Friday at the garden in Claremont

 Here are a few scans of the black and white 4x5 photos I took with my Travelwide camera on Sept. 4th at the California Botanical Garden in Claremont, CA. I was using Kodak Ektapan film, the film I purchased from Ebay and that had expired in October of 1994. So far so good, the film is holding up, but I have problems with my negatives. I will talk about those shortly after each photo. 

This was a photo I took as I was getting ready to leave the garden. I saw these beautiful yellow flowers in this desert display, and I couldn't pass up the chance to take a photo. You can see the cactus in the background. This photo would have been much better in color, but I couldn't trust myself with using slide. I might have photographed it with color film (C-41) with my Fuji GW 690, though. 

These were along the endless pathways (senderos de caminos que se bifurcan, to recall a work of Latin American fiction) in the garden. The sky is mottled once again. I do not know what is happening, this doesn't show up on all the photos. I was afraid it might be due to insufficient agitation, but I agitated quite a bit this time, with plenty of gentle inversions. I was quite agitated, if I may use some humor. The sky has these patters, like a film. I don't know what is happening, I am beginning to suspect it is the B's Reel I am using, maybe it has developed a pattern in one of the slots that imprints itself on the film. Or, it could be an artifact of the expired Ektapan film, maybe it was stuck to another film sheet, but I don't remember that when I was loading. It could also be a matter of the film holder too. I will try to investigate, my next step is to not use Ektapan film but to use my Arista film. I have that loaded now in the holders. If I still get artifacts like these, then I think I will have at least eliminated the film as a cause.

This happens when you take chances and they don't pan out. I saw this scene at the cultural pavilion, the area with two water features, a small bubbling fountain and a small pool. The leaves were being backlit and there were areas in the background also receiving light as the sun was declining, at about 5 p.m. I foolishly left my red filter on the Travelwide, but I remember I did use a very slow shutter speed, I went all the way down to 1/15. I figured, I was giving it at least three additional stops of exposure, but no, I should have taken that red filter off! And I need to seriously consider taking a flash with me, there are scenes that can use it, but when I have a backpack with 7 4x5 film holders and one Fuji GW690 camera, it already weighs like an anchor. The big mistake: the red filter.

This is a lovely scene in the open area, but I would have liked to get a clearer shot of the mountains. It would have worked better with clouds, too, but we are in the middle of a boiling summer when we have no clouds, just a pitiless sun tormenting us all day. I am, as always, impressed by the zone focusing capabilities of the camera. The person who sold me the Travelwide really calibrated the camera well. 

Another photo where I should not have used the red filter. I thought I could frame this visitor center, but it didn't really turn out. Maybe it is better in the original 4x5 dimension, since we have to remember, these are all 4x5 frames but they are cropped due to the fact that my Epson V600 can only scan a long narrow portion. Still, the shadow areas are too dark, and the filter did not even help me with darkening the sky since the sun was right to my left. Plus, there is not enough contrast, the leaves are all too dark, I have no contrasting light tones. I need to remember these things, although the nice thing is that it costs me $1.20 per 4x5 image (film and chemicals to develop it), so I can experiment with black and white.

That is it for the Claremont garden. I have one more image to scan, but I have it drying. I made the mistake of taking if off the drying cord and putting it on a sheet of white paper while one corner was still wet, so it stuck to the paper. I had to set it in a tub of water again to have that sticky white paper come off. 

As far as trips today are concerned, they are a no go. The temperatures are far, far, far too hot today. It is 11:46 a.m. as I write, and we are already above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. It is supposed to get up to 111 degrees in just a few hours. This is not possible, even though I wanted to drop off some film at the lab in Irvine then visit a garden in Orange county. No, not today. We have to hunker down. The bad thing is, this is Labor Day weekend, and plague or not (I know, I know, saying "plague" is alarmist and brings extremist associations), the people are out and about, especially since they are tired of the quarentine and want to get out of the heat. So, traffic would have been bad. Maybe tomorrow I will go to Oceanside, but today, I'm staying put.

One more entry to go.