2003 | Salt Creek Drainage, Death Valley
This year, I had set my view camera down for good and took a pleasure trip to Death Valley with spouse and friends. Wandering around with a light camera and without a plan loosened up my eye and spirit. Then this and many other rolls of film sat in the refrigerator, then the freezer, then at room temperature, between several moves and good intentions to process them, until just last year when I turned them over to a good lab to work them up for me. I had always been successful with heavy exposure and very soft development, but I did not spec ‘Pull Two Stops’ in my order. So pulling only one stop, plus the characteristic behavior of exposed film to spontaneously keep on exposing when in long storage, gave me negatives like these.
I say it’s a good thing they were taken in the desert.