If I had a choice, I would have chosen a longer focal length than 35mm to make this image, but 35mm was all I had. To my eye, the moon looked a whole lot bigger, as it always seems to do compared to the images I capture.
As it is, you have to kind of work to spot the faint moon. Still, the image has a certain John Ford vibe that I like.
I’ve covered quite a few miles traveling around Big Bend region, and the only agave plants I’ve seen in blood were both cultivated. I posted a while ago about the one I saw at the Chiso Basin Lodge. This one was in the garden of the Panther Junction Visitors Center, the main ranger station for Big Bend National Park.
The fact that his agave was planted besides a paved walkway didn’t take away from its grandeur. I like the look produced by the Catlabs 320 Pro developed in 510 Pyro.
I don’t know if it was the time of year or the particular patch of the Chihuahuan Desert, but our campsite was surrounded by sotol and I couldn’t stop taking their picture.
On this trip to Big Bend, I twisted my knee on a hike on the South Rim Trail, which limited my mobility for a couple of days. That left me to spend a day hobbling around our Pine Canyon campsite while my partner did a little exploring. Here’s what I came up with.
These were shot with my Leica M6 on the Catlabs 320 Pro, one of my favorite emulsion, especially when developed using 510 Pyro.
Ok, so not so alone. You can see plenty of others dotting the landscape in the background. This was in the Pine Canyon area of the national park. Sotol are plentiful in the Big Bend region, but they do give off a solitary feeling, especially with the wide-open sky as a backdrop. I love the flora of the Chihuahuan Desert.
Last time I was in far west Texas, I fell in love with the thorny Ocotillo. It was March after a wet winter – In face it had snowed the day before we arrived at Big Bend Ranch State Park – and the desert was in bloom. Many of the ocotillo were topped with red flowers.
This time around, the ocotillo sported leaves – short stubby greenery that hugged the stems, hiding the thorns from a casual glance and giving them a fuzzy appearance from a distance. But I knew the thorns were there, having had intimate contact with them the last time around. Still, seeing another facet of this desert plant made me love them more.
Final shots from the West Texas town.
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When I came out of Big Bend Ranch and arrived in Marfa, I had less than a dozen shots left on my last roll of film. So I headed over to the iconic Marfa Film Shop and picked up a 35mm roll of Kentmere 400.
I probably would have visited the shop even if I didn’t need anything. When I travel, I like to stop at independent bookstores and camera shops.
Anyway, here’s part 2 (with a part 3, and maybe part 4, to come) of my walkabout in Marfa and the last of my images from my West Texas trip back in March. If things work out, I’ll be back later this fall.
It’s a long drive from the Papalote Encino campsite back to Austin, where I was due to catch a flight. I decided to break up the trip with a stop in Marfa, not ideal location because it meant a six-hour drive for the final leg. But I had heard a lot about the place and wanted to have a look.
I had to check out the highlights, including Prada Marfa, which is actually on the other side of the next town over, Valentine, with a population of 73, according to the 2020 Census. The gas station was closed down, but the public library seemed tidy.
Valentine is in start contrast to the Prada installation that draws tourists from around the world. There wasn’t even anywhere I could stop for coffee or a meal, so the town wasn’t profiting from all the traffic driving down its main drag.
So let’s start with a couple of cliches, then to somewhat impressionistic images I made at the Chinati Foundation, an art museum on the grounds of an old military base in Marfa founded by the artist Donald Judd, whose presence is inescapable throughout the town.
Leica M6 TTL, Summicron 35 and Ilford HP5+
These photos don’t differ much from those on the previous post – taken at the same time at the same location, but with a different camera.
I had to fly to Texas which limited how much gear I could fit into my carry-on. I would never check in my cameras. So I had the Leica M6 with me for 35mm, and for medium format I chose the Fujica GW690 (the Texas Leica, appropriately enough) which took up space but was light and self contained. It was also convenient that both cameras were rangefinders.
Anyway, here are the photos shot on long expired (1982) Kodak Tri-X. I’ve shot a quite a few rolls from this stash and I’m finding they’ve held up well.
The last photo is the view down into the riverbed. You get to the pools by following the bed toward the bottom of the image.
Captured by Film 