When I first saw the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, it gave me the same feels as my first time at the Grand Canyon except a bit more scary. The canyon walls are quite a bit more sheer. Lots of rock wall. Think a "canyon of black el capitan style walls." I loved it. Such an amazing place.
We stayed at my long time friend's place in Gunnison that night and we headed back for morning photos at the canyon early the next day. I exposed most of my film at the spot we scouted the afternoon before (we thought was the north canyon) and we were about to head on to our next location. I pulled an audible and we headed into the canyon proper. I was so thankful we did. Wow! The location where I exposed all my film was mere childsplay. I pulled out my darkbag and loaded up more film. It was hot and loading film with sweaty hands in a black bag is not overly fun. I love natural occurring patterns in nature so when I saw the painted wall, I knew I wanted some photographs of this location. There were some really nice shadows in the canyon so I set up for this shot. My takeaway: if you have time keep exploring and you'll be glad you did. You never know what is around the corner.
I metered for the shadows to land one third lower than zone 3 (still wanted some detail there) and checked the dynamic range to make sure the green foliage would land on zone 5 and such. Here are the specs for the shot.
Nikki II 4x5 Field Camera w/ 210mm Rodenstock Sironar f/5.6 at f/22
Shot on expired Kodak Tri-X 320
Developed in Dilution B Kodak HC-110 in my Jobo CPP2
This is another photograph that would look so beautiful blown up to 16x20 on a warmtone paper.
Get this photograph in your home.