A hazy day in Paradise

[David Paterson]

My recent trip to n.w. Scotland, from which I posted quite a number of images, has re-awakened my interest in that region, and I've been looking through my film archive and finding worthwhile images which have never seen the light of day, just exposed, developed and filed.

Here is one - looking north across the mountains of Assynt and Coigach from a summit in the Ben More Coigach range. Early 1990s, Pentax 67, on a hazy late-summer day.

[Jakov Minić]

David, thank you for retrieving paradise.

[Anthony]

I would love to see this as a large print.  Stunning.

[David Paterson]

Thanks, Jakov and Anthony, for you kind comments.

[Frank Fremerey]

I guess it would look better if you print it in an analogue process & then scan the print. I feel the current digital representation does not do the picture justice. I have seen your books and I know there is much more in your film strip than what we can see in your post.

[Akira]

This contrast between the dynamism of the landscape and the delicate lighting is impressive here.  I love the pink reflection on the right edge of the lake in the front center.  Yes, a panorama print should look nice.

[simato73]

I have yet to visit the NW Highlands, but have been thinking about them for years - pity they are so distant from me.
They have a different feel to other parts of the Highlands, with these isolated, old-looking, steep rock islands in a sea of bogs.
From all I have seen it feels like a very wild, primeval place. Not very friendly to the long distance walker, but very evocative.
Maybe I should invest in a good drone...

[David Paterson]

Thanks for your comments, Akira, Frank and Simone.

I guess it would look better if you print it in an analogue process & then scan the print. I feel the current digital representation does not do the picture justice. I have seen your books and I know there is much more in your film strip than what we can see in your post.

Frank - yes, you are right, in a way, but this is a very difficult piece of film to deal with - under-exposed, dark, very low contrast, almost no colour except grey, and shot on a very hazy day. I am trying a different approach to the problem and if it is better, I'll post the result.

Simone - this is a unique part of the Highlands, and the mountains make me think of giant prehistoric creatures rising out of the primeval swamp. There are plenty of wetland areas around the base of the mountains, but lots of good walking as well.

[Peter Connan]

David, thank you for retrieving paradise.

Very well put!

[rosko]

What a nice landscape image !

I love the composition and this feeling of depth (I means the distance visible from the foreground to infinity)

I don't really know where the sun is, but the lighting is, in my opinion, the main factor of this successful shot.

Paradise, yes, this the right word...

[pluton]

Beautiful scene.  Perhaps it could receive a higher resolution scan sometime in the future?

[David Paterson]

Thank you, Francis and Keith.

Beautiful scene.  Perhaps it could receive a higher resolution scan sometime in the future?

I've just tried that, without much success, tho' I may try again. But what seems to be happening is that the scanner is trying to pull as much detail as it can, out through the murky, hazy air and the result looks very odd. I'll take another look tomorrow.

[Bill Mellen]

My recent trip to n.w. Scotland, from which I posted quite a number of images, has re-awakened my interest in that region, and I've been looking through my film archive and finding worthwhile images which have never seen the light of day, just exposed, developed and filed.

Here is one - looking north across the mountains of Assynt and Coigach from a summit in the Ben More Coigach range. Early 1990s, Pentax 67, on a hazy late-summer day.

Beautiful image David! 

The Pentax 67 was quite a camera and made beautiful images.  You probably smile when someone calls a DSLR a “big heavy camera”.

[David H. Hartman]

My memory of the Pentax 6x7 was it was big but not really heavy. I didn't cheat and look up the specs. I could be wrong.

The cameras I remember as heavy were the Nikon F2As with MD-2 and MB-1, that was a boat anchor and the Linhof Technika 45 IV which I still own is a war hammer. The Nikon F2As with MD-3 and MB-1 was more sensible and less fiddly in operation. Why I bought the MD-2 I'll never know.

Dave

[David Paterson]

Thank you, Bill and David - the Pentax 6x7, 67 and 67II were my workhorse medium-format cameras for nearly 30 years until I "went digital" in 2006. The later versions were excellent and the lenses were superb.

David - I did look up the data and was surprised to find that the 67 and 67II were only 200gm heavier than the D800 (1210gm as against 1008). However, since the lenses were heavier also, it seems likely that a typical kit for a day's shooting - one body and 4 lenses - would be around a kilogram heavier than the equivalent Nikon gear. That amount of extra weight is something you would feel, at the end of a day on your feet. (The total load would include film, of course - 20 to 30 rolls for a typical day.)