Silvery Black and White Print from Mono Lake. 1979

Grasses. Paoha Island. Mono Lake, CA. 1979. Copyright 1979 Stephen Johnson. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.From “At Mono Lake.” www.atmonolake.org

The silvery highlights in this photograph from Mono Lake made me fall in love with this print from 1980. In the darkroom, a two-bath paper developer process allowed softer and extended highlight development followed by a short emersion in a strong developer to hit the more exposed (darker) areas of the print. This technique was inspired by my friend Ted Orland who used it on a wonderful print, as I recall, of an old gas station pump.

The darkroom print development for this print, as best I can recall, was Kodak Selector Soft as the first developer, in the tray for quite a long time. It might have even been as long as 9 minutes. The idea was to fully develop the highlight and mid-tone values, then use Kodak Dektol as a second more powerful developer (30 seconds to a minute or two) to take the print’s dark values, now saturated with developer, but still only dark gray from the Selectol-Soft, and let the Dektol take the dark values to a rich black. The paper I used was Agfa Brovira toned briefly in Selenium toner after development.

I was so pleased with the results that I made 5 identical prints and froze the paper to come back and do more. I was never able to repeat the effect.

I made this image while gathering work for my group show “At Mono Lake.”

Explore alternative and beautiful tonal interpretations in my Digital Black and White Vision and Printing Workshop on June 24–25. One spot left.
Register: bit.ly/45ViaJl

Some Early Zone System Work

Yosemite Aspens. 1977.

My first use of the Zone System in my photography was employing a N+ Development on the film to build density on the highlights while under-exposing the blackening leaves a bit. I was delighted by the resulting silvery glow on the bark and the rich dark values. My adoption of the Zone system at the time was multiple backs for my Mamiya RB67, each dedicated to a particular development. Using the Zone System, even with my lightweight use of it, was a very empowering technique for realizing the glow I had seen in so many black and white photographs I admired.

Digital Black and White Vision and Printing Workshop. June 24-25, 2023

bit.ly/45ViaJl

The Peregrine Falcons Are Back

Peregrine Falcon Adult with Young Ones. May 29, 2023.

It’s Spring, and the nesting Peregrine Falcons are back here on the coast. This is my third year of making a real point of watching them, and it continues to be fascinating.

The need for long lenses continued to be a challenge, so I borrowed Canon’s 2022 RF1200mm lens. Although sharpness remains a problem, from atmopsherics, to focus challenges, the added focal length did help dramatically.

Part of the challenge is angle of view for seeing into the nesting cave. The closer I got to the cliffs, the more I am looking up, and the shallower the view in. Further away provides a deeper interior view, but of course, is further away, demanding more focal length. I usually choose an in-between point, but the view of the birds depends on how close to the front of the cave they happen to be.

Canon R5 with RF1200mm lens on the cliffside trail.

The babies have grown very fast, losing their down and discovering their wings in the course of only 5 days, right front of us.

A fellow photographer on the hillside told me of a wonderful 1967 book, The Peregine by J. A. Baker. I’m enjoying his words. The book has further deepen my interest.

Falcon Chicks. Pacifica, CA. May 25, 2023.

Young Falcons. Pacifica, CA. May 29, 2023.

After a week’s loan of the lens, and many hours out on the often cold and windy cliffs, I think I’ve given a good try to the effort and present a few for you here.

I’ll add more here as I sort through recent photos.