Words and Light

The first day we walked around San Francisco, I fell in love with the trees. All the trees.

I love what trees do for a place, and for photos. When my parents had to have one of their three large oaks removed because the roots were threatening the house’s foundation, I was pretty upset. Jeff and I got married in an orchard of 100-year-old pecan trees. The first thing I want to do when we get a house, if the yard will allow for it, is plant a tree.

As much as I loved the trees in San Francisco itself, I somehow didn’t take any photos of them. But here are some fabulous trees further out in the Bay Area, all captured on my Pentax 6×7:

© 2016. Thursday, April 28, 2016, in Muir Woods National Monument. Portra 400+1.

© 2016. Thursday, April 28, 2016, in Muir Woods National Monument. Portra 400+1.

© 2016. Thursday, April 28, 2016, in Muir Woods National Monument. Portra 400+1.

© 2016. Thursday, April 28, 2016, in Muir Woods National Monument. Portra 400+1.

Yes, Muir Woods is where the forest moon of Endor was filmed in Return of the Jedi. No, we didn’t see any Ewoks.

Later that evening, we met our friend Esten (with whom we roadtripped into the American West in 2009) in Oakland. I had two frames of Ektar in my camera that I wanted to kill, so when Jeff and I emerged from the Jack London Square parking garage and I saw a stand of trees against the fading twilight, I immediately took out my meter and camera.

When Jeff texted Esten to let him know why we were running late, Esten responded back in astonishment that I was still shooting film when a digital exposure at that hour would call for something upwards of ISO 6400.

Well, this is Ektar rated at/pushed to 400, at f/4 and probably 1/8 or 1/4:

© 2016. Thursday, April 28, 2016, at Jack London Square in Oakland. Ektar +2.

Coming next on the blog: The coast.

A selection of these photos can be purchased as prints at prints.christhedunn.com.