Just watching these old photos now makes me want to be there, stand on the coast full of anticipation, listen to the crashing waves, and have a slice of the paradise for myself. Sunrises reward the early birds almost anywhere. I don't mind at all that most people prefer to sleep in. And you know what, it can be anywhere so these photos might just motivate me to get out early even without being on a vacation. I must admit it's been a while since I experienced and captured a local sunrise.

Shipwreck Beach SunriseKauai, Hawaii

Shipwreck Beach Sunrise, Kauai, Hawaii

Within just a few steps we go from the peaceful sunrise to a wild action of crashing waves. The force of water always inspires awe whether I watch coastal waves or the rush of the Niagara River. It's also mesmerizing and I could stay and watch for a long time.

Makawehi WavesKauai, Hawaii

Makawehi Waves, Kauai, Hawaii

And to close, we are back for a variation on the opening photograph with just a slight change of the perspective and time passing. How much time? It's about 50 minutes after the sunrise photograph.

Shipwreck Beach DaybreakKauai, Hawaii

Shipwreck Beach Daybreak, Kauai, Hawaii

Are you ready to set your alarm (for 5am), crawl out of the bed, and go welcome a brand-new day (just after 6am in Buffalo, NY)? I hope so!

Enjoy the beauty that surrounds you! (#etbtsy)

Previously from Hawaii: The Beginning - Seaside Pinhole Photography - Tropical Clichés - Windy Drama of a Tropical Morning - Quite an Ad - Searching for Sun and Warmth - Not Your Sunrise Cliché - So Peaceful - Some Morning Drama - Farmland in the Canyon - Further up Waimea Canyon - At the Edge of Kalalau Valley - Tropical Sunrise - Tropical Sunset - The Photo at Your Back - Hawaiian Mix - A Beautiful Morning Faraway

Lava Rocks at Waiohai BeachKauai, Hawaii Gulf State Park Pier at SunsetAlabama The Start of a Beautiful Day at Secret Beach, Kauai, HawaiiKauai, Hawaii

In 2023, I was able to spend 2 nostalgia-packed days in Prague, Czech Republic. I arrived by a morning train, took metro to the Holešovice station, and started a very long walk. While Holešovice is not exactly what Prague is known for or where tourists rush to find gems, it was the neighborhood where my university dormitory was located and my home for about four and a half years.

More on that whole experience later though. I am still contemplating how to attack that topic. Today is only about one very brief moment as I made my way to the parts of the city one might see on the Internet and in various travel articles. There, standing on the banks of the Vltava River, I was happy to snap the scene presented below with my trusty Nikon FE loaded with Fomapan 400. It may be silly but all of my black and white photography in the Czech Republic is always on Foma films. It seems like the right thing to do. And the 400 variety with its more pronounced grain seemed to fit the nostalgic nature of my trip rather well.

One thing I did differently on this trip was the whole travel with film. As more and more airports replace the old X-Ray baggage scanners with CT scanners it became more of an issue than in the past, especially if one must pass through several checkpoints before reaching the destination. Therefore, I ordered 10 rolls of film direct from Foma and had them waiting for me at my mom's place, along with the developer, fixer, and all of the hardware one needs to home-develop film. Only one thing traveled with me, which was my 2-roll developing tank, which felt wasteful to buy an extra one. By the end of my 2-week trip I finished and developed all 10 rolls and had them stored in archival sleeves for a travel safe from the CT scanners.

This whole topic has me wondering though about how I will be able to use film on shorter vacations to destinations where I won't have family or friends as a base to ship supplies to ahead of time. Will I be forced back to digital? Will I gamble and rely on the friendliness of the security staff to do a hand check of my film?

Charles Bridge, PragueDarkroom Print

Charles Bridge, Prague, Czech Republic
Traditional Black and White Darkroom Print on Ilford MG V RC Portfolio

I wanted to make over a dozen of these prints to use as postcards for friends. I started with the Ilford MG IV portfolio paper I still had left over, did all of my tests, and settled on grade 2 contrast filter as the sunny day, even in mid-afternoon, created plenty of contrast in the scene. The orange filter mounted on the lens at the time of capture darkened the blue sky nicely helping the white puffy clouds stand out.

