Redwood, Vine Maple

Looks great Vaughn,in person that print must be really good carbon print.Makes my mouth water.4min. is a long exposure,there must not have been any wind.

Wow!

Thanks. There is some slight movement is just a few of the Vine Maple leaves (the highlights around the central redwood), but not much. Half the trick photographing in the redwoods is knowing when the windless days are happening. I normally use a slower film, so a 4 minute exposure is shorter than my average exposure time.

Right on. I've never seen a carbon print up close, maybe if I ever get down to my brothers' I'll see if you would indulge me. It would be a treat.

I was able to take a Carbon class from Vaughn last Fall and got to see a lot of his prints. Scans don't do them justice. Besides the tonal range being greater than what appears on screen, the prints are physically three dimensional - the darker the tone, the thicker the emulsion and the more it stands above the paper's surface. You really have to see one to appreciate the effect.

Dan

Thanks, Dan -- I printed this one during the workshop as a demo and ended up with a keeper!

Rich -- anytime. And that goes for any APUGgers wandering behind the Redwood Curtain.

Okay -- storytime. This is a rip-off of two other images I have taken of this redwood and its attendent vine maples. I had used a 5x7 15 or more years ago to photograph it. But this Fall I wandered by it and decided to get it in 8x10 (my carbon prints can only be as big as the negative -- so you see why I might rephotograph a scene.) I set the camera up where I thought I did so long ago, and I did not like the composition -- after all, things do change. So I hunted around for a different point of view -- difficult in the dense redwood forest. Found a place that was perfect, though challenging to set up in.

Ends up I must have done the exact same thing 15 years ago! Crazy -- I guess the best view is the best view. Now the two 5x7's I exposed 15 years ago were slightly different from each other -- in the first the air was still. A breeze came up, and for the second negative, I let the vine maples dance around the redwood -- which is its title.

Beautiful, Vaughn! It really takes on a life of its own.

Truly lovely, a small symphony of tonality. The highlights must be spectacular in the original print!

Thanks -- the vine maple leaves were yellow (Fall) -- and the yellow filter really pops them, and the process retains the detail in them.

This is a "straight" print -- no dodging no burning no masking (all my prints are this way) -- I see it, I photograph it and I print it. An exercise in Seeing.

I suppose the yellow filter might be considered a type of masking, and I control the exposure and contrast of both the film and the carbon print -- which is why I used the " " above.

Vaughn

Truly outstanding, can't guess as to how good it looks in person.

Mike