Woke at 6:00am, sick, but surprisingly full of a groggy energy. I looked out the window and saw a thick and moist snow falling in the gray dawn light.
Without thought I gathered my photography equipment and bolted out the door, of course heading to the railyard.
In my last post I realized I had finally made my peace with digital photography. It took a long time for me to understand my relationship with this new medium, and I made some decisions concerning it. As long as b/w film materials remain available, it will be my main work. I will use a digital camera to make color studies. If film materials disappear, I will take up painting and drawing, while still working with the digital camera for color work.
I will probably never print anything I make with the digital camera. For me the pictures are for use on the computer/internet. I will post what I make to my Flicker page , which will be the only place I view them. The digital camera will operate mainly as a training tool for my vision - since I won't be working deeply in the study of digital photography, I won't be doing much more than seeing and pushing a button.
I will approach the digital work in the same manner as the film camera - not going out with any preconceived ideas of what I want to make, or having any expectations of achieving a certain style. I learned with film that my style is jagged and rough. I am incapable of making silky, elegant pictures, and I expect the same from the digital camera. Most of the work I see on Flicker is technically perfect, with very clean lines and superb tonal balance. I already know my pictures will not be like this, so I am not even going to try for such a result.
The main focus will be to let the process unfold, and to be sincere in my relationship with nature and the camera. The end result will hopefully be a truthful account of my struggles and pleasures with the process.
When I arrived at the railyard I was astounded at the unusual beauty the snow had created. I carried both my film camera and Rachel's digital camera (I don't own one yet, but am looking to buy one soon), and made approximately 30 digi captures, and 11 film exposures. I wanted to remain longer, but my fingers went numb, so I reluctantly had to trudge home to let my hands warm up.
Soon after returning home I headed out the door with my running shoes and the digi camera. I wanted to make some studies of the South Farms loop, and anything else which seemed interesting.
I ended up running 6.5 miles, and made approximately 60 digi captures.
4 digital captures from the run :
When I returned home I went into the darkroom and developed the roll of film exposed earlier in the day, and also the last roll of film exposed in Door County in August. The negs were exposed and developed correctly, and I am looking forward to printing a few pictures from them.
Negs Developed Today
Technical note - Railyard film was Delta 100, Door County film Tmax 100. Developed in D-76 for 10 minutes. Normal processing time for Tmax is 5-6 minutes, so the 4 extra minutes boosted the highlights 1-2 zones. The negs look good, maybe a bit heavy, but very printable.
Another video by Smog :
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