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American Road Trip Journal #13: Redwoods

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Episode 13 of the American Road Trip Journal.

The Redwoods! The talles trees on Earth.

We drive through the Avenue of the Giants, where some of these huge trees have had their home for hundreds of years.

It's a very short video because this was just a stop on our way to Mendocino, where we'd stay for a few days after this.

I took a few shots but I don't talk about them this time. They were mostly snapshots so I'm not going to pretend that I gave them much thought. I still hope you enjoy the episode!

Of scanning, writing and reading

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This weekend I took some "time off" from the blog and the YouTube channel to work on some things that needed my attention.

Scanning

I scanned 14 rolls of film: 8 from the road trip and 6 of my most recent shot rolls. I'm still working on this as we speak, I have another 18 from last year.

Writing

I also worked on my upcoming free ebook, "Examples of the PNW". It's finally coming together and I hope to have it out very soon. Consider subscribing to my newsletter to get it as soon as it becomes available.

Reading

Finally, I did some reading as it's one of my new year's resolutions. I've finished 3 books this year so far: Purple Cow by Seth Godin, How to sell your art online by Cory Huff and Astrophysics for people in a hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson. The topics couldn't be more different! I might talk about them in the future, I'm not sure yet.

Photography-wise, I'm still working on Ansel Adam's The Negative. A book that has proven to be a bit too dense for me, although packed with very useful information. I recently started Why people photograph by Robert Adams, book I'm enjoying a lot, and I have some more coming in the mail soon.

And now, back to our regular programming.

Shooting film in Goshen, Indiana

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A short break from all the road trip videos to show you the little town of Goshen, Indiana.

Last week, I went for a walk around downtown and shot some photos while it was snowing. I loved the atmosphere but unfortunately I couldn't shoot for as long as I would've loved to: it was cold, very cold. I couldn't feel my fingers, nor my toes, after just half an hour.

But I had fun doing something I'm not used to, I got a couple shots I like and I experimented recording this video with my iPhone. I'll be doing it again!

Photos were taken using HP5+ and FP4+, both from Ilford.

You can find some of those photos in the Indiana archive.

American Road Trip Journal #12: The Lost Coast

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Episode 12 of the American Road Trip Journal.

On this episode, I drive to the Lost Coast. Still in Northern California, and still on the same day - this happens after we went to the Fern Canyon.

The Lost Coast is a mostly undeveloped part of the coast of California. There are a few small, remote towns and not much else. There are some roads but they are pretty bad: it took me almost 2 hours to reach the coast from Eureka.

From there, you have miles and miles of coast to explore. You'll find some livestock roaming on private property you can't trespass, so don't expect to be able to go anywhere you want.

For that, you might want to head further south, where the road doesn't reach. The King Range mountains await you there: you can either climb them or hike along the coastal trail.

But of course I didn't have time for any of that in just one afternoon / evening. I barely got any time to spend there, but managed to take a few shots I'm happy with.

In defense of "car photography"

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In defense of "car photography"

This might be one of the biggest misconceptions about landscape photography, and some might frown upon but I'm going to say it: you don't have to go deep in the wilderness to take amazing landscape photos. In fact, a lot of the greatest shots were taken either from a car or from the side of the road.

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How to photograph the Fern Canyon (Redwoods National Park)

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American Road Trip Journal #11: Fern Canyon

This is not an easy place to photograph! And it's even harder in black and white. I wasn't prepared and that shows in my photos, they are not good... at all.

You need to find a strong composition to succeed here, and that requires some time. I didn't have that time (and you probably won't either unless you are prepared - it gets very cold once your feet get wet) and that shows on my shots: they are bad.

I made several mistakes, the first one was to use wide apertures and short exposures. I did this because my first shots were handheld and also because there was some wind that was moving the ferns.

Possible approaches to capture this canyon in these conditions?

  • take longer exposures of the canyon using smaller apertures, f/11 at least to get most of it in focus.
  • close-ups of the stunning vegetation, the walls of ferns are very cool. You'll need wide apertures here to compensate for the wind, but it will be easier to keep your subject in focus.
  • try to take silhouettes of the trees and the top of the canyon against the -most likely- overcast sky.

We didn't see them there -we ran into them later that morning though, in a different area of the park-, but there are elk and they can be aggressive. But I'd be prepared just in case you find them and they are far enough to take some safe shots.

From the trailhead, you can access a beach. We didn't because, you know, no dogs in national parks, but probably another good place to take some shots before heading out.