Spooky foilage

[Herb Cunningham]

For the last year I have been trying to get some decent shots of a large Kudzu "infestation" near where I live. for those who do not know, Kudzu is a Japanese vine imported many moons ago to help control erosion. It took over the south-anybody who has seen it will immediately recognize it.

The particular site I am looking at has a total green foialge ground up, and covers several acres. The many trees, large and small are festooned with Kudzu all over the place. I have tried color and b/w, several filters, polarizer, different time of day, etc and still cannot seem to get the really spooky image it conveys. I shoot 4x5 and 5x7 and have whatever is needed in the way of auxiliaries.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[gfen]

Actually, I had no idea what kudzu looked like, so I went and checked.

Its amazing to see entire entires completely covered with it, but all the pictures I saw looked far more "spooky" in winter when the vines were dead and dried, not green and alive. Try that with B&W film when the light is long, or if there's fog or mist or rain, or perhaps try IR film, especially if the kudzu is dying but there's still green tree leaves near by.

[Bill_1856]

Old Southern folk legend: "Kudzu and Foot-washing Baptists are gonna take over the world." (Courtesy of Charles Kuralt.)

[Carl Schofield]

Infrared, particularly in the evening with some backlighting might be interesting. Here is an example, not Kudzu, but just for the effect: http://home.twcny.rr.com/scho/newpics/source/15n.html

[Jim Rice]

For my particular kudzoo patch, I use a 90 Grandigon, polarizer, and Velvia at ei. 40. Kudzoo itself is spooky enough.

[wfwhitaker]

"Knew a feller once what went to photographin' some kudzu vines with a pinhole camera. Never heard from him since. But dang if some o' them vines didn't bear a strikin' resemblance fer a while...."



Keep your exposures short lest it become really spooky.

[Ralph Barker]

Drape an older, slower-moving person with the vines. That will get the message across. ;-)

Have you tried a yellow-green, or green filter to lighten the kudzu foliage? Even then, depicting its engulfing nature, and the speed at which it does so, is the visual key, I think.

[Ed Eubanks]

Have you tried infrared? A friend did some kudzu shots with (mere) 35mm infrared and the results were fantastic-- and spooky.
As a native southerner myself, I have always heard the grumbles about the vine. My suspicion, however, is that we will one day discover that "extract of kudzu" or some such will cure cancer, aids, or something. How the tides of attitude would turn if that were so!

[Brian C. Miller]

Drape the kudzu over your view camera along with a strategically placed hat and coat, and photograph that! :-) You might also try (if you have it) a wider-angle lens, to convey just how much the kudzu has overgrown everything. See if you can find an overgrown graveyard, or something which would give a similar effect.