Many years ago, a friend laughed at me when I told him that one of the requirements for my first house was that it had to be under a dark sky. He thought I was crazy. You see, I was in the early stages of my fascination with amateur astronomy. I’ve always had a fascination with space since I was a kid. I knew as a young adult that amateur astronomy was going to be a part of my life for the rest of my life. Thus, living in an area where I can feed this yearning meant a lot to me and my family. Any amateur astronomer can vouch for the merits of dark skies. So, what does this story have to do with this post?
It appears no matter where you go, trees and greenways are being cleared to pave the way for concrete and steel. The cities are bleeding into the suburbs and the out lying areas. It’s been said that the “crane” is the official bird of Nashville. My dark skies are less dark than when we first moved into our home. This is not a rant by any means. It’s just an observation. My family and I have benefited from development. Our home was built on what used to be someone’s farmland. The only time I would object to development is when a piece of history is demolished just to put up a parking lot. This happens too many times in my opinion. I understand that investors and businesses want and need to make money, but I believe we need to do a better job holding on to pieces of our history for our future generations. I also object when areas are over developed. When new homes and businesses pop up without any infrastructure changes, things can become quite dense in areas. Schools become crowded and the morning commute becomes much longer.
These thoughts came to mind when I was driving down a road I had not driven in a while. I came across what used to be an open green pasture. It had been transformed into an adult size sandbox complete with life size Tonka trucks and other earth moving machines. I had an unfinished roll of Kodak Portra 160 loaded in one of my OM1 SLR cameras. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to complete this roll. With some time to spare, I canvassed the life size sandbox for some photos under an overcast sky.
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f3.5 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f3.5 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 28mm f3.5 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Olympus OM1 / Olympus OM Zuiko 50mm f1.8 / Kodak Portra 160 / The FINDlab
Well, it seems that eventually most of us will be encroached upon by some type of development. I hope the development slows down in my area, but it seems unlikely. This post completes my roll of Portra 160. This was my first time shooting this film stock. Even though these photos were taken under a cloudy sky, it appears that Portra 160 is not as saturated as Portra 400. I may need to reserve Portra 400 or even Ektar 100 for landscape work when I looking for a bit more color. However, I can see Portra 160 working nicely for portraits. Up next, I will be sharing some shots from my favorite consumer grade film, Fuji Superior X-tra 400. It’s cheap and available at the local department store, and I like the results. That’s a winning combination! Thanks for reading!
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2 Responses
Too bad they ae moving in on your dark sky. I also found that I preferred the color saturation for Portra 400.
Yea, it’s a bummer, but I’m still able to enjoy the night sky. At least I can travel a few miles West away from civilization for much better skies when I have time. I agree with you about Portra 400. It’s just a good all-around color film. I have found also that it is very forgiving. I’ve overexposed a sky on a landscape shot once, and I was able to bring back all the cloud detail in post processing. It’s my “go-to” color film. Thanks for your comment!