Little River near Barney, GA

Earlier this week I discovered that my favorite hiking spot, Langdale Park, has been closed due to flood damage until "late spring." I'm very disappointed as it was nice to be able to swing by there if I had a free afternoon, rather than travelling a great distance to something else.

So I took a drive out northwest, towards a little watering hole I have been to a couple of times. This place is on the banks of the Little River, a tributary of the Withlacoochee, and is somewhat near Barney and Morven, GA.

I loaded up a couple holders with old Agfa APX 100 film and used a freshly-purchased 15cm f/4.5 Zeiss Tessar lens for most of the photos. The film was developed for 13 minutes in Rodinal 1:50. Here are a few of the images:

 

The last few were actually from a small pond up the road closer to Morven, and the last image was actually with my Nikkor 90mm f/8.

Fast flooding of the Withlacoochee, Feb. 2016

I didn't think we had much rain last week, but nevertheless the Withlacoochee is way outside its banks and over 5 feet above flood stage. Yet again Valdosta is causing grief for Florida as the sewage treatment plant is discharging untreated water into the Withlacoochee.

I went to Langdale Park but the water from the river was all the way up near the entrance, barely a few hundred yards from the gate. Even with my wading boots I couldn't go far. I found a little side area I could explore and shot some with my new 8x10 camera (more about that at a later time).

I also decided to shoot a bit of x-ray film, as I hadn't shot it in quite a while. However, I had one extant sheet of Delta 100 from the last outing so I did a comparison shot. Very interesting result.

Here is my favorite shot of the day, on x-ray film:

This was shot with my 90mm XL on 8x10, but yes it had trouble covering. Actually, now that I think about it, I left the back barrel piece that can be removed on it so I might get a bit more coverage without that. Anyway, this crop is about 8.5 x 6.8 inches. I shot the Fuji HR-T film at an ISO of 100 and developed it in Rodinal 1:100 for about 7 minutes in cold solution (my darkroom has no heat and is very cold at the moment). Overall I really like the results.

The Delta 100 shot was an interesting comparison. Over all the contrast was higher, and I lost the shadows and highlights. This was partially my fault in developing. I was using a developer and time/dilution that was more appropriate for normal developing rather than rotary (I used a BTZS tube). So not the best test, but certainly interesting. Here that shot is:

One of the things about x-ray film that is different than normal film is the lack of a anti-halation layer. This causes slightly glowy highlights and slightly less resolution. Here is a small crop of x-ray film and the Delta 100 to show the differences:

There are some x-ray films that are more expensive that do have the AH layer. I use Fuji HR-T because it is really cheap. Generally it's not a big deal but still, if I'm especially worried about it I'll use normal film - though again, as you can see above, the contrast in this situation was better handled by the x-ray film, and more specifically, how I developed it. The most important thing here is to know your tools and materials, I suppose.

Here's a couple other photos from yesterday, all on the x-ray film - the first with my 210mm Graphic Kowa, the second with the 90mm XL again:

8x10 at Suwannee River State Park

I hadn't been to Suwannee River State Park in a long time, so I decided I'd make a little trip a couple of weekends ago. I needed some time in the wilderness. I decided I'd pack my big Wista 8x10 and the 6" Metrogon lens with a new center filter that I needed to try out.

I shot Delta 100 film. It turns out the new center filter definitely flares a bit more than I was expecting. It was fun nevertheless - quite a number of people stopped and asked about the camera and/or watched me shoot. 8x10 is sometimes a spectator sport.

Here are a few of the better images:

This is Little Gem Springs, though the water was too high to see it coming up:

And finally, I really wanted to shoot Balance Rock, which was always my favorite thing about this park. Unfortunately, the erosion over the years has caused Balance Rock to fall over! The limestone where the rock was is incredibly slick. This was the view of the rock now:

You can see some of that flare I mentioned as well. The Metrogon is a great lens but I don't think I'll be using the CF.