This time around we wanted to show something different. All of the photographs that we've shown on our site to date have been made with 35mm equipment, but we also use medium and large format equipment. So this time we have a black & white photograph made with a of our Rolleiflex medium format cameras. Hiking with this equipment is a serious undertaking, as it is large as well as heavy. We don't often hike with this equipment because we want to be pretty certain that it is worthwhile, but for this photograph we only had to go maybe five or ten minutes away from the car.
This is the Mistaya River and Canyon in Banff National Park where the Icefields Parkway meets Highway 11 to Rocky Mountain House. In the background are Mount Sarbach and Epaulette Mountain. These are the northernmost of the Waputik Mountains. In this area the valley widens and is surrounded on all sides by breathtaking mountains. It is also has fewer visitors as most people are just passing through on the parkway. In fact both Banff and Jasper have so many wonderful places to explore that if you miss this area you won't feel the less for it, but we plan to stay here a little longer next time we're in the mountain parks.
This photograph was made on Kodak T-Max 100 black & white film. It is somewhat overdeveloped to increase its contrast and has consequently more noticeable grain than normal. A "middle yellow" filter was used to bring out the clouds a little without darkening the trees too much. A 150mm lens was used, aperture and shutter speed were not recorded. You might have to adjust your monitor a bit to see detail in the trees on the left. This area was metered using a spot meter to record this dark area detail and was the basis for the exposure.
This negative is actually very difficult to print. It needs variable contrast paper as different areas really need their own contrast. It is not unusual to go through 5 or 6 sheets of paper to make one good print. Here another area where digital photography shines, having found the right balance of contrast once, it is easily reproduced time and time again.
We did not scan in this photograph as our film scanner only handles 35mm film. This was scanned by a good local company (ABC Photocolour) here in Vancouver and stored on a Pro Photo CD.