THE ZEN OF TROUT
an old shot at my home in the drakensberg, originally done on 6x12cm velvia rated at 32iso. Used a rollback film holder on a Sinar 4x5"plateback camera wi...
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an old shot at my home in the drakensberg, originally done on 6x12cm velvia rated at 32iso. Used a rollback film holder on a Sinar 4x5"plateback camera with Schneider Distagon compur shutter 85mm lens. At Giant's Cup Wilderness Reserve, Underberg, South Africa
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Jul, 2016Views
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Awards
Contest Finalist in Vessels Photo Contest
People's Choice in Landscape meets People Photo Challenge
Contest Finalist in Man In Nature Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Genius
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Behind The Lens
Location
Giant's Cup Wilderness Reserve, Underberg, South Africa. The reserve is a private enclave within the Maloti/Drakensberg Trans-frontier ParkTime
Looking almost due north as the sun sets in the west .Lighting
When the setting sun drops below the high escarpment and there is a high ceiling of cloud, it throws a magical, soft bounced light over the valley. The thing is to catch the cloud high enough. The escarpment sits at 3200m and you want a ceiling of at least another 1000 meters above that to get enough bounce so that the backlight doesn't just burn the horizon right out. The fact of no wind smooths the water, increasing the index of reflected light required to fill the foreground sufficiently so that everything isn't just a silhouetteEquipment
Sinar P 4x5" plateback film camera and synchro-compur Schneider Companon 85mm lens. Velvia film rated at 32 ISO. Heavy SLIK Pro tripod (circa 1980)Inspiration
This was around circa 1991. I had closed a studio in the city and moved with my family to the valley, taking all my cameras with me. The light and weather are constantly changing here and it is a challenge to capture the moods and nuances of the Drakensberg. I was working on a brochure for a fly-fishing operation we were starting and so I chased the light hard, trying to get an image that captured the romance of the location visually.Editing
This was just a piece of velvia processed in standard chemistry. The difficult part for me was to produce an acceptable scan of my antiquated 6 bit flatbed scanner. It took many tries before I produced a scan with acceptable gamma.In my camera bag
Back then i traveled with the Sinar, with 3 lenses (85mm, 180mm and 320mm) Of course on large format, those are all relatively short focal lengths. I also kept a pair of Hasselblad bodies with a selection of lenses for when medium format (6cmx6cm) was more appropriate.Feedback
It's vital to make a study of the light ... knowing where and at what time the sun is rising and setting... and then keeping an eye out for the right kind of cloud. If favorable conditions look likely, I don't wait for them to occur, but set up in anticipation, accepting that it takes some false alarms to be there, and ready for the light. Opportunities are transient and change almost faster than you can change lenses. It helps to be prepared and waiting
