Above is a photo of South Prairie Creek just south of Lower Burnett, WA. I have taken my cameras and lenses down into that hollow (east coast)/canyon (west coast and midwest) for years now. It’s eerily beautiful (why the emphasis on eerie).
But I have mostly come away with the shots I wanted. It’s dark down inside that valley; especially in winter what you see are endless moss-encrusted branches of cottonwoods. There no one special feature to focus on; it’s the feel of the entire place.
And that’s what I wanted to capture: the feel of being there. It’s both creep and profound, dark and illuminating. I could see it with my eyes, but there was something there that I could not capture to film.
OK, let’s back up, and talk a bit about photography history for a bit. I used a very, very modern and capable camera to take that shot, the Sony A1. I have tried a variety of lenses on that camera, none of which gave me what I was looking for (the above-mentioned Hudson River School look—supernaturally natural).
About six months ago, I started really taking a closer look at historical lenses. Not historical in the sense of old, but of powerful capabilities. Because what I wanted was something more emotionally rich than what most modern lenses can provide. A modern lens, typically, is pretty darn sharp, but lacks the color richness and, well ‘feel’ of the best older lenses.
The problem for me was that those top-notch artful old lenses were used in types of photography that I didn’t know much about. The lens I used for this is not something you just run into or hear about every day.
Short version: just before the first digital cameras came out, a company called Contax was an established player in medium format photography. The average knowledgeable amateur was shooting 35mm film; medium format film is much larger per frame. A 35mm negative was about 24x36mm; a medium format negative could be 35x45 or even 60x60 or 60x70 or larger. Bigger negatives (just like bigger sensors) can capture a live of detail and realism that makes the image look quite painterly.
Lenses are a big part of that as well. The quality of lenses used for medium format was often significantly better than those used for 35mm. There is a feeling liveliness in many medium format lenses. (One needs to get adapters to be able to use them on 35mm cameras, whether film or digital.)
I original bought a Contax lens that was affordable. Some of those old lenses can be insanely expensive (which is to say, costing as much or even more than the very best modern lenses). I bought the least expensive one I could find—overlooked for what reason, who can say?—a Contact Zeiss 35mm f/3.5.
Holy cow—it is an amazing lens. Not only sharp. Rich colors. Beautiful textures. I’ve not got a second Contax lens; the images feel live as well. I hope they feel that way for you, too.
Camera: Sony A1
Lens: Contax Zeiss 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5 zoom for N cameras.
Photo: a four-image panorama SOOC (straight out of camera).