Cliffside Flowers, Pt. Lobos

I took a lot of photos – digital, film – while on vacation in Monterey, California.  Trees, flowers, streets, room.  This is what I saw along the trail at Whalers Cove in Pt. Lobos, California.  The cliffs are sandy and crumbly, but there are bits of very dark dirt, from black to grey.  I wonder if this area had volcanic activity at some point.  The color contrast of the soil and cliffs, along with the tenacious hold of the flowers, made for some rather lovely bits of bright color in late summer.

Container Jungle

Part of my container garden this summer in the Dog Free Zone.  I grew hot chilis, herbs, flowers, and, in particular, milkweed.  You can see the milkweed seed pods have opened, and the seeds are waiting to blown away by the wind.  The milkweed is food that is important to Monarch butterflies, but I have heard that the milkweed with colored flowers is not good for the butterflies.  I want to do a bit of research on this – what if all is for naught?

Once more, this is a photo using my 1937 Welta Weltur and Ilford XP Super 400 film.  The Xenar lens is stunning, with lovely detail and softness at the same time.  I really like what it can do.

West of Hwy. 101, Monterey County

We stopped by the roadside to get some gas on our way home from Monterey a few weeks ago.  Rather than taking the main highway, the 101, we ran parallel to it, west, close to the mountains that lie next to the Pacific range.  I’m glad we did.  From the freeway, you can see the fields, the houses, the ranches, but being on a 2-lane bumpy road brings it up close.  The area is vast and flat, a valley between two ranges.  Here, all sorts of crops are grown, and it is really beautiful countryside.

This is from a photo I took with my phone, all with the intention of using it as painting material.  I think it worked out rather well.

Sage

This time around I remembered I had the reduction mask in my 1937 Welta Weltur camera.  I also used a yellow(ish) filter I have that slides over the lens.  I have never used it before, but I am glad I did as it made the plants a bit more differentiated.  In theory, I get how filters work, but when I try to remember, it just disappears from my brain.  One day it would be really nice to get that clearly imprinted in my memory!

Okay, that aside, I so enjoy making pictures with these old cameras.  When they hit the sweet spot, there is something so beautiful in the final image.  This one I cleaned up – threads, spots – but didn’t do too much more to it other than upping the contrast a bit.  I wanted the white sage flowers to pop against the background.  The filter helped, but so did digital post production.

I know some people who claim that digital post is not the same as a real dark room.  No, it’s not, but it is a lot easier to do the same things – and then some! – you would do in a traditional dark room.

Anyway, more to come, but perhaps only a couple as a lot of the images are a bit dicey as far as putting out in the public’s eye.  I scanned these with the Epson V600 scanner and the film is Ilford Super XP 400, which is a black and white that can be developed in C-41, which is the chemistry for color negative film.