The UCR Botanic Garden in infrared

 These are a few photos I took with my Fuji GW690ii camera on Wednesday, January 6th, the day of the MAGA riot. I went there to escape the news and to try to find peace. I had no idea that there was a big demonstration planned by the MAGA leader in Washington, only that Congress was going to ratify the electoral win for Biden and that there were some shameless Republicans (most notably, Hawley of Missouri and Cruz of Texas) who were planning to object. It had no chance of succeding, but it was just another sign of the hold that Trump has on the Republican party that he can spin these falsehoods about a "stolen" election and have people willing to support him. Of course, we saw what happened when the mob overran congress. 

I was using JCH Streetpan 400 film, with my R72 filter. I made a big, big mistake though. I set the aperture to f16, and I had absolutely no call to do it. The R72 filter is basically opaque and lets very little light in, only in the infrared spectrum, and the film is barely in that range as it is. I was also using a shutter speed of 1/30, reasoning that I wanted to insure less blurry photos than I had obtained at the California Botanic Garden when I was using that same film and same filter. What I should have done was used an aperture of f8 and a shutter speed of 1/15, but with my monopod. The negatives were basically clear, and I obtained almost no image on them. There was basically a bare trace. 

Now, I think that part of the problem might have been my film reel. I was using the adjustable reels that will take 35mm or 120 film, and when I loaded them, I noted that it was difficult to get the film to advance. I actually believe now that part of the problem was underexposure but part of it might have been that the film loaded in a way that let in no space between the concentric rolls. How do I know this? Because the film came out milky white in the beginning, which was a sign that it was underfixed. I think the emulsion was basically touching other layers of the film, there was no "social distancing" between them. I had to refix to get the clear negatives, but of course, there was precious little information on them.

I will need to go back and try again, unfortunately. I should have used my other camera too, my Holga 120 Pan. Not with JCH film, but with regular HP5+ and a red filter. I might have gotten more info on them that way. 

These images are from my second roll as I was winding my way down from the mountain with my screeds. No, I was not Moses with the commandments, but I was an amateur photographer with a big Japanese camera trying to reach the entrance before the garden closed at noon.

There were some magnificent vistas on the way down. The mountains still preserve a layer of snow.

Looking in the other direction at the hills and part of the campus buildings.

More campus buildings. This is, of course, the University of California at Riverside.

My last shot, the desert garden. I really had to work at pulling any information out of the negative. 

I will return.