top of page
Writer's pictureRuss

Rambles through Two European Countries

Two months away from MarmotRidgeFoto; seemed longer. My wife and I headed to Europe for three weeks in September: Great Britain for four days, and two weeks harassing our daughter and family in Belgium. The remainder of those days were travel.


I did not have the nerve to haul the 4X5 sheet film camera along on such an adventure.


There would have been awesome photos to capture but the 4X5 is something of a selfish creature. It requires a tripod. It takes ten minutes to setup. And three or four to tear down. It occupies a full backpack on its own, when I include 10 film holders, the camera, a second lens, black cloth, the cable extension and a magnifying glass. Then add some accessories to keep the lens clean and pliers to release un-recalcitrant nuts. Too much stuff for that trip.


So the Canon 5D MkIII DSLR was the shooter of choice, along with three additional lenses.


I found a style of editing that I find intriguing and resembles the Renaissance artists, and ancient scenes of Europe certainly lend themselves to the style.


Still working on the style. You may think you know how to do something if you have achieved

Setting sun. f/18. Camera solid on the bridge abutment.

it once. However, I believe planning a photo and getting it to the wall per the plan at a minimum of three times really shows a thorough knowledge of the process. I am not there yet.


I had been fighting soft focus on the 4X5 camera. I measured, tested, recalibrated and checked everything I could imagine. Finally, I bought Nikor 135mm lens to replace the 135 mm that had been my workhorse. That makes a difference. Once again, you get what you pay for. The old lens just above $100. The Nikor clocked on the old credit card at three times that.


Look under the Wanderings tab for Ranch and Farm for two new 4X5 scenes and two more under Teller County, where I captured some turning aspens. The photos north of Silverthorne were captured with the new (to me) Nikor lens.



37 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comentarios


bottom of page