Opposites

I asked Ian to pull over on our way back from the Hebrides when I saw this shot might happen. I had about 90 seconds to climb out, pick a lens, assemble & focus the camera (tilting the rear standard) and meter the exposure. I exposed one sheet before the rainbow vanished, and kept my fingers crossed for a month till the developed film arrived in the mail. Camera: early 1950s 8x10 Deardorff field (with front swings). Lens: Nikkon 450mm, Agfa 8x10 transparency, graduated ND filter.

























Shooting at Great Sand Dunes involves a week of scouting out likely locations, getting up every morning at 4:30am, hiking 3 or 4 miles from the campground with 50 pounds of gear through freezing darkness, setting up and waiting to see what happens in the 40 seconds of shootable light. It's not unusual to go all week without exposing a single frame. Deardorff 8x10, Nikkor 450mm, Unfiltered Fuji 8x10 Velvia transparency.

More about Deardorff cameras.