Dusting off the Hard Drives-Landscapes

[algrove]

#1

So I was watching the buffalos along side the road with the gorgeous Tetons in the background when these two came pretty close to me.

I was shooting with my new M246 Monochrom and the APO50. I took this shot and then some other tourists came up near me and they did not know how to control their camera. At first they started shooting with the built-in flash working and they activated a beeping sound when they took each shot. Well, this big bison did not like that sound especially after having the flash go off in his eyes minutes earlier.

Well, he snorted and suddenly faked an attack on the fence. We all started running back to our cars. What happened next freaked me out. So the buffalo turned around and ran away from us down the fence line. After about a quarter mile he found an opening in the fence and made a left turn heading right back toward us. I started up the car and got the heck out of there and never looked back. The next day we heard about someone who was speared by a buffalo horn in this area. Tourists never learn.

 

[algrove]

#1C
In Morocco I came upon this scene where the man was heading home from the Saturday market on his donkey. To me this scene was very representative of the area and daily life in such an arid land. The bags hanging on each of the donkey's sides are filled with groceries, probably for the week.

 

[JohnBrew]

So Lou, please don’t misunderstand me here. I love what you are doing with these old images. And they are great, btw. But you are posting in the MF section. These are 35mm images and, IMO, belong in the category of which they were shot. You’ve been posting many Leica shots, why not post them under Monochrom or Leica images in the Leica thread?
I realize you will get a better response from the MF crowd because more of us visit here to see great images. But are you trying to pass these off as something they are not?
I am not trying to start a war, just curious.
John

 

[algrove]

John

Thanks for your constructive criticism. You are correct, but in this thread I will have more MF images than others and perhaps I should have at least started with MF images. So sorry you are a bit upset. Please be patient with me as I hope to make up for my lack of judgement in starting with non-MF images. Not smart. :thumbdown: That said, I believe the focus of any image should be the worth of the image itself instead of the gear used to capture the image. The gear is simply the tool with which to capture your vision no matter the format. :angel:

John, I am not trying to pass them off as something they are not and I should have mentioned the gear used so that it is clear an L---- image is from the Leica M or Q and a Z--- image is from a Pentax 645Z, etc. It had assumed all here knew these file names which was not a fair assumption to make.:facesmack:

The main reason for doing it this way was that I did not want to proliferate this site with multiple "Dusting off" threads of basically the same thing, but nevertheless, wrong initial approach. Thanks for getting me into line. :salute:

 

[algrove]

#2
This was taken with a Fuji 50R 32-64 at a 500th if I remember correctly for what was a rare opportunity to shoot two 110 year old steam engines coming at me at full speed from a dead stop, which for a steam engine here in the yard was about 5mph. Ely, NV-Northern Nevada Railway during the photographers weekend 3 day shoot.

 

[algrove]

#2C
This was taken in Yellowstone NP next to a caldron pot with an IQ3100/XF/110mm lens?. It has been considerably cropped (perhaps by 90%) since I saw this abstract look within the original capture once home and processing images.

 

[algrove]

#3C
I had forgotten about this one. A bit different and taken during a Joshua Tree sunrise amid cholla trees. I had thorns all over my boots once finished here which took my leatherman tool to successfully remove. IQ3100/XF/35mm lens. Just a glorious sunrise that morning.

 

[algrove]

#3

This old pickup was taken in my backroads attempts at capturing "old" things throughout the Southeast US. IQ4150 Achromatic/Phase STC/90au/base ISO. This was my second attempt at this location which I first saw and photographed using my GFX 50R.

 

[algrove]

#4

This B&W image was taken in Olympic NP. I walked this area many times and finally my creative juices kicked in and this was the result. Taken in a good rain storm and under my umbrella with my portable Phase gear umbrella over the gear which is not rain proof at all. I liked the mood of the area with vegetation left and right, but also the depth of the rainforest in the background with various trees found in this area.
Alpa STC/IQ3100 Achromatic/S-K 150/base ISO/red filter plus 486 filter.

 

[algrove]

#4C
Taken in Ireland in the middle of nowhere. They call it the Black Valley. The boat appealed with its diagonal position with its rope to nowhere and the stillness of the lake with hills on both sides. The reflection of the right hill did not hurt. I like the rope positioned at an angle toward the lower left of the image. Alpa STC/IQ3100/HR40/base ISO

 

[algrove]

#5

I have always liked shooting in the Alabama Hills, CA. There is an article about this location at this site.

https://photopxl.com/the-alabama-hills-what-you-may-not-know/

In any event I shot this location many years ago with my Leica MM1+90mm and decided to try to find the same location again, but with my Alpa/IQ3100 Achromatic and the S-K 150. Wish I had had the 210 that I now possess, but that was what I had at the time of this shot.

As I was searching for the exact location I noticed the clouds coming way down low from the mountains. It was a considerable climb to find the location and I thought to myself how the heck did I find it in the first place years ago since it not at all obvious. So the clouds created a nice contrast with the vertical rocks and that made it better than my previous shot of these rocks. BTW, Alabama Hills is extremely well suited to Monochrom or Achromatic cameras and digital backs.

 

[algrove]

#5C
This was taken in Sequoia NP while many wild fires were occurring throughout CA. The smoke helped create the mood of this image taken at sunset with my Alpa/IQ3100/S-K150.

The bluish valley to me is what created the mood with some hills in the distance since a sunset is a sunset. I did like the suggestion of dead trees with the trees silhouette on the right side.

