UCR Botanic Garden in 8x10 (pt. 2)

 Second photo:

UCR Botanic Garden in 8x10 (pt. 1)

 First photo:

When I went to Egypt....

No, in reality, I didn't go to Egypt. I went to the Chino Complex, a small grouping of stores next to the 71 freeway. They have this Egyptian-themed monument by the side, meant to attract the attention of all the drivers and motivate them to get on the off-ramp and go to their location. It works (somewhat), they don't have hordes of visitors, but there are always groups of cars with passengers desembarking next to the location in order to get their photos. It worked for me, I have gone several times during the past two years, but this was my first time using my 3D printed 8x10 camera.

I went on an early Tuesday morning, and the lighting was right. It shines directly onto the monument. What was not right was my exposure. It was abysmally off. I thought, this is classic sunny 16, but I will shoot at f22, which means, I will have to adjust the shutter speed to have a longer time. With sunny 16 and the Foma 200 film I was using, it would have been 1/200. With f22, I should have used 1/100. Instead, I think I ended up using 1/25. That is what was marked in the notes I wrote, but I may be wrong. What is plainly evident, though, is that this negative is about one or two stops overexposed. I think in my mind that it registerd that I should use 1/125, but somehow, I dialed in 1/25 (I think). I guess the comedy of errors never ceases, although I don't find it funny, I find it worrying and upsetting. It is as if the diabetes medicine that I am taking is giving me brain-freeze. 

Photos from the Stagecoach Museum (March 20th)

 And here are a few slide photos from the final stop on that day, March 20th, my visit to the locations on the edge of Ventura county. Just a little bit further west and I would have hit Oxnard. 

This place is located in Newberry Park. These are overwhelmingly Anglo communities. They are nothing like the Latino areas of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. But, summer temperatures are just as extreme out here. 

The Conejo Valley Botanic Garden (March 20th)

Here are a few slide photos of my trip on that Saturday to see the quadrifecta, but in reality, only a trifecta, because they didn't allow me to take any photos at the Gardens of the World location. 

It was a peaceful day, with some clouds. It still felt like late winter. Now, two weeks later, we are in spring and we have temperatures close to 90 degrees. What a difference two makes make. We have summer stalking us, making its presence known, but back then, it was still cool enough so that we had to wear a windbreaker.

San Pedro beach and Korean Friendship Bell in Infrared

A few images from my trip to Pt. Fermin Lighthouse (and the adjoining beach) as well as the Korean Friendship Bell on Saturday, March 27th. It was a fun trip. I used JCH Streetpan with an R72 filter. Lesson learned: the water and the open sky are completely dark. 

Gardena Wetlands in Infrared 2021

The Gardena Wetlands preserve from my visit on March 27th, 2021. I was using JCH Streetpan 400 film with an IR filter. I actually like the way the photos came out. Developed on Sunday, March 28th, for 11 minutes in Arista D76 developer. 

A few color images from Corona del Mar beach 2021

 These were a few 6x9 compositions taken with my Fuji GW690ii a few weeks ago. They were taken after my visit to the Sherman Library and Garden. I don't know what happened. This is color film, and the negatives look terrible. This is Portra 160 color film from who know when. It cannot be expired, I think. I must have bought it a few years ago, although it has been rolling around in my bag of film for a long time. I don't know what happened. By the way, I detest the sense of invulnerability of the people who live next to this beach. So many of them do not wear facemasks. It is as if they are daring Covid to strike at them. They have no concern about public safety, this is all narcissism here. But, the location is noteworthy, and there is always a bikini model being photographed.

The Native Settlement at Hidden Valley Nature Reserve

 Here is a shot that I took at the Hidden Valley Nature Reserve in early 2021. It must have been in January at latest, because I stopped using my 8x10 camera for about two months. It is very heavily overexposed. I remember it was a cloudy day and there were raindrops falling. Since I don't have a light meter, I just guestimated, and maybe shot for 1 or 2 seconds. I developed this roll in the same reel as the Rancho Guajome negative, for 12 minutes because I suspected underexposure. I was very wrong with this negative. It is a problem negative and I could not obtain a good scan. It looks fine, just thick as a brick.

Rancho Guajome in 8x10

 Here is an 8x10 negative I exposed at the beginning of 2021. I think it was on a day when I also visited the Alta Vista garden as well as the San Luis Rey mission. I remember that I was very, very unhappy about the negatives I developed at the mission. I felt I had made every mistake possible. Well, this one is not a mistake. It was taken at the Rancho Guajome park, and I think I did a good job. yes, there seems to be some kind of light leak, or else, it is some protrusion that affected the sky to the upper right, but otherwise, it looks good to me. Of course, it helps that the sunlight was illuminating this shot well. 

Visit to the Gardena Wetlands (pt. 1)

 Cellphone photos from March 27th, 2021.