journal

American Road Trip Journal #17: Salton Sea

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After a month on the road and a week of heavy eating in San Francisco, we were a bit tired when we got to Southern California. Hot temperatures (for December) didn't help either.

We tried to visit LA but the smog was so thick that we decided to skip it. Palm Springs, a small town farther inland, was a nice place where I recharged batteries before the second half of our trip.

One of those days, I drove to the Salton Sea. It was the most surreal place of the whole trip and an experience that will not be easy to forget.

I found incredible post-apocalyptic, decaying landscapes, but the mud and the putrid, fetid smell I found once I got out of the car weren't things I was hoping to find there.

That night's sunset was one for the books. It was quite spectacular and it helped to make me feel like I was in some other planet, in a decaying, abandoned, fallen planet in a Star Wars universe.

Not the best photos of the trip by any means, but what an evening I had there.

Shooting Film: Indiana Dunes

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The Indiana Dunes is one of the very few places I have here (within driving distance for a one-day trip) where I can take somewhat outdoors photos.

I'd never been to the place before, so I'm not sure what's going to look like when the snow melts. I've seen photos and to be honest, it's a bit "blah".

But now, in winter, it's a landscape I'd never seen before. This video is the first of my already multiple trips up there, and probably not the last one to come (last time I was there, the lake was frozen as far as I could see - truly an amazing view).

American Road Trip Journal #16: San Francisco

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This was my 6th or 7th visit to the city of San Francisco, and after trying and failing all of those times, I was determined to get the shot I always wanted: the San Francisco fog, at the Golden Gate, at sunrise. It took me a few days and a few toll payments, but I finally got it.

Some more things in the video, along with some random comments about some of the photos.

See more photos of San Francisco.

Developing HP5+ at 1600 using D-76 and TF-4

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Short video about developing Ilford HP5, shot at 1600 ASA, using Kodak D-76 and Photographer's Formulary TF-4 as the developer and fixer respectively.

Recipe is as follows:

film stock: Ilford HP5+, 120 film
temperature: 70F - 21C
developer: Kodak D-76, 1+1
...notes: 18 minutes, agitation / inversion of 10 seconds
stop bath: water
...notes: 3 rinses, 1 minute agitation
fixer: Photographer's Formulary TF-4
...notes: 6 minutes, agitation / inversion of 30 seconds
wet agent: Kodak Photo-Flo

Shooting film in Chain O Lakes, Indiana

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There aren't many places where you can go out and enjoy nature here in Northern Indiana, and they require some driving to get to. But they are going to be my playground for a couple more months, so I'm spending some time getting to know them.

The first one, Chain O Lakes, is 40 minutes away from where we live. It's far from being "wilderness", but it does offer some nature that you can enjoy mostly by yourself at this time of the year, as long as you avoid the smaller lakes, crowded with people ice fishing.

As usual, I shot Ilford HP5+ with my Bronica SQ-Ai, although I also loaded Fuji Acros 100 for the first time. I only got to get one shot with this new film (for me) over there, and it's at the very end of the video.

7 Bronica SQ-Ai Shooting Tips

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7 Bronica SQ-Ai Shooting Tips

I've been shooting quite a lot with my Bronica since I got it last year. I brought it with me to the mountains, to the desert and to the shores of oceans and lakes all across the country (see my [American Road Trip series on YouTube).

I sat down and I thought about some tips I would've loved to know about when I started shooting it. Hoping they help someone, here they go in no particular order.

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Shooting film in Notre Dame, South Bend

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If you follow college football, you know Notre Dame. Their team is very popular nationwide, or at least that's what I've been told (I'm not a huge football fan, although I do watch games from time to time and I have my favorites - the Seahawks and the Ducks, of course!).

ND game in Fenway Park, Boston. The only football game I've been to so far. It was fun!

Even though we are now very close to South Bend, I'd never been to the actual campus. So taking advantage of a trip I had to make there, and given that the hotel where I was staying was literally next door to the university, I finally paid a visit to the place.

I only had one hour at the one parking lot I could find that didn't require a permit, and it was very, very cold (as usual). So the photos are nothing amazing - they could've been much better if I got there just 5-10 minutes earlier though, while the snowstorm was still strong.

I'll have to go back and spend some more time there.

How I found time for landscape photography while having a day job

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How I found time for landscape photography while having a day job

Time is precious. Being a landscape photographer requires a lot of exclusive time but most people don't seem to have it. These are some things I used to do that helped me find that time.

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America Road Trip Journal #14: Mendocino County

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Mendocino was the first "new" place to us on this road trip. It was an entirely new landscape for me to explore, and I finally had the time to do so.

Based in Fort Bragg, I spent some 2 and half to 3 full days driving and hiking around the cute small towns and beautiful coastal line that this part of California has to offer.

You can't really go wrong here: not only you have the southern part of the Lost Coast very close, but also places like Glass Beach or Mendocino Headlands.

And further south, my favorite of them all: Point Arena. I took some long exposures there that are some of my favorite photos of this road trip so far.

American Road Trip Journal #13: Redwoods

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Episode 13 of the American Road Trip Journal.

The Redwoods! The talles trees on Earth.

We drive through the Avenue of the Giants, where some of these huge trees have had their home for hundreds of years.

It's a very short video because this was just a stop on our way to Mendocino, where we'd stay for a few days after this.

I took a few shots but I don't talk about them this time. They were mostly snapshots so I'm not going to pretend that I gave them much thought. I still hope you enjoy the episode!

Of scanning, writing and reading

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This weekend I took some "time off" from the blog and the YouTube channel to work on some things that needed my attention.

Scanning

I scanned 14 rolls of film: 8 from the road trip and 6 of my most recent shot rolls. I'm still working on this as we speak, I have another 18 from last year.

Writing

I also worked on my upcoming free ebook, "Examples of the PNW". It's finally coming together and I hope to have it out very soon. Consider subscribing to my newsletter to get it as soon as it becomes available.

Reading

Finally, I did some reading as it's one of my new year's resolutions. I've finished 3 books this year so far: Purple Cow by Seth Godin, How to sell your art online by Cory Huff and Astrophysics for people in a hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The topics couldn't be more different! I might talk about them in the future, I'm not sure yet.

Photography-wise, I'm still working on Ansel Adam's The Negative. A book that has proven to be a bit too dense for me, although packed with very useful information. I recently started Why people photograph by Robert Adams, book I'm enjoying a lot, and I have some more coming in the mail soon.

And now, back to our regular programming.