More from Labor Day

 These are the last images taken from my trip to Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside, CA, on Labor Day. Nothing outstanding, I was inclined not to post them at all, but I guess I will because I want to keep a record of my learning process. The big take-away I have from these is that I should not be snapping away with a 4x5 camera. I need to be judicious and look at my compositions carefully. I also think I did not focus correctly, and was also probably moving when I took these snapshots. They are slightly burry. 

I tried this shot several times, including with the 8x10 pinhole. It is not a satisfying shot in either format. I needed to probably crouch down a little more and get a better angle, but also, the facade of the church completely blends into the color of the sky which, as I stated before, was filled with ashen gloom. A red filter would not have helped. We are having historic fires in California (and the West Coast), and this is evident in the gloom, the falling ashes and also the air quality. I probably should not even have been outside at all, but we are hitting the 6 month mark of the Covid quarantine with no end in sight, and the majority of us can't take it anymore. We need much better leadership in the White House.

I love these plants. I think the original 4x5 image is stronger, but as I have mentioned before, I have to crop when scanning because my Epson V600 cannot scan 4x5 images and I do not know how nor do I want to undertake a stitching process with scanning the negatives in parts. I love the textures and shapes. I had to move to not have people appear in the background, nor signs either. 

This was a terrible composition on my part, but at least I tried it to see how it turned out. I was trying to get the cacti in focus, but on the negative, they appear blurred. Also, the composition is just not very good, it is too busy, too messy with these plants. 

A horizontal shot of the archways. I think if I had moved closer and gotten a better angle, and if the sky had cooperated so that I could darken it with a red filter, it might have been better. A filter will do nothing when the skies have gloom from moisture or, in this case, gloom from ash clouds. 

That is it, I think I have all my black and white mission photos. I still have to have my color slides developed. Hopefully sometime this week I can drop them off. I wanted to go photograph something today but it didn't happen. I will have to wait now for tomorrow. It was brighter and clearer today, so I painted the mailbox. That is life too.