This was a serendipitous trip in late April 2009. I decided to drive down and back up the Big Sur Coast (Hwy 1, aka PCH, Pacific Coast Highway), and caught some interesting light both times; and another dawn shoot from the Skyview Motel in Los Alamos (near Dunn School, Los Olivos and Solvang). This year's dawn shoot was even better than last year's with some interesting mist in the hills. Here is the gallery. My Big Sur shots on the way down and back are here.
I like to push the envelope on digital photography, trying to capture low light, dynamic range, interesting light, things like fog and mist that can present some challenges. I'm also playing with B+W film emulations — Fuji Acros, Rollei R3, and of course Kodak Tri-X. As part of this, I've decided to keep my B+W images separate, i.e. start from the RAW image and make those images only B+W. Otherwise, it gets into this guessing game, at least for me, of OK, do I like this better in color or B+W? With those images finished now exclusively B+W, that guessing game goes away. Yes, there are some similar images, but they're actually separate images. There's something timeless about B+W — maybe it's about that (analog) darkroom I always hoped for.
And, yes, I'm still thinking about shooting some of these films in my wife's Nikon N65 (aka F65 outside the USA). I'm also very impressed with what I'm reading and hearing about the Mamiya rb67 and rz67 medium format cameras. My younger Chris and several friends and acquaintances are experimenting with these. Some impressive stuff. Check out this link of my friend Allan Chen's shots. Some really rich shots here. Here’s another page that's really impressive, discussing digital sensors vs film resolutions. I guess I need to get out Sue's N65 first, and see if I'm willing to go that extra mile.
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