Photography at Red Rock this weekend

I've been itching to bust out my film cameras lately, and also B&W has been catching my eye in photography mags. I'm planning on heading up to Red Rock Canyon for the day, probably on Saturday to do some photography and a little hiking. Let me know if anyone wants to come along.

Any other photographers here?

My Flickr gallery is here:
http://flickr.com/photos/quantumcowboy/

And photos specifically from my recent trip to New Zealand are here:
http://flickr.com/photos/quantumcowboy/collections/72157603611515268/

I also keep a photoblog here:
http://qcowboyphoto.blogspot.com/

Feedback and comments posted at either the gallery or the blog are welcome!

Scratch that... 70% chance of rain up there. !!!

I may head to Fort Tejon instead, where snow is predicted, that could be pretty. If the weather looks really bad when I get up though, I probably will just stay in. Looks like it's going to be a last minute decision.

Excuses, excuses..........

Weather predictions still fluctuating... right now it looks like an equal chance each of Red Rock, Saddleback Butte, or staying home.

Rats. I'm really anxious to bust out my old Pentax ME Super with this nice, high-contrast, fine-grain film I just discovered. I love the fancy new gadgets, don't get me wrong, but that 1979, all-manual film camera is a joy to photograph with. I mean, it's metal. Where do you find that in a consumer electronic product these days?

Precip. down to 20% up at Red Rock, and it seems to be all in the evening. Morning shows sunny and cool with some clouds. I'm going for it. Departing Palmdale 6:00am, and expect to return by early afternoon.

Equipment for this trip:

Cameras:
Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Pentax ME Super 35mm SLR
(leaving the Canon EOS Elan 7ne 35mm SLR at home for this one)

Lenses:
Canon EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 II USM
Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Pentax-M 50mm f/2.0

Films:
Ilford Pan-F Plus ISO 50 - black and white, high contrast, ultrafine grain, slow speed... should be nice for side-lit canyons with lots of deep shades, and ISO 50 is easily blown up to large sizes without loss of quality.
Fujifilm Superia ISO 200 - warm color film, medium contrast, low-medium grain, medium speed... for that sunrise, as well as deep-red rock formations.

PM or call if you want to come along.

Ok, so the first trip, from the original post on this thread, I got up there and realized that while I had indeed brought my trusty old Pentax, I had totally forgotten the film, which was the whole purpose of the trip in the first place! DOH! Fortunately I had brought my digital as well for use in sighting and as a backup, so I was able to get some shots like the one I posted last.

I finally made it up there again and finally got some prints scanned... I love this film!!!

Photos from both sessions are currently at the top of my Flickr photostream.

Note: Uncalibrated monitors horribly distort color, brightness, and contrast... you should at minimum manually calibrate the two latter using a contrast scale for black and white, and consider using a hardware tool for color calibration if you are seriously going to look at photography or other art on your monitor. I own one, you are welcome to borrow it if t means you are looking at my photos correctly!

Those are great shots, QC! You have a very talented eye. Who'da thunk the desert could look so good?

James Jay wrote:

Those are great shots, QC! You have a very talented eye. Who'da thunk the desert could look so good?

It was a huge climate transition for me, moving from Idaho to Arizona. Idaho is relatively dry like most western states, but blues and greens, cool mountain air, rivers, lakes, and forest giving way to Arizona's glaring reds, barren and rugged landscapes, and plant life that to me looked like it came from another planet were all initially ugly to me.

After four years of Arizona and two of Southern California, I've realized that these two distinct deserts really do have a very diverse ecosystems that can be very gorgeous. I thought I was spoiled growing up at the feet of the Rockies, but the sheer amount of birds, wildlife, and flora (and fantastic hiking destinations) within an hour of my house is simply astonishing. I will be photographing the desert quite happily for a long long time before getting bored.

Get out of Palmcaster and into the mountains or desert! We are very lucky to have such outdoorsy surroundings.