Touring the Wild, Wild West

Aspen and Douglas firs photographed on film with my Minolta twin-lens reflex.

Green and Gold on the Kaibab Plateau

It was 25 degrees when we woke up the next morning -- a fine, late-September morning at 8,800 feet of altitude on Arizona's Kaibab Plateau. The sun was bright, the air was sparkling clear, and it didn't feel anything like that cold as I went out to make some photographs of the aspen and Douglas fir that framed our campground. 

DeMotte Campground is hidden in this forest of aspen and Douglas fir.

 

The photograph at the top of this post was shot on film; the other three are digital.

I don't shoot much film these days for two reasons: the cost of film and processing; and the time required to scan the film. But this morning, inspired by the gold of the aspen and the deep green of the fir, not to mention the intense blue of the sky, I took along my Minolta Autocord twin-lens reflex loaded with Fujichrome RDPII 100 film. I also took my Fuji X-T20 digital camera. I have to say that the digital photographs are actually sharper than the medium format film, although you won't be able to tell that from blog-sized photos. Even so, I prefer the film shot. Which do you like? 

We had planned to go back to the North Rim this morning, but decided there was really nothing else for us to see unless we wanted to hike, which we didn't. The haze in the canyon from distant forest fires also dampened our enthusiasm. We hope to come back when conditions are more favorable. So we took our pictures of the aspen and fir, hooked up our trailer, drove back north to Jacob lake, and turned onto U.S. 89A, passing through some very interesting country (more about that next time) on our way toward Flagstaff.

(You have probably caught on by this time that we liked DeMotte Campground very much in spite of its lack of amenities.)

Digital photographs made with Fuji X-T20 camera, Fujinon XC 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 OISII and XC 50-230mm f4.8-6.3 OIS lenses.

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(Photographs copyright David B. Jenkins 2020) 

Soli Gloria Deo

To the glory of God alone