Two 4x5 negatives from the same day on the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes. Early in the day before the wind, and on top of the dunes with wind (sand blowing through scene.)
Two 4x5 negatives from the same day on the Eureka Valley Sand Dunes. Early in the day before the wind, and on top of the dunes with wind (sand blowing through scene.)
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
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Well, the laws of nature don't necessarily obey the laws of Paul Strand or any of us. I've been playing cat and mouse with the intricate twigs and shadows of the redwoods and cloud forest fir trees for decades now; and quite often, once they do settle down, the specific lighting and compositional pattern itself will have changed, making re-composition with the ground glass necessary. I have better statistical odds using MF gear, but of course, prefer the greater textural potential of LF film.
In this area, including today, there is soft enveloping fog in the morning, and things are relatively motionless. Then around noon or so, the sun comes out, the contrast goes extreme in the woods, and there is some off and on wind gusts. Still, easier to manage than in unprotected areas, where the wind can be incessant this time of year, up till around mid-August. But climate change has made a lot of things schizophrenic and unpredictable.
But Death Valley and wind? Nope. Never want that again. The fine clay and blowing alkali dust gets into everything. Avoid the month of March like the plague.
With my photography, I try to portray a sense of calm. Awkward movement of leaves would look more like a sloppy mistake and distract from the subject. If on the other hand one embraces the wind and perhaps uses a ND filter to further lengthen the exposure until the movement looks deliberate, then I'm good with it.
Once I took a couple of photos of ocean cliffs and many-many seagulls taking off and landing onto those cliffs in a close proximity to my camera during dawn. Shutter speed measured in many seconds. Moving and flying seagulls created all sorts of interesting effects in the images, probably very similar to what was described above .
Yes, there was a time when I was quite anal about this. Over the last few years, if it's windy, it's windy. The wind can add a unique quality... sometimes. There still are times though when I want the leaves to behave!
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...and I've noticed that it has become a bit more windier here over the last couple of years
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I think when just some of the leaves move is more annoying.
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Locally I usually choose to go out photographing on calm days. When traveling you are often at a place on a windy day. In that case I just go with the flow but mostly use medium format. I'm just not that great at picking the right moment and roll film gives me a lot of choices. This is 4x5 though:
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