Compilation of photos and videos from our 3 days in Palm Springs, in Southern California. Photos were taken with pretty much every camera I have, film and digital.
American Road Trip Journal #18: Palm Springs
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Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco, November 2017
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
Some beautiful morning light at the wharf.
Random things and thoughts on a Sunday morning
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Scanning color film for the first time in a long time, working hard on printing my work, the Holga is back, and I'm going back to Portland this week.
Read MoreSoldiers' and Sailors' Memorial, Michigan City, February 2018
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150mm f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
I had no idea when or how I was going to make this image, but I knew it was going to happen since I saw this monument during my first visit to Michigan City. A few weeks later, I finally had the chance.
Landscape photography with a dog
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You might know that I'm the proud owner of the most beautiful dog in the world. And as you might suspect, this post is just an excuse to share photos of her.
I love spending time in the outdoors with my dog, but as a landscape photographer that raises the obvious question: is bringing a dog along good or bad for my photography?
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Bristlecone Pine, White Mountains, December 2017
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I was fortunate enough to see and photograph these ancient trees during my last visit to the Eastern Sierra in California.
Read MoreShooting film: Chicago, day 2
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Second day shooting with the Bronica in Chicago, where I took some more long exposures and struggled a bit to find good compositions.
Read MoreFort Point, San Francisco, November 2017
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
This photo was taken on this foggy day in San Francisco, near the Brigde Vista Point.
On the lower part of the image, Fort Point, a fort from the Civil War era. On top and separated by a layer of thick fog, the Golden Gate Bridge.
Landscape photography is all about extraordinary conditions
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Extraordinary conditions make ordinary places look extraordinarily beautiful. I'd been waiting for a day like this the whole winter.
Read MorePalm Trees, Palm Springs, November 2017
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Camera and Lens: Rolleiflex 3.5F
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 1600
Developer: Ilfotec HC
During our stay in Palm Springs, California, I took a few walks around the town carrying only my Rolleiflex (you should always carry a camera with you!) and of course, I tried to make some images during such walks.
This is one of my favorites from those rolls, featuring two of the many palm trees you can find in the area, taken near or during sunset.
Ripples, Death Valley, December 2017
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
Death Valley is one of my absolute favorite places to photograph, one where you can find a variety of subjects you can't find in many other places.
It's not easy to explain how that landscape makes you feel once you are there, scale is hard to comprehend. To call it "vast" is one thing, to see it in person is another. And I haven't even made it to the most remote parts of the park yet!
This was one of the last images I made that day, after hours of exploring, driving and hiking through the park. Just before sunset, at the very popular Mesquite Dunes.
They are indeed very popular, and it's hard to find dunes withouth footprints. I parked some half a mile away from the parking lot and walked to smaller but cleaner dunes, east of the bigger and more visited ones.
There I found plenty of unspoiled dunes (unspoiled for the last few days, at least) where I could play with the light and the patterns of the sand.
As you can see, I took this picture on the shaded side of the dune, where only part of the ripples were being bathed with light from the setting Sun.
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: Chicago, day 1
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Day 1 of our long weekend in Chicago, Illinois. I walked around the city and shot some film, trying to take some images I had in mind.
Mt Jefferson, Oregon, October 2017
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 150 f/4
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Kodak D-76
This was the last photo I took in the mountains of Oregon, during blue hour on one of my last days in the state. We'd leave a few days later to start the American Road Trip and I haven't been back to what it used to be my backyard since then. 5 months! Time really flies.
As the title suggests, the mountain in the photo is Mt Jefferson, the second tallest peak in Oregon. To the left you can see the Three Sisters, farther south and containing the third tallest peak (which I climbed!). The image was taken from Mt Hood, the tallest of them all!
I struggled to make any images that day, I knew it was going to be my last day for a long time over there and I wanted to take advantage making images I hadn't made before. And while I didn't realize succeed at that, I still came back with a few pictures I like, like this one.
Tree, Indiana, February 2018
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 80mm f/2.8
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Kodak D-76
I love winter. And last week, winter came in the form of a foot of snow so I headed outside and tried to make the best of it.
It was mostly car photography: you don't want to walk on the road when the shoulders are covered in snow and ice, and anything that is not pavement is private property.
But I was able to capture some cool scenes, like this tree. I can't tell you where I took it, somewhere in a radius of 30 miles from Goshen, but I was lucky to find it and to have the time to get out of the car and take it.
More winter photos coming soon, in the meanwhile, you can see more photos of Indiana.
I love winter
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A video collection of some images I took these last days around here in Michiana, the Indiana Dunes and the Salamonie River.
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).
Morning, San Francisco, November 2017
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Camera and Lens: Bronica SQ-Ai, Zenzanon PS 250mm f/5.6
Film stock: Ilford HP5+
Exposure: 800
Developer: Ilfotec HC
If you've watched the video from San Francisco, you know I had to visit San Francisco a few times, and drive to Marin Headlands 4 mornings in a row to get this shot.
I wanted to make an image of the Golden Gate, at sunrise, with the fog. And while the bridge is always at the same place and sunrise happens always at the same time, the fog is more elusive. Persistence paid off though.
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.
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