Heath before Mount Stillwell

[Maris]

Heath Before Mount Stillwell
Gelatin-silver photograph on Ilford Classic VC FB photographic paper, image size 24.7cm X 19.3cm, from a 8x10 Fomapan 200 negative
exposed in a Tachihara 810HD field view camera fitted with a Schneider Super Angulon 121mm f8 lens.

The Australian high country heath Epacris is tough stuff and can survive months under snow. But the passage of years takes its toll and even this tenacious heath will eventually die and leave its stems white and bone-like under a hard summer sky.

A very wide-angle lens like the SA 121/8 can "stretch" a foreground subject so it looms in the picture space while delivering enough depth of field to deliver sharpness to a distant mountain. The optical hazard of such a lens is limited covering power and darkened corners in the photograph; this here.

[Mick Fagan]

Hmm, really interesting viewpoint there Maris, one is certainly drawn to the mountain via the heath. The use of the very wide angle lens is what makes this picture come alive, the bleached foreground, followed by the lush middle ground and the mountain peak at the apex; literally.

I hadn't noticed the darkening of the top corners after my first look, only after reading your notes did I look and see the corners. In other words, your photography was so good I didn't see your so called shortcomings.

I'm unfamiliar with Mt Stilwell, but after a quick online search I found a plethora of information. To me it looks very much like a much weathered volcanic plug, but I could be wrong.