Encounter Studio: experiments + journeys

brief notes on experimental photographic journeys

Posts for Tag: Heysen Trail

black and white

I have struggled post-processing  this tree or scrub  on the Heysen Trail in Waitpinga. It had lots of promise  for a black and white image when I came across it whilst walking the poodles   late one  afternoon.  That was over a year ago now,  and it was when Suzanne was walking the last stages of the Heysen Trail. 

I recall  that  it was on  this occasion  when I was crouched amongst the pink gums  setting up the camera that I began to realise that what is called  the scrub or bush in Australia is actually a number of  very different bioregions;  and that we really do need to move beyond an undifferentiated, colonial sense of “the bush” as an amorphous sameness.

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along the Heysen Trail

I  came across a  fallen log whilst walking along the Hesyen Trail near Jagger Rd, Victor Harbor  yesterday.  This is part of the Cape Jervis to Kuitpo Forest section of the trail  and it is standing to Encounter Studio. 

I was looking for some subject matter to finish off some old film that had been sitting in the 6x7 and 6x9 film backs of my Linhof Technika 70. This is the digital scoping picture that  I  made in the late afternoon whilst on a poodle walk  with Ari and Kayla. 

Though I used to use this  camera  a lot, it has has been sitting in a wooden box in a  cupboard unused for several years. I have been using the Rolleiflex 6x6 instead. These  are  much quicker and easier to use as the  baby Linhof  functions like a view camera. You line  the image up through  the  ground glass, take off the viewing plate,  put the  roll film  back on, expose the film, take the  roll film back off, then put the  viewing plate back on  to line up the next image.  It is a slow work process--- very similar to large format photography. 

 I  had pulled the Linhof  out of the box a couple of days ago as I'd  wanted  to finishing exposing the  old 120 rolls Kodak Portra 160 VC film  in the  two film backs  so that the 2 rolls  could be taken  to Atkins on Monday along  with some 5x4 sheet film to be developed. This scoped image suited the 6x9 format. 

I scanned the film last night and I noticed the expired film is flat compared to the new film.  It was  made just before the showers crossed across the landscape. So the light is flat.   This image was converted from colour using Silver Efex Pro-2. 

I actually enjoyed using the baby Linhof. Since it offers alternatives to the square format  the camera  and the two lenses have been taken in to be  serviced in Adelaide.  I also ordered a second hand Super Rollex 6x9 film back from England to use instead of  the  very old one that has wooden rollers and is lacks an automatic counter resetting.




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