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 A November 2003 trip to the Page, AZ area had several silver linings I could not have foreseen.  A topic for another time but these are the images that would be the 1st successful trials of the Semi-Stand process I was fortunate to perfect in early 2004.  

  I can somewhat relate to having a vivid memory of areas I came upon in the SouthWest in prior years.  In that spirit, my long time traveling partner Jack Holowitz “seemed to recall” an area he had visited with another group some years before.  After some research around the town of Page AZ Jack suggested we go out a “backcountry road” (graded gravel) behind Big Water close to Lake Powell. We came to the end of that road and had a decision to make, Jack remembered a steep drop into a dry riverbed.  I jumped out to gently guide Jack down about a 3 ft drop and headed west in the riverbed, little did I know the climb back out would be under moonlight!!  We traveled for almost 2 hours in a rented 4WD, again, there were times I would get out of the Jeep and carefully guide Jack over, or, around obstacles such as scattered boulders or deep ruts in the dry riverbed.  The topo illustration suggests the riverbed (seen as a Green line) is about 5 miles until the hoodoos majestically appear on a small plateau to our left.  I’ve written about our epic return trip out in a previous Blog post here: May,2018 where Jack and I were caught directly in the middle of the BLM’s initiative restricting motorized vehicles.  I won’t go into anymore details here, that said, if you’ve not read that Blog, checkout the link above, the return drive in waning moonlight is as bizarre a set of circumstances I believe I’ve ever emerged from without consequence.

  Sadly, because of technology and the easily found topo maps, this location has become well known and heavily photographed as seen in this color image I procured from the web.  It’s impressive to note in the color photograph the scale of this erosion when compared to a woman seen in the lower left of the following photograph.  It’s no wonder my mind was spinning in disbelief with erosion unlike anything I had ever seen in the Southwest, or anywhere for that matter!!

This months images are from an area deep in the Escalante Wilderness back in 2003 when the area was still obscure with almost no visitors.  Arriving at the location by late morning  I took the 7×17″ camera, clearly, this was the most bizarre landscape location I had every witnessed, saving of course the “Slot Canyons” common to the Arizona Strip in northern AZ.  I made the below 7×17″ image and have never shown it because of this month’s image.  This area is not that large and very likely I was simply overwhelmed by the erosion in front of me and made a meager attempt to “record” rather than seek out a composition leading towards artistic interpretation. Looking back, this particular day was as close to perfect for both of our aesthetics.  The day was uncharacteristically overcast which meant no distracting shadows on the bizarre erosion which lay naked and exposed before our cameras.

  At least ninety percent of my imagery is seen from a horizontal perspective, likely why I gravitate so easily to the panoramic format.  However, when a vertical composition presents itself as this classic composition in this month’s image I would not hesitate to make a negative. The minute I looked thru the ground glass (back of the camera) and saw the dark cap rock sitting on top of the tallest spire set against a lighter background I knew the previous 7×17″ image fell far short of this month’s composition.  At the very top of my list in choosing to make an image is creating a sense of depth and dimension.  The noticeable difference to project that largest spire and dark cap rock as having space behind it makes the image far superior to the panoramic image.

  Compositionally the vertical image has a number of advantages that I could exploit.  Beginning first with the spatial relationships that lend to creating depth in a 2-dimensional photographic image.  Most times when there is a clear focal point, combining two more complimentary focus points in the smaller spire and large dark centered rock at the bottom totaling an odd number as in 3, there is greater interest.    Tie it together with an unusual background and throw in a couple of diagonals or triangles and there’s the makings of a very special image.  

 Another important component to this particular image is the “split toning” process I employ.  After a bleaching process and redevelopment bath in Thiourea and Sodium Hydroxide the majority of lighter tones in the image take on a warmer hue and therefore “project outward”. While the mid and darker tones “recede” to more neutral and cooler tonalities. These two  relationships together produce a subtle impression of increased depth to the final Silver Gelatin print. Not every master silver printer would agree, but it is my opinion with some split-toned images, if there is a hint of paper-base pure white tonality interspersed with the decidedly warm highlights it simply adds another level of interest and separation to the delicate highlights in a fine Silver Gelatin print.  Split-toning has another significant benefit, the bleach / conversion process converts the metallic silver components of the B&W silver emulsion to a much more archival compound known as Silver Sulphide.  As an FYI, split toning by way of chemistry is one of the few processes that comes easier to the “wet process printer” than the digital output printer using inks combined with the power of PhotoShop.

  Several years later I made a second trip back to the hoodoos via another series of backcountry roads that dropped into the river bed from the opposite direction less than a mile from the hoodoo’s location.  I kept detailed directions on how to return, however, with the wide-spread access to the location I have little interest in returning.  There is SO much more exploring to do in the AZ / UT area I choose to pursue. 

Stay safe and thank you for your interest in my photography !!