 Sauvie Island Pacific Northwest landscape Tilt shift film Medium Format Oregon

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There are many good aspects to doing hikes up above Paradise on Mt. Rainier. I think my favorite aspect of this one was leaving my headlamp off and doing the hike down in the dark. It isn't really that dark, the eyes adjust and there is enough light from the moon to see by and there is something about not putting a bubble of light around you and such a dusky landscape. Halfway down, while there was still a bit of light in the sky to focus a groundglass by I stopped to make this image of the Paradise Lodge nestled in its mountainous blanket.

Hasselblad Flexbody
Kodak Ektar 100

Tags:   Kodak Ektar Hasselblad Flexbody Mt Rainier National Park Paradise blue twilight Tilt shift Washington Pacific Northwest Scanned at Blue Moon Camera Nikon Coolscan 9000

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There is something to be said about the intrinsic link between failure and expectation. It seems to me that a key component of failure is expectation. Try to imagine failure without expectation? It's tricky. Because in order to fail, you have to have somehow defined what failure is. And we do this with expectation in hand all the time, be it consciously or otherwise. This image is an example of just that. I set it up, had a shot in mind, calculated my exposure, sat on the tracks counting that exposure off mentally, got up closed the shutter and wound the film. All with an expectation of something. Part of that something was a vague notion of how I wanted the image to look. Another part of that something was the expectation that I calculated the technical aspects of the image correctly - focus, exposure, etc. Yet another part of that something was the expectation that the film would be processed correctly. And so on. You get the idea of how something like this is built off a chain of expectations, even when we don't necessarily think of those expectations. Then, when something doesn't go as expected, for example I somehow blew the exposure and overexposed the frame by several stops thereby producing a more faded, washed out image with a bit of a color cast. Well, that goes against my expectation of how I thought this would turn out. My initial reaction was, "Well, blew that one" and mentally began the process of writing this image off. It was just one photo after all and I make a lot of photos. Also, I am no stranger to "blowing it". I often tell people I could bury them with the boxes of throwaway sample prints from "failed" images that I have accumulated over the years. But then again, as I implied above, what is failure really, other than unmet expectations? And if that is really a key to failure, can failure not be converted to something else merely by either tweaking those expectations or simply by not handcuffing yourself to them. It is fine to have expectations, it is also fine to set them aside. After a day, and a second visit to this negative, I gave my initial expectations of this photo a rest and what was left behind was something that was neither expected nor failed. I don't know what it is, nor do I really need to. It is another image in my collection that has something that intrigues me, that has given me something to consider and think about. I used to remark to students that if a every photo you make teaches you something, are there really bad photos?

Anyway, just some thoughts inspired by my misexposure in the making of this particular image. And no, I still don't quite know how I goofed this one up. But I am ok with that too. If I knew, I might want to do it again and that wouldn't be nearly as fun as when it happens incidentally.

Hasselblad Flexbody
Silberra Color 160

Tags:   Silberra Color 160 Hasselblad Flexbody Portland Washington Park Oregon color Medium Format Tilt shift fall autumn Oregon Zoo train tracks Pacific Northwest film

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One of those painterly days spent along the Oregon coast. I love the seemingly endless dunes of grass that one can get lost in between Cannon Beach and Fort Stevens.

n an unrelated note my Flexbody leaks a bit more light than it is supposed to. I think the leak originated from an early knock it took in our partnership. It doesn't show up too much but it came up here. At first I had intended to remove the internal flare it caused across the image but upon digging in to this photo I came to two realizations: it was going to be more work than I wanted to invest and I kind of liked it anyway, at least in this image.

Hasselblad Flexbody
Fuji Pro 400H

Tags:   Fuji 400H Hasselblad Flexbody Oregon Coast Oregon landscape Tilt shift beach landscapes film Medium Format Hasselblad Pacific Ocean Pacific Northwest

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