Driftwood At The End Of The World
On a recent trip out to the Oregon Dunes I was treated to a surprise at the end of a long trail. It seemed like I had been hiking for hours with my companion for the day and when we emerged from the endless hills and plateaus of hot sand we came to an empty beach along the Pacific Ocean and a massive piece of driftwood that came from who knows where.
After so much open space with only tiny patches of dry grass to dot the landscape, the discovery felt like stumbling upon a cathedral.
The driftwood had clearly been sitting there on the beach for some time because it was hardened and bleached white from the sun. In fact, by the time we found it it was well past noon and the sun was incredibly high in the sky. Not at all the ideal conditions for a spontaneous photo session.
However, I’ve never been one to let that stop me. If I waited around all the time for the ideal conditions to make photographs then my camera would permanently sit on a shelf. No, better to work with the lighting conditions and the scene fate has given you and do the best you can with it.
You can tell in these images however that the light was quite harsh. It was also nearly impossible to load up medium format film without getting some of the edges of the film exposed. Normally I like to load up my film in the shade to avoid light leaks along the edge of the film, but there was no shade what-so-ever to be found. Oh well… The work must continue anyway.
For this trip I brought along my Pentax 645n which isn’t a camera I typically bring on outdoor adventures. I consider it to be more of a “city” camera because unlike most of my medium format gear it has a lot of automated features that are great when I’m trying to work quickly with a bit of stealth, but have no real advantage for me in isolated outdoor spaces. I prefer to work slower and more deliberately while the Pentax 645n is designed for a little more speed.
Still, it was an interesting experience!
Camera: Pentax 645n with 80mm f/2.8 lens.
Film: Ilford FP4 in medium format.
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