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My name is Michael Morris, I am a photographer who came to photography later in life.  I started with digital and found it unrewarding so after a short time with MF, I moved to LF 4X5.  Almost everything I do now is large format B&W.  I am working to improve my technical and artistic skills constantly.  Living in Phoenix, I have access to some very good photographers who are willing to help and teach.  I am on a journey exploring photography, the US, and myself to some extent.  Along with my wife Mary, we are traveling the US together, cameras follow us everywhere and as we travel, this BLOG is updated.  It is very much a journal of my journey with ramblings about everything from the photograph I took while traveling, to the ah-ha moments when something new is grasped.

The old masters work is enthralling to me and I spend a lot of time looking at their work as well as most other work I have access to.  

 

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Entries in mountains (6)

Monday
Apr052010

Geronimo Cave Trip

DateMonday, April 5, 2010 at 8:44AM

Last Saturday Richard (my son) and I finally took a hike in the Superstitions. These are my favorite mountains anywhere.  There is something about them that caught my interest at a young age and I have spent many days hiking various trails there and spent many nights sleeping in remote areas of the mountains.  In my youth I never carried a camera and regret that because they are no longer remote.  Areas that you could hike for several days and never see anyone are now crowded with people carrying soda cans and walking their dogs on leashes. It saddens me greatly that there are few places that are truly remote but accessible now.  My first hike in the Superstitions was a loop from Peralta trailhead to Geronimo Cave, Freemont Saddle, and down Peralta Canyon back to the trailhead.  With a side trip to the best Weavers Needle overlook anywhere it is about a 5 mile round trip.  The cave is about 800ft in elevation higher than the trailhead.

The trail to the cave is not for newbies, there are places where you can not see any trail, places where people have constructed cairns that lead you astray, placed where you must walk up very steep inclines, etc.  It is a difficult trail but I have always considered it to be a very rewarding trail.  The vies from the cave is spectacular, looking South across the desert to mountains far to the South.

I have desired to take this trip for a couple of months but the weather and life has not cooperated.  Although there were no clouds on Saturday, we went anyway.  The 4X5, 2 extra lenses, film, tripod, etc in the pack.  Not too heavy, about 30 pounds.  The going was slow because of the extra weight but we made it to the cave in about 3 hours.  Just as we were approaching the junction for the spur trail to the Weavers Needle lookout, I took a tumble.  Landed on my right side.  It appears that the only casualty was a rather large cut in my thumb, a few bruises and a little paint scraped off the 5D.

After the fall I left the pack there and went to the overlook with a couple of lenses.  Several of the people I shoot with consistently expose 2 sheets of film for every shot.  I rarely do that.  It doubles the film cost and also I think it forces me to pay better attention to what I am doing and thus to be more consistent.  This could be flawed reasoning but it is what it is.  This time however, the exposure was on the border between normal and plus processing.  I would normally just do the plus with a single sheet but decided in this case to expose 2 sheets identically, process one set and then decide what to do with the second.  The first set is drying now and it looks like the other set will probably be a plus development.

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Monday
Mar012010

Lost Dutchman State Park

DateMonday, March 1, 2010 at 8:45AM

Yesterday I went with a friend to Lost Dutchman State Park again.  It is so sad that they are closing the park this summer.  Seeing that most of the people there are volunteers it can not be that expensive to operate the parks.  It is probably a political move and I find that to be appalling, it seems that the government has forgotten the people who they are sworn to serve.  I can not see that closing these parks will help close the budget shortfall, there is a rumor that it will actually cost more short term to close them than to keep them open.  Raise the prices for entry, ask for more volunteers but do not close the parks "permanently" then patrol them to make sure the people do one enter their property.  It would not surprise me if the more influential people would be allowed to use the parks after they are closed.  Anyway, enough of soapboxing.

The weather was nice for this trip for a short time.  We took a short hike on which I carried the 5D and that is where this color photo came from.  The desert is so green now, I am hoping for a spectacular wildflower season.

After the hike, we set up our large format cameras and waited for the light.  Unfortunately there was a period of great light while we were hiking.  Regardless i made 2 negatives and the friend made 1 (he was using his 8X10).  The light was really nice but only lasted a short time.  We were hoping for some great light just before sunset but alas, a storm in Surprise obscured the sun and it was not worth making any exposures.  We left then but I am a little disappointed that we did not stick around for moonrise.  At the time it appeared the clouds would obscure the moon but on the trip back to the house I saw the moonrise and it would have been great.  Oh well, watch for the right weather conditions again.

