I was having a hard time to write this post, because I think my photos out of this trip are not that great as I expected. But it’s okay to share them because we all know that I’m learning along the way. So I hope you learn something from here or find some inspirations somewhere in this.
My friends and me went to Sequoia 3 weeks ago. We started to drove around 8pm Friday night and got there around 12:30am Saturday. Then we spend whole Saturday and haft Sunday to hike and drove back home in Sunday evening. Back then the wildfires were not as crazy as right now (September 10th) but the area were covered by a thin layer of smoke and the sky turned orange brownish already. Not ideal for photography but that’s what I got. For the gear, I brought the same Bronica system and Nikon F2, left my digital Nikon and the Yashica T4 home because it’s a short trip and I didn’t want to bring too many cameras. For film, I had Fuji Pro 400H, and Ilford XP2 black and white 120 film, I also had some 35mm rolls of Kodak Proimage and Portra 160, and 1 roll of Portra 800 (because it’s so freaking expensive!). I never shoot black and white before, I like seeing some black and white photos but never seeing myself shooting black and white but some fellow on discord told me that I should shoot black and white to focus on shapes and contrast in my photos, [and be more careful about the composition] so I picked up some XP2 because I can develop them at home with my C-41 chemicals. My black and white photos are not special but I’ll share them here as a encouragement to others it’s okay to have bad photos, they help you to see your mistakes and improve your photography.
First photo on the Bronica 
This gives you an idea how the sky look like in these days.
Above are my first photos of the trip. The first one is when we’re having lunch on the car at road side and I was framing the photo while the moto appeared and I waited for him to be on the spot I want and shot it, I wish I had waited a little more for he to come closer because he was so far back in the frame and so small. The second one is taken with the idea of document the trip and the windshield had some weird plush toys and the disposable masks that remind you of the Covid-19 era. The photo of the hollowed tree is not good but personally I never saw a tree burned inside before so it’s a new thing to me, and I guess if I live in California I will definitely see that a lot more.
Moro Rock view 
I took with the idea that the bended logs in the foreground and midground kinda shape a subframe to the center of the photo, which is a path of sunlight shines on the grass, but it didn’t work. 
The Moro Rock is an iconic sightseeing in Sequoia. Unfortunately the day we hike there’s so much smoke in the air and the view was not good at all, I had some photos taken on the rock but they’re not much to share. [And if you read the Lake Tahoe road trip post you know that I’m into forest and green scenes, not rock :)]. I hope my first photo gives you and idea of how the atmosphere was. The second I explain in the photo description. The next ones are some nice scenes I came across when we’re heading back to the Airbnb after a hike day. The green trunk photo with some dried branches is my favorite, maybe because it has a cool and poetic vibe. The last photo is definitely my thing, I like to shoot hundred of photos like this and put them together as a zine because I love the calmness and poetry in it. One thing I regret is that I should lifted the camera higher to get the whole electric pole in frame. I don’t mind cut a part of it out but in this photo I cut it right at the horizon wires, which is so annoy me every time I look at it.
Next are some shots on the second day hiking. We stopped at a restaurant in a ski resort, which is much empty now, for food and then I took these 2 shots to test out the pro mist 1/4 filter I just got. The glow is definitely nice and dreamy, but the photos are not that strong. However, I still love these 2 and think they’re pair well together. And all of the photos on this trip is taken with the pro mist filter on, but then I learn that not everything with pro mist on is good. The next two photos of the gas tanks are inspired by a photo of photographer Scott Enlow showed below. I love this photo to the moon and back. It has everything I wanted in a photo, retro vibe, old and abandoned stuff, green, foreground, midground, background, negative space, but above all of that, I love the feeling it gives, fresh and relaxed but still has some neatness and sadness. You can check out Scott @scottenlowphoto on Instagram and his website. I love his work!
Back to my photos, I like the second tanks than the first, because the first tank has a structure on top of it and I couldn’t make the composition look good while the second one is much nicer since it’s white and has green background behind. It’s not a great photo though but it’s the best I can get out of it. The next one is a effort to capture the sunlight hitting the cut off branches at the tips on the ground but it seems like I can not convey that to the viewer. It’s so contrast between the highlight and shadow and the colors really interesting in real life but in the photo they don’t work out. The photo of the table and domino pieces with some bottles and a can of coke is my favorite although I wish I could have more in focus. The scene was little dark so I had to open the lens up to 5.6. I like the feel in this, some kind of mundane everyday life scene in a suburb area. The photos of the canoe and board feel off to me, usually I like the clean or warm colors but colors in these 2 are so purplish and sad, which is not my type, and I couldn’t correct the color as I want so I try to make them look best. The second one has a stronger composition and the feeling of leaving stuff behind vibe.
Last are some shot on the road and hiking view. The last two is actually a waterfall without water. We came in the dry season so there’s no water to shoot a long exposure for silky waterfall like last time. Better check the waterfall next time before carry the tripod on a hike 🙂 . I cannot feel the beauty of rock so to me this 2 photos are not beautiful at all but here to demonstrate the atmosphere.
And here’re the only roll of black and white in my career, so far 🙂 I know I should shoot black and white differently than with color photos but sometimes I just take the shoot as color negative and yeah, of course the subject is not well separated from the background, or you cannot tell what is the subject either. There’re so much I have to learn here.
Thank you for making it here. I appreciate any comment and feedback in these photos, or if you want to share something just leave the comment. Cheers!
film sequence 