Joshua Tree National Park -- California

A couple of years ago, I got this bright idea to fly into Las Vegas and take several days to drive south and west through several National Parks and other interests.  It was a great idea on paper.  However, It involved quite a bit of driving and only limited time at each location.  Because of this, I decided to concentrate our time at only 1 or 2 spots within each park.  This reduced the stress level a bit.

I had been using a high-end, pro-grade digital SLR camera (i.e., Canon EOS 5D) for several years.  For this trip, though, I thought I would go back to film.  I recently picked up a large format camera and a couple of lenses and wanted to get back to the basics.  While I had both color and black & white film, I tended to prefer the B&W film because I could develop it myself.  For this image, I used B&W film.

After using fully automated and digital equipment for a while, it was quite the challenge to switch back to a fully manual film camera (especially a large format one).  It was not as simple as point and shoot.  While the taking of the image took all of 1/60 seconds, setting up the equipment and taking it down took about 20-30 minutes.  Obviously, you need to set up a tripod, but the model of camera I had required me to open it and install the lens each time I wanted to use it.  Once set up, I still had to compose and focus the shot.  To do this, I needed to drape my jacket over my head and use a magnifying loupe to ensure the proper focus.  Then, I had to meter the light, the old fashion way, with a light meter.  Then, I had to load the film and set the shutter and aperture for the lens.  Once all that was done, I could press the trigger for the 1/60 second shot.  Fortunately for my family, it was only my daughter (who is also an avid photographer) with me.  She was patient and understanding with all that was involved.  By the way, since it's film, I really had no idea whether the shot worked or not.  I had to wait until I got back home to develop the film to know if it worked.  

I did like the image and scanned it using an Epson 750 scanner.  There was quite a bit of dust that I had to clean up, but I do like it.  I was playing with new ideas in Photoshop and came up with an idea to colorize the sky.  The image was a strong image as B&W.  However, I like the contract of the blue sky against the landscape.