Support this blog: Do you like my free content but are not ready to buy a photograph yet? Using my links (Amazon) to do your shopping helps me share more photographs and write the stories behind them. And by all means, if you buy a photograph, that is the best reward and I appreciate it very much! You can get prints or a whole framed and matted ready to hang solutions with just a few mouse clicks.

Alright, not a ditch but a ravine, but a ditch sounded more dramatic for a headline. In my previous post I described my search for inspiration with a pinhole camera in the Chestnut Ridge park. And I also mentioned that the original reason to go to the park was finding a new access path to a place I had not visited for a long time. So two pinhole exposures and an hour later I resumed that original mission eventually ending at the bottom of a deep ravine.

I started creek walking towards the place I vaguely remembered. The water level definitely was not a problem compliments of the summer heat and limited precipitation. However, the wet rocks were totally unpredictable. On some, my shoes held traction well while on others I came close to wiping out.

As soon as I turned the first corner I stood in awe! The lush green I was faced with literally took my breath away. It reminded me of jungle scenes, or some of the gorgeous photographs from the Columbia River Gorge. However, it was no material for a black and white paper in a pinhole camera.

Lush Green RavineChestnut Ridge Park

Lush Green Ravine, Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, NY

I took a quick phone snap as a reminder and headed on, eventually finding the little cascade I had seen once before. Not much water there now but the colors were again beautiful. Here, I actually thought a pinhole photo would look great. While the color would be gone, the texture of the shale rock and its cascade up the hill would certainly render beautifully. A reading with a light meter would not have it though with 240 minutes! I thought the 40-minute exposure I just took above the ravine was fairly long setting my new exposure length record. I was not going to hang around for 4 hours.

Creek ColorsChestnut Ridge Park

Creek Colors, Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, NY

It would not even be 4 hours anyway. It was about 90 minutes before sunset and I'd run out of any light about half way through. As a result, this idea got tabled and I would have to return in different lighting conditions.

Again, the phone came out for a few scene studies and that was it, only a track back remaining.

So where did these photos come from? Nope, they're not the cell phone snaps. While I returned home tired and really anxious to get the pinhole prints developed I also knew that could wait until darkness. But I could grab my digital camera and return immediately rather than risking the disappearance of that intense green. I had seen it too many times before where saying "next time" just did not cut it. I swapped my equipment and headed for a redo of the expedition. And I am glad I did!

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You (#etbtsy)!

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!

Support this blog: Do you like my free content but are not ready to buy a photograph yet? Using my links (Amazon) to do your shopping helps me share more photographs and write the stories behind them. Thank you!

Previously on pinhole photography: A New Chapter, a New Book - Pinhole Photography, Film Pinhole Photography, Seaside Pinhole Photography, Lake Erie Lakeshore on Pinhole, Erie Basin Marina on Pinhole, Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day 2017, The Final Six, Large Format Pinhole, Large Format Pinhole by Cargill Pool Grain Elevator, Large Format Pinhole of Orchard Park Train Depot, Large Format Pinhole of Green Lake, Cobblestone on Pinhole, Buffalo, NY, WPPD 2018, Seaside Pinhole Photography II, Pinhole in the Woods

Let's attempt a timely blog post today, only going back to this past Saturday. I really got the itch to take my large format pinhole camera out. For a while I was sitting on the couch desperately trying to come up with a location to take it to. All places I could think of I've shot previously and I really wanted something new. In the end, I just grabbed the camera and headed for the car making sure I at least headed somewhere.

I headed for the village of Orchard Park with no clear target in mind. I parked on the street, pulled the camera and the tripod out, got everything ready, threw it over my shoulder and walked. Couple locations that caught my eye were in too much of a shadow. Then, the bright white police station door jumped out! Add the stairs, railings, and a pinhole photo was taking shape in my mind.

Police StationLensless 4x5" Pinhole

Police Station, Lensless 4x5" Pinhole, Orchard Park, NY

I know, I know, the headline promised woods and not police stations. After this photograph nothing else caught my eye and I figured a change of scenery was necessary. I turned the car around and headed for the Chestnut Ridge park. While living so close I do not really have too many photographs from there. This was the time for at least a partial correction.