 

[algrove]

#6

While at a local air show this scene appealed due to the vapor trails in the sky of the stunt planes, but also since I was trying to shade myself under the wing of a huge Air Force C-5 Super Galaxy plane where one engine mimics the circle of the stunt plane above. The C-5 has since been upgraded to the C-5M in 2018. You know this is the plane that can transport huge tanks if need be. I had never been to an air show before and this show convinced me a return to another air show would be in order since the variety at this show was astounding.

 

[algrove]

#6C

While in Upper Antelope Canyon with a couple of Navajo kids who I hired to get me through the crowds like 6-7 years ago, they showed me this location. It was a sand fall instead of a water fall. I understand the crouds now are so dense that it is almost impossible to get a decent image especially with a tripod and a longish exposure unless you pump up ISO to the stratosphere. In this example I asked one kid to hold the crowd from behind while the other kid kept crowds from coming through the canyon toward me.

The colors here are just gorgeous and the light from above creates a nicely lit image along with the beautiful sandstone carved from many years of water erosion. The shadows not to mention the actual sand flow which comes from above when the winds bring down sand from above add greatly to this scene.

 

[algrove]

#7

This was taken in Lassen NP in CA. It's obvious what attracted me to capture this image, but the hike down the steep cliff to see it in my vision was a whole other story. From above I knew I liked the reflection on the lake of the tree line, but once the huge rock came into my view from this low angle I knew I had to capture it. Then placing my tripod just right became a challenge with a multitude of sharp boulders and smaller rocks all around me. Taken with an Alpa STC/IQ3100/HR40/ISO 200.

 

[algrove]

#7C
Sometimes photographers get a bit stupid when we are a long way from home and want to get to a specific location irregardless of the situation. At least that's how I am from time to time. Well, I was in Arches NP Utah and after going there many times I finally wanted make the make the long climb up to shoot the Delicate Arch way up on a mountain top which is a long walk in daylight and even worse in the dark.

This day I took plenty of lights with me and every Phase BR lens in a backpack (except for the 45mm) along with my tripod with cube which must have weighed at least 45 lbs. The took 10 bottles of water also after chugging down 2 at the car since the temperature had finally fallen below 100 degrees that day-it was 98 late in the day! I had gone out West this time since a full moon was forecast on this very day and I so much very wanted to see if I could get the moon and the arch in one image. Upon arriving at the top to my surprise there were at least 50 people on the spot. As the sun slowly descended they were leaving little by little until I was the only one left at the top. The last two to leave was a Japanese couple. I asked them if they had enough lights and they showed me their headlamps. As I waited for the moon rise at a certain hour a cloud system came in and I was going to have to live with this shot that I had composed earlier well before the sunset hour.

So on the way down I had on my airport landing light headlamp and after about 20 minutes heading back down and up ahead I see the Japanese couple standing at the edge of a sheer drop off. Their headlamps were too weak and they could not see well. They were very happy to see me and had decided to wait for my descent in order to follow me down. Well, so as not to scare them I did not tell them that I had never been here before either. Since I knew I would be descending in total darkness, luckily, on the way up I had paid very close attention to where the trail should be when descending since about every 50-100 steps I kept looking back down the umarked trail in order to remember what certain rock structures looked like that I would need to follow down the mountain where there were no cairn markers. In the end we got back to our cars safely, but I am so glad I take lights stronger than I anticipate I will need and always go with them fully charged and in multiples. I use bicycle lights which in this case put out intense light and the huge headlamp rivals a car headlamp in intensity.

XF/IQ3100/35mm/base ISO

 

[kdphotography]

Damn, Lou. Nice images. But I can't help but notice your, uh, nice range of camera gear.

Either you've been hanging out a lot with Graham Welland too much, er, btw, what kind of cars or camera bags do you drive? :ROTFL:

Or, you're seated at the right hand of Dante. :ROTFL:

Either way----nice work.

Stay safe and see you out in the field sometime!

ken

 

[algrove]

Ken
Graham and I met once and we talked cars for a long time.

Now I need AF cameras for my photography so the Fuji MF works as well as the Sony iv for street. The Alpa/Phase IQ4150 Achromatic combination will sell eventually with its 5 lenses.

Can't wait to get back out shooting as most of us want to do. I "drive" Mindshift 26L and 26L bags and the Oberwerth William for street with either the 50R+50 or the Sony. Just remembered I have 2 Phase cases with f-stop inserts I will be selling. Thanks for the encouraging words.

Lou

Damn, Lou. Nice images. But I can't help but notice your, uh, nice range of camera gear.

Either you've been hanging out a lot with Graham Welland too much, er, btw, what kind of cars or camera bags do you drive? :ROTFL:

Or, you're seated at the right hand of Dante. :ROTFL:

Either way----nice work.

Stay safe and see you out in the field sometime!

ken

 

[algrove]

#8

This is taken with the MM2 and the tiny 226 gram 90/2.8 Tele-Elmarit. Yellowstone where I can always find something new even if I've been back many times. I loved the steam water coming over the flatish rocks, the dead trees probably being dead from the incessant sulfur fumes and the somewhat dramatic clouds that day. It just worked for me with a Monochrom camera. I guess my fun using the Leica Monochrom is why I have now bought the Phase Achromatic DBs.

 

[algrove]

#8C

Here is a Pentax 645Z shot also taken in Yellowstone with the Pentax wide zoom lens. Cropped somewhat to the composition I liked. The swirl of colors and the turquoise steamy caldron in the background make this appealing to me. There is actually water running over the terra cotta earth colors. If you have not seen this location in person, it is worth a trip one day.