Desert Varnish

15-06-22

Just watched photographer Ben Horne’s latest YouTube video photographing in Utah with an 8″ x 10″ film camera. He mentioned the desert varnish on the rocks and the scents and sounds in the area. It took me right back to when I visited Capitol Reef in 1992 (my first visit to the USA) We camped at Fruita N.P. for a couple of days in a very small tent, I was hardier then. I recently scanned in a roll of film from that time, I put off scanning it for so long because it has a lot of dust marks, but with the aid of Lightroom’s healing brush and a lot of patience and fan whirring on the lap top I managed to get some reasonable images. I can vividly remember the scent of Pine and Sage, and the heat reflected from the rocks.

Desert Varnish

Capitol Gorge

*******

Along the Scenic Drive

Olympus OM2n – Zuiko 24mm f2.8. Plus X Pan I think.

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Monochrome Wednesday

02-10-19

Goosenecks State Park UT

Olympus OM2n – Zuiko 24mm f2.8 – Kodak TriX (I think)

An incredible place to visit, so spectacular.

Places I’ll Never Forget #7

30-04-19

Moki Dugway  & Natural Bridges National Monument – Utah

It’s been quite a while since I posted on this subject, think these images were from 1992 my first visit to the USA, but could be 1995 when I visited this area again (wish I’d kept better notes)

Moki Dugway UT

The Moki Dugway is quite some road, it’s a steep dirt road, and driving an automatic gearbox car (I’m used to a manual box) added to the excitement, not to mention trying not to look at the view which is absolutely incredible. So much space, nothing quite like it in the UK.

Natural Bridges National Monument UT

Would have loved to have explored this area but needed to be on the road to the next destination, so just stopped long enough to get a few images.

Camera, Olympus OM2n, Kodak TMax 100 Film.

Places I’ll Never Forget #8

02-09-18

From my first visit to the USA in 1992 ! All the images were shot on Kodachrome (of course) with an Olympus OM2n and Zuiko 24mm lens.

Kodachrome Basin UT

Fantastic rock formations and a menacing sky, what more could I want.

After walking up a trail to the top of the rocks behind the first image, this was the lovely view. It really reminded me of cowboy country.

Petrified Forest National Park AZ

The landscape was almost lunar.

Some of the colours of the petrified wood were so vivid.

I would love to one day go and revisit some of these places, but the £ needs to gain a bit of value before that happens.

Places I’ll Never Forget #7*

06-08-18

Yosemite

I visited Yosemite in July 1993 on a road trip to California. I asked to upgrade the hire car from a Subaru 1.6 to a 2 litre but all they had was a Chrysler Eagle, a 3.4 Litre V6 I think. Well that was fine by me, it had a great stereo and plenty of power.

What surprised me was the amount of snow still around in mid July, a spectacular sight, in some parts it was 14 feet high.

What surprised me even more was altitude sickness, I had a job to get out of the car. It doesn’t take long in a car to reach some serious altitude on the Tioga Pass. Starting from the Lee Vining entrance which is 6,000 ft above sea level to 9000 ft at the top of the pass.

The scenery was beautiful, with alpine meadows contrasting with really rugged terrain.

*Anybody Know where this is ?

I have forgotten where this is !!! It was in the same slide box as the above images, my best guess is the start of the Tioga Pass, or Mono Lake vista point on US-395.

Olympus OM2n, Zuiko 24mm f2.8 lens, Slide Film.

Megler Bridge WA Side (Infrared)

This image came about by chance while searching for printer ink cartridges for my Epson. There were a couple of negative filing sheets hidden away in the cupboard, I must have put them in there because the negs had really bad drying marks and dust on them. So after a lot of work (and extreme patience) with the healing tool in Lightroom I managed to salvage this image.

Megler Bridge Looking Towards Astoria & Mt St Helens

Olympus OM2sp – Vivitar 19mm – Konica IR750 – Red Filter

From my last road trip to the USA in the millennium year, how time flies. The two best bridges I have ever driven are this one and the Golden Gate.

Places I’ll Never Forget (Hopefully !) #5

Mono Lake CA

I was inspired to post these images of Mono Lake by a lovely photograph taken by Mitch Zeissler of the tufa formations. It was 1993 when I visited on a road trip holiday to California. What a fantastic area, so much to see and do, I found the scenery breathtaking.

Mono Lake #1

Ilford XP2

Mono Lake #2

Ilford HP5

Mono Lake #3

Ilford HP5

These images were taken on my Rolleiflex TLR and I’m guessing with a red filter. I remember wishing that the lens on the Rollei was a bit wider angle.

Places I’ll Never Forget (Hopefully !) #4

Oregon Coast

It was way back in 2005 when I last visited the USA, on that trip I flew into Seattle and headed for the Olympic Peninsula (that’s for another blog post) and eventually on to the Oregon coast. The sense of space and big skies will always be in my memories. The weather was very much like UK weather so I felt quite at home ! and the people were really friendly.

It was in the days before I had a digital camera, all the photographs were taken on either my Olympus OM2sp or OM2n on Kodak Elitechrome 200.

Pacific Ocean

Depoe Bay
Stopped off by chance at Depoe Bay, really lovely little town, went whale watching which was fantastic, and bought the best cotton T shirt I have ever had, can’t beat genuine American cotton.

Pelicans

In the evening the pacific mist would come rolling in, it gave the place a magical feel.

Views Along The Coast
Cannon Beach

That sense Of Space

Sea Lion Caves, Florence OR

Heceta Head Lighthouse

I really loved the Oregon coast, only wish I’d made more notes of the places where the photographs were taken.

Places I’ll Never Forget (Hopefully !) #1

White Rim Overlook, Canyonlands UT

Olympus OM2n, Zuiko 135mm, Kodachrome. 

This was taken in 1995 on a road trip holiday to the USA. The expanse of the view and Mars like land forms really blew me away.

Bryce 2001* It was 1992 !!!!!

Bryce Canyon, clouds rolling in.

Really enjoyed the visit to Bryce Canyon, this photo is from 2001* 1992 on my first trip to the USA. Took this shot on my old Rolleiflex 3.5f on colour neg film.

*I can’t believe I thought it was 2001, checked my passport and it was 1992.