I had a location in mind but needed to scout for a new access path. And as soon as I started heading down a narrow path I've never been down before I ran into a beautiful chaotic scene of fallen trees. I metered the light and was discouraged at first. The photo paper I had in the camera had very low sensitivity to light, and the tiny pinhole makes for an f/154. Bottom line? A 45-minute exposure needed. In the end, I could not resist though, set the camera at an angle I liked, opened the shutter, tripped the stop watch, and hoped crowds would not be passing through.

While the pinhole camera was doing its thing I wandered about a bit looking for other woodsy subjects. I actually found one very near and it was in beautiful light at the moment - too bad the pinhole was busy at the moment, about half way through its exposure. There was no way I'd abort that mission. So I grabbed a cell phone snapshot as a possible future reminder, searched some more, and went back to attend to the busy camera. Light changed a bit with the sun coming out and back behind clouds, changing the required exposure time to almost half. Knowing the direct positive paper tends to render dark scenes with high contrast I only adjusted down to 40 minutes though. To stop boring you with a narrative, here is the outcome.

Crossed LogsLensless 4x5" Pinhole

Crossed Logs, Lensless 4x5" Pinhole, Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, NY

And luck did not run out on me completely, the other location I had picked in the meantime still had decent light. The camera went to work again, this time on a brisk exposure of 8 minutes.

StumpLensless 4x5" Pinhole

Stump, Lensless 4x5" Pinhole, Chestnut Ridge, Orchard Park, NY

Enjoy the Beauty that Surrounds You! (#etbtsy)

Would you like to see more pinhole photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my pinhole gallery on timelessbuffalo.com and enjoy!  Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Do you like my free content but are not ready to buy a photograph for your walls yet? Using my links to do your shopping helps me share more photographs and write the stories behind them. And it costs you nothing. You just need to start your shopping by clicking on an advertised product or use the Amazon search box in bottom left. It does not matter what you eventually buy as long as you start here. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how small. Thank you!

Support this blog: Do you like my free content but are not ready to buy a photograph yet? Using my links (Amazon) to do your shopping helps me share more photographs and write the stories behind them. And by all means, if you buy a photograph, that is the best reward and I appreciate it very much! You can get prints or a whole framed and matted ready to hang solutions with just a few mouse clicks.

Let's bring back some color for today's post! And a good dose of it too, compliments of a beautiful sunset over Lake Erie. One of the great advantages of being on the southeast side of the lake is getting a good supply of these. We just need to go shopping for them often enough!

Sharing two sunset stages with you today. In the first photograph the sun approached the horizon and the cloud layer hovering there, the colors peaked, the excitement at its maximum. There were a few people around but not nearly enough given the show. But that was just fine by me. No people required for these moments, the fewer, the better.

Boulders, Rocks, and Setting SunLake Erie Sunset

Boulders, Rocks, and Setting Sun, Lake Erie Sunset

In the second photograph, the landscape is already going to sleep. And everyone has left. It's now only me, a handful of gadgets, and an onset of darkness. The difference is striking! Everything is calmer, quieter. I don't want to move being afraid to disturb it. Just sit and stare.

When the Sun Goes to SleepLake Erie Sunset

When the Sun Goes to Sleep, Lake Erie Sunset

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You (#etbtsy)!

Do you enjoy reading my photography blog? Would you like to see more photographs from Buffalo and Western New York? Visit my Buffalo Cityscapes and Buffalo & Western New York Landscapes and enjoy! Please, let me know if you have any questions about any photo products offered, or not offered, I will be happy to help! For a quick reference to all photo galleries and collections as well as all photo products currently offered through my site, please, visit the Products page.

Using my links to do your shopping keeps me sharing more photographs and writing the stories behind them and costs you nothing. You can also use the Amazon search box in bottom left for anything at all. I truly appreciate each purchase, no matter how large, no matter how small. Thank you!