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Tuesday
Jan052010

Extremes

DateTuesday, January 5, 2010 at 7:54AM

It has been said, if you wish to succeed, you must be willing to fail.  This is true in every aspect of your life.  You can not succeed without taking risks.  You can not learn without trying things that may not work.  

Some of the most moving work I have seen utilizes very bold contrast.  Brett Weston was a master of this and I have seen others who are proficient at this as well.  When done well it makes for a very strong photo.  I have been looking at work that has very bold contrasts and have tried to utilize this in some of my work.  However, to do it well is not as simple as it may seem.

So, here I am, in Death Valley, 500 miles from home.  It is the last night there, a morning shoot then pack up and head for home.  It has been solid overcast all day but the forecast for tomorrow is for clear skies.  Most of the shooting so far has been in familiar places.  Earlier in the day we had gone to Zabriskie Point and I was impressed by the view of the badlands there.  I could visualize some very dramatic bold contrasts there as the sun first reached the badlands.  So the last shoot in Death Valley was to be at Zabriskie Point.

 We were among the first to arrive there and I went to a spot chosen the previous day as being the most likely to have sun first.  I set up and tried 3 lenses before settling on the 210 first but then after that first shot, moving to the 480.  The photo above was that first one using the 210.  The one below was using the 480 from the top of the point.

I have printed a couple of these and the jury is out on whether I like them at all or not.  Technically they are fine, detail where detail is needed, sharp focus, DOF as intended when shot.  But artistically,  the jury is still out.  Some strike me right away one way or the other, some take a while to sink in.  These are some of the later.  However, I have found that those that take time to warm up to tend to be among my favorites for longer than those that are instantly liked.

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Thursday
Oct152009

US395 -- Mono Lake 1

DateThursday, October 15, 2009 at 7:13AM

Mono Lake was perhaps the single largest attractor to me for this trip.  More time was spent there than any other location and about 40% of all the photos taken were there.  The structures that are the icons of Mono Lake are called tufa.  Sunrise and sunset there are crowds of people with every type of still camera. There are several places where the tufa rises above the water but the main place people go for photography is the South Tufa area that can be reached via a graded dirt road off of 120 East of 395.  The lake has many faces and can be calm then suddenly have strong winds.  The storm that passed through the area came quickly and left the same way, reminded me of what is called an Alberta Clipper in Wisconsin.

The photo above was taken the morning we left Lee Vining, the air was cold so mist was rising off the water and shrouding the bottom of the tufa.  Due to the distance and my lack of a lens adequate for the task, this is a crop from the 4X5 negative.

 This was taken on the snow day as the storm was falling down from the mountains.  It is a bit deceptive because of the tufa on the left.  It almost appears to be part of a larger formation.  There are no cliffs along the shores of the lake that I am aware of.

Another thing that is interesting is the fact that Los Angeles was diverting so much of the input water from the lake that the level dropped.  New legislation has been enacted which disallows diversion of the water until the lake reaches a specific level which is enough higher than the level now that it will make for some very interesting changes.

There will be a second Mono Lake post tomorrow.

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Tuesday
Sep152009

US395 Trip

DateTuesday, September 15, 2009 at 6:36AM

On our Northern CA trip we came east in the last couple of days and parked the trailer at Bridgeport, CA for 2 nights before heading home.  Starting on Oct 1 we have a 10 day period in which to travel.  We have decided to travel US395 focusing on the areas from Lone Pine to Bridgeport. This is an area which demand superlatives.  Ansel Adams traveled the road more than once and made some great pictures in the area.  As we drove south from Bridgeport last trip, I was excited to return and take time to explore the area.  I am not sure how we will do this.  We may park in Lee Vining and just see the Northern areas or to try to move the trailer during the trip.  Either way could work but I have more research to do before making a choice.  We drove by Mono Lake last trip and I would like to spend some time there but it has been photographed so much, saying something new there would be difficult.

I really wish to see the Bristlecone Pine in the White Mountains and they are a 2+ hour trip from Lee Vining.  We may end up doing Lee Vining for a while, then moving to Bishop.  In any case, I will post about the planing as well as the trip itself.

 

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