One of the advantages of using a large format camera is the ability to change film types for each photograph.  In the fall of 2002, I went to a new location in Rocky Mountain National Park to try and get a different perspective of the often photographed Hallet’s Peak.  The hike to the lake is is a series of switchbacks that wind their way up a large moraine.  When I got to the lake I was surprised to find no water but some amazing mud cracks.  A light snow had fallen that night and I knew that the snow and mud cracks would look great in black and white.  In the early 2000’s, film manufactures still made quick load film and I almost always carried Kodak Tmax 100 and Fuij Velvia quickloads.  I shot this scene in both color and black and white, the color images are not nearly as interesting as the black & white.  While composing the image, I wanted to emphasize the foreground so I added a little back tilt which enlarges the foreground slightly.  

Settings: Toyo 45AII and Rodenstock 90mm f6.8 lens - Red Filter - Kodak Tmax 100 film; 1/3 sec @ f/32.  Scanned by West Coast Imaging - Tango Drum Scan.  

Bierstadt Lake (2002)