Bordering the eastern shores of Lake Erie State Park (Brockton, New York), this park is what I’d been searching for and finally, thanks to a friend, I found. I wanted rocks. Big rocks. And big water. The kind you see in photographs of the sea, whatever that means. At least big for our area, and within an hour’s driving distance. They’re not that big, but they’re the biggest I could find.
I remember thinking what a great day it would be for shooting. My kind of day. The sky was amazing and not a soul around. I had the whole place to myself. Most of the photographers I know would remark that it was either too cloudy or the sky was too white. But then I wasn’t looking for butterflies and rainbows either! There were ripples of clouds forming patterns in the sky. I now know these were ‘stratus undulatus’ my new word for the day! I was on an endorphin high!
I had taken my favorite film and favorite lens knowing what I wanted to capture. The film of choice was Kodak Techpan rated at EI25 and the lens, my Nikkor 14mm lens on a Nikon F100. With the 14mm I could capture the endless sky, the big water and also the rocks. I had to position my camera carefully with each leg of the tripod supported by one of the smaller rocks a few feet from shore. Using a right-angle view finder proved very helpful in composing the shot. I could keep the camera low to the ground without having to kneel down in the water.
When I saw the results I knew I wanted to tone the print. I had read Tim Rudman’s book on toning and talked to some other photographers about split-tone printing. I used Kodak Selenium at a dilution of 1:4 and Kodak Sepia bleach and toning kit. Because this was my first attempt at split-toning I had no idea what to expect other than to watch out for that smell! The results have put me on a new path for my photography. I hope in the spring to be finding more images like this one.
I remember thinking what a great day it would be for shooting. My kind of day. The sky was amazing and not a soul around. I had the whole place to myself. Most of the photographers I know would remark that it was either too cloudy or the sky was too white. But then I wasn’t looking for butterflies and rainbows either! There were ripples of clouds forming patterns in the sky. I now know these were ‘stratus undulatus’ my new word for the day! I was on an endorphin high!
I had taken my favorite film and favorite lens knowing what I wanted to capture. The film of choice was Kodak Techpan rated at EI25 and the lens, my Nikkor 14mm lens on a Nikon F100. With the 14mm I could capture the endless sky, the big water and also the rocks. I had to position my camera carefully with each leg of the tripod supported by one of the smaller rocks a few feet from shore. Using a right-angle view finder proved very helpful in composing the shot. I could keep the camera low to the ground without having to kneel down in the water.
When I saw the results I knew I wanted to tone the print. I had read Tim Rudman’s book on toning and talked to some other photographers about split-tone printing. I used Kodak Selenium at a dilution of 1:4 and Kodak Sepia bleach and toning kit. Because this was my first attempt at split-toning I had no idea what to expect other than to watch out for that smell! The results have put me on a new path for my photography. I hope in the spring to be finding more images like this one.
