The Wash, Thousand Palms

Afternoon Shadows at the Wash, Thousand Palms

After a day at a conference in Palm Springs, I escaped into the sun in search of desert images.  A quick search of the internet reminded me of one of Palm Springs’ real treats, the oases of Desert Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) that flourish wherever the San Andeas fault forces deep groundwater to the surface, and I was soon speeding northward toward the Thousand Palms preserve.  Leaving the town’s ritzy gated communities and straggling suburbs behind, I was soon traversing Highway 10 through the rocky desert of the northern Coachella Valley.

Just before I reached the oasis, I passed over a dry wash curving off toward the eroded brown crests of the distant Little San Bernardino Mountains.  Intrigued by the interplay of the shafts of the late afternoon shadows and the curving lines of the wash and the trees, I stopped and went exploring.  The late afternoon sun was low, and every rock and tree cast a spear of  shadow across the line of the wash as it curved around a rocky outcrop.  I took this photo on XP-2 with my No. 1 Kodak Junior at f/22, and once again the little Rapid Rectilinear lens captured a crisp image with excellent contrast and tonal range.

Later, I found the little road to Thousand Palms Canyon and, managing to elude the rattlesnakes and sidewinders, I savored the cool dusk between the majestic columns of palms, and climbed a crumbling slope to the top of a bluff where I found an old wooden cross sillouetted against the sunset.

References:

“Coachella Valley Preserve.”  http://www.coachellavalleypreserve.org/.

“Coachella Valley Preserve Thousand palms oasis.”  http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/jotr/html/coachella.htm.

“1000 Palms oasis.”  http://www.coachellavalleypreserve.org/wilhelmhistory/histone.html.

“Thousand Palms Oasis on the San Andreas Fault.”  http://geology.about.com/od/geology_ca/ig/safsouth/safsouthpalms.htm.

Accessories: Focusing Aids

There are a few simple accessories that greatly facilitate focusing with vintage cameras.

Focusing Screen Magnifier:

A magnifier is an extremely helpful accessory for determining optimum focus on the ground glass.  Many photographers use a standard hand-held loupe for this purpose.  However, for those cameras with handy pop-up viewing screen hoods, inserting a loupe into the hood on a 4×5 camera is challenging, and with a 2×3 format camera, using a loupe of the usual size is virtually impossible.  A simple magnifier on a handle can be easily fabricated from an inexpensive pocket magnifier and a short piece of brass or aluminum square tubular rod.

Magnifier and Handle

Simple pocket magnifiers of the type shown are available in various quality levels on eBay or in hardware stores.  Mine was purchased for $2.99 at Hardwick’s Hardware in Seattle.  The rod or bar stock is usually available in hobby shops or hardware outlets.  Undo the two screws holding the cover onto the lens assembly and remove the short rod that serves as a pivot, then replace it with an approximately 4″ length of the rod.

Finished Magnifier

Magnifier - Top View

With my magnifier, 3/32″ square tubular rod proved to provide a snug fit.  A small machine screw can then be screwed into the bottom of the rod to secure the lower end in the magnifier body (fortuitously, the small screws holding the magnifier together proved to be an exact fit in my case) and gentle crimping may be all that is required to tighten the fit of the handle into the magnifier.  A gentle bend to the handle ensures that your fingers will be out of the line of sight.  Precise focusing can then be accomplished by using the handle to position the magnifier into the viewing hood directly over the focusing screen.

Dark Cloth for Focusing;

In the Pacific Northwest, the best weather for photographing the forests and mountains with their hanging moss and curtains of mist is usually overcast and rainy.  Consequently, light levels can be very low.  Even though the Baby Pacemaker, like many other technical and press style cameras, has a pop-up viewing hood, it is still hard to see the image on my non-Fresnel viewing screen.  Consequently, having a dark cloth to put over the camera is very helpful and, under some conditions, essential.

The Dark Cloth

However, keeping a dark cloth in place over a small camera without having it fall off into the mud or slide over the lens can be a challenge.  Consequently. I devised a dark cloth that can be snugged around the camera body.  This is made from a 24″x40″ piece of heavy black cloth hemmed around the edges, with a nylon drawstring threaded through one long side.  The cloth is then folded in half and clipped together by a hook and eye, leaving an opening just large enough to pass over the body of the camera.

Detail of Closure

A cable clamp (available from most outdoor equipment stores) is threaded over each end of the cord, and these two ties are used to snug the dark cloth over the camera body.

To be continued….

Stone House, Saltspring Island

The Stone House, Saltspring Island

Located between mainland British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Saltspring Island, the largest of the Gulf Islands, is a unique and beautiful spot.   Driving up the ramp from the little ferry, one wanders along winding roads that snake between mountains and forests of cedar and Douglas fir.  Then suddenly the corridor of forest opens to reveal a pocket of valley with rolling farmland, punctuated by rustic farmhouses set among gnarled Garry Oaks.  Sheep graze in the fields, and signs for artists’ studios, potter’s workshops, and woodworker’s shops dot the road’s edge.

The island has a long and fascinating history.  First explored by the Spanish and British in the 1700s, Saltspring was settled in the 1850s by early pioneers who had abandoned their hopes of quick riches in the Fraser River Gold Rush.

A group of 9 Negro slaves, who had purchased their liberty in the United States, arrived at what was to become thew town of Vesuvius in 1857.  More black settlers from California were followed by immigrants from Portugal and Scandinavia, then British and Hawaiian settlers (Kanakas) originally recruited by the Hudson’s Bay Company.   As a result of this long history, the island boasts some of the oldest farms in  the province, and photographers find many abandoned farmhouses and barns dating from the 1800s.

As the light was fading under drippy skies and heavy overcast, I came across this old house in a small valley near the sea, with a meadow and a lovely old abandoned barn.  Sitting beside a muddy lane, this old farmhouse was framed by alders and maples festooned with lichen.

This image was taken on Kodak VC- 160 at f/16 using the 65 mm. Schneider Angulon on my Baby Graphic.  Given the limited amount of foreground, front tilt was not used.

Using the interchangeable backs on the Baby Graphic, I then took a black and white version on Ilford XP-2:

The Stone House, Black & White

References:

“Saltspring Island.”  Online Posting on vancouverisland.com. http://www.vancouverisland.com/regions/towns/?townid=257