However, when I ran out I had to switch to the new emulsion formula of the Ilford MG V portfolio paper. In the end, for this specific scene, I determined the difference was mostly in the native contrast. After printing the photo with a grade 1 contrast filter and putting it side by side with the results on MG IV I could not see any other difference. Since I like contrasty prints and usually print at grade 3 or higher, this should not pose a problem other than change of habits and probably starting at grade two as my new base. I will see and share as I print more variety with the new paper.

Needless to say, I was and still am very happy with how this print came out and how I can remember my walk with something else in my hand than the screen of a smart phone. How do you like to store photographs from your vacations, your places filled with memories? Do you print, darkroom or inkjet, do you order photo albums, do you rely on a software catalog on your computer, do you upload everything to a cloud provider to store and share, or does social media fill that role for you?

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

For more darkroom prints, please, head over to my Darkroom photo gallery.

Previously from the darkroom:

Roofs & ChimneysDarkroom Print ChimneysDarkroom Print (New) Castle StairsDarkroom Print

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Most of my pinhole photography is in black and white. However, I do enjoy seeing other photographers' pinhole photography in color and that challenges me to try it myself once in a while. On this specific outing to Buffalo's Outer Harbor I loaded up the Holga Wide Pinhole Camera (WPC) with Lomography 100 color negative film and tried to take advantage of the panoramic format to capture a favorite location differently.

The camera can be adjusted to capture either 6x9cm or 6x12cm images. Since 6x9 would turn it into the same 2x3 aspect ratio as 35mm film I always use it in its full 6x12 mode.

Gallagher Beach & Cargill Pool Grain ElevatorPinhole Photography

Gallagher Beach & Cargill Pool Grain Elevator,
Pinhole photography with Holga Wide Pinhole WPC on Lomography 100 color negative film, C-41

I usually scan my medium format (120) film using an Epson flatbed scanner. However, for these two photos, I went the route of "scanning" the frames with my digital camera. Color negative film poses a special challenge as most of them have an orange mask. That does not seem to effectively use the RGB image sensor plus inversion and color correction is tricky. Yes, there are some apps available for this purpose but since I do not capture the "scans" on my phone the workflow seems unintuitive to me.

Thus, I wanted to try something closer to what one would do printing color in the darkroom. In that case, the enlarger features color sliders for cyan, magenta, and yellow to allow for color correction. In my case, I bought several Rosco color correction gel filters (4415, 3204 1/2 CTB, 3202 CTB), laid those on my white backlight, overlaid the color negative over those, and photographed with a digital camera. The goal was to counteract the orange mask with the gels and later simply invert the negative image into a positive without the use of any specialized software.

Gallagher Pier & Cargill Pool Grain ElevatorPinhole Photography

Gallagher Pier & Cargill Pool Grain Elevator
Pinhole photography with Holga Wide Pinhole WPC on Lomography 100 color negative film, C-41

The result? The concept worked and getting an initial usable positive image was rather straightforward. However, accomplishing an accurate color correction was a whole different story. In the end, I was getting photos as if special color effects were applied and instead of trying to correct them out, I leaned into them. You see two sample results above. I have not used this technique since and I suspect today's post will motivate me to try again.

Introducing unpredictable and hard to repeat steps into a workflow can either be very frustrating, or very rewarding depending on ones expectations. And in my photography, I am growing more and more fond of the concepts behind lomography. In fact, I may have to lean into this even more. Who is to say that the various sheets of color gel have to fully overlap? Why not arrange them into stripes of different color, or triangles of different color, or just plain color chaos? But more on that another day.

Enjoy The Beauty That Surrounds You! #etbtsy

More of my Pinhole Photography ...

Rocky Banks of Niagara RiverPinhole Photography in Color The Kill ZonePinhole Photography in Color Water Zooming ByPinhole Photography in Color