Field Work 2025

This will be a year of refinement.

With practice and a focus on bringing my craft into the field to explore how composition, light, and medium shape the emotional weight of an image. Each medium tells the story differently: glass with clarity, paper with softness, tintype with tension.

I’m here to listen, and to learn what fits, what fails, and what stays with me

Morning Haze: St. Johns Bridge | Portland | Oregon | June 1 |

Framed through overhanging leaves on the Forest Park trail, this north-facing view of St. Johns Bridge was lit by a muted sunrise. The sun sat high right, softened by an unbroken cloud deck. In that flat, pearly light each medium exposed its own character. The glass-plate negative carved out the bridge’s gothic arches in crisp relief but plunged the foreground foliage into near-silhouette, emphasizing structure over depth. The tintype positive echoed the same silhouette yet bled highlights; its silver surface turned the sky into a quiet glow that feels almost painted. The pre-flashed paper negative using the yellow filter balanced both worlds, holding texture in the leaves while keeping the cables bright and legible. ILFORD HP5 (also using the yellow filter) delivered the cleanest monochrome, with rich mid-tones across the steelwork and a long gray ramp in the clouds that will grade beautifully in print. Finally, Ektar 100 restored the morning’s cool palette: muted greens in the canopy, steely blue-green paint on the span, and a soft lavender cast in the cloud ceiling. Five processes, one bridge, and proof that even subdued light can reveal a spectrum of moods when composition, lens, medium and timing align.

Paper Negative - Pre Flashed | Yellow Filter

Midday Metal: Tilikum Bridge Crossing in Five Formats | Portland | Oregon | May 4 |

Shot under the hard noon sun, this series reveals how each medium handles Tilikum Crossing’s bright concrete and taut steel cables. The glass-plate negative and tintype positive both surrender their highlights early, giving the bridge an almost spectral glow. The pre-flash and yellow filter rescue the paper negative, pulling detail back into the shadows. ILFORD HP5 using the yellow filter, delivers the smoothest black-and-white scale, still flirting with clip on the brightest wires, but retaining crisp mid-tones the alt-process plates can’t hold. Finally, Ektar 100 captures the cobalt sky and cool gray towers much as the eye remembers them, proving that when color and latitude matter, modern film still has the technical edge.

First Light: Bridal Veil Falls | Oregon | April 5|

Captured in the hush of a moss-scented morning, this waterfall study reveals how five very different emulsions translate the same rush of water and basalt walls. The glass-plate negative locks in razor-fine detail with the fibrous grass lining the gorge reads almost like an etching, while the falling water glows pure white. The tintype lowers the contrast a stop, smoothing mid-tones until the scene feels older than the bridge overhead, its silver highlights shimmering where spray meets rock. The pre-flash on the paper negative strikes a middle path, taming the brightest flow yet preserving the velvet texture of wet moss. ILFORD HP5 renders the most clinical read: crisp edge separation, a steady gray ramp, and just enough grain to hint at movement. Ektar 100 was the outlier, an unexpected developer quirk left a cool gray veil drifting across the lower half, muting the greens and blues and reminding me that chemistry can nudge a narrative as surely as light or lens choice. Five exposures, five voices, each one shifting the balance of motion, texture, and temperament in the same soft dawn light.

Spring Light: Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm | Oregon | April 3 |

Photographed on a cool but dazzling spring afternoon, these rows of tulips pushed every emulsion to its limit. The glass-plate negative and the tintype both flirt with overexposure, the petals in the sun blaze white, their shapes held only by the deepest shadows between rows. The pre-flashed paper negative, backed by a the yellow filter, keeps the tonal scale intact and reveals subtle stem texture the plates lost. ILFORD HP5 with the same filter splits the difference: crisp edge detail, restrained highlights, and a gentle grain that hints at breeze. The Color film, freed from filtration, brings the story home. Magenta and butter-cream blooms leap against cool blue-green foliage, translating the scene’s riot of hue the way memory does. Five processes, one field, each reshaping afternoon light into its own version of spring exuberance.

Where Water Meets Stone: Shepherds Dell’s East Drainage | Oregon | March 30 |

A long-exposure view of this moss-lined flowing creek shows how five formats shape the very feel of water and stone. On the glass plate, the scene turns almost graphic. The silver grain etches every strand of moss while the whites of the torrent flare against charcoal mid-tones. The tintype softens further, blooming highlights into silvery halos that lend the frame an antique hush. The pre-flashed paper negative with yellow filter reins in those highlights yet introduces a subtle fibre grain, so the blurred water reads like brushed ink. The ILFORD HP5 (no yellow filter) strikes the most even monochrome balance, holding shadow detail in the ferns while letting the stream stay luminous without clipping. And the Ektar 100, color reclaims the story: emerald moss, rust-toned understory, and cool white ribbons of flow layer together, turning a single waterfall into five distinct moods, stark, nostalgic, painterly, documentary, and lushly immersive—all dictated by the medium itself.

Quiet Span: Shepherds Dell Bridge | Oregon | March 9|

Photographed on a cool March morning, this view of Shepherds Dell Bridge shows five processes speaking five dialects of light. The glass-plate negative renders the span with stark authority, deep contrast chisels the concrete arches against the evergreen gorge. The tintype softens everything a stop with the highlights blooming toward overexposure, and the bridge feels older, almost ghosted into the scene. The pre-flashed paper negative, paired with a yellow filter, finds the middle ground, taming bright concrete while preserving the lacework of winter branches. ILFORD HP5 with the same filter offers the cleanest structure: crisp balustrades, subtle mid-tones, a hint of grain that suggests early-season breeze. Color film completes the study, revealing muted forest greens and mossy yellows that black-and-white can only imply. Together they form a quiet lesson in how technique reshapes perception, one bridge, five voices.

River Relic: Wahclella Falls | Oregon | March 2 |

Captured up at the base of Wahclella Falls, this frame shifts attention from the cascading water fall to the gnarled architecture of a drift-root pull through the falls. On the glass-plate negative every fissure and lichen patch is etched with almost surgical clarity, though bright mist behind the snag edges toward highlight bloom. The tintype softens that edge, trading a bit of detail for a silvery patina that makes the wood look fossilized. The pre-flashed paper negative paired with a yellow filter lands in between, retaining texture yet muting the harshest shine so the root mass feels sculptural. ILFORD HP5, also using the yellow filter, offers the most balanced monochrome: crisp bark, subtle mid-tones, a fine grain that suggests the roar just out of frame. Color film completes the study, revealing muted moss greens and rust-brown underbark that the black-and-white can only imply. This study is showing how a single snag can become five distinct stories when light, chemistry, and medium change hands.

Graffiti & Glare: Witch’s Castle | Portland | Oregon | Jan 20 |

Photographed beneath the tall fir canopy of Forest Park, this set turned into an impromptu lesson in problem-solving. The bright clearing light bounced off pale gravel and mossy stone, pushing exposure head-room on every alt-process plate. My glass negative held on, but the lower half washed toward white where sun spilled across the path. The tintype suffered most, the bright mornign light wash and a contaminated developer left veil-like streaks and milky mid-tones, forcing an aggressive pull in scanning just to salvage the outlines of the stairwell. The pre-flashed paper negative with a yellow filter fared better, taming the glare and recording fine mortar texture beneath the graffiti. ILFORD HP5, also using the yellow filter, delivered the cleanest monochrome with crisp tags, rich bark detail, and a smooth tonal ramp up the steps. Color film closed the loop, revealing the saturated reds and greens the ruin is infamous for and proving, this time, that modern chemistry can handle chaotic light more gracefully than my temperamental glasss and tintypes. One abandoned stone structure, five processes, and a reminder that exposure and developer hygiene are as critical as the composition.

Learning Curve: Portland Skyline | Oregon | Jan 19 |

Captured in harsh midday glare which is time of brutal contrast and limited exposure latitude, this was my first attempt to run all five media in one rapid field session. Ambition met reality fast in that the glass plate exposure was wrong and development resulted in a clear plate, proving that even the best prep can’t tame every variable under the sun. The tintype, my first in open-air city haze, held deep contrast yet surrendered clarity in the brightest atmospheric layer, its silver surface veiling Mount Hood behind white glare. The yellow-filtered (no pre-flash) paper negative navigated the brightness better, teasing mid-tones out of the skyline despite the high-noon punch. ILFORD HP5 with the yellow filter produced the cleanest monochrome with strong tonal separation, tack-sharp buildings, and just enough grain to hint at the shimmering mist of the winter day. Color film closed the set, layering cool blues and muted mauves into a believable sense of distance that the other emulsions could only suggest. Five frames, one failure, and a reminder that midday light magnifies every strength and every weakness of each medum.