Beginnings

I took this when I was sixteen. In many ways, I feel like it's my first real photograph. I took some others at the time that were technically proficient, but this is the first one I can remember that felt like a whole image. I can still feel the rush in my throat when I uncurled the negatives from the developing reel and saw this held to the light, the ranges of tones and the strong diagonal. The light's a little blown out on the center rock, and there's a scratch on the negative because I didn't take care of images the way I try to do now, and, of course, it has the influence of Edward Weston and Ansel Adams splattered all over it, but it's still an image I look upon fondly. The location is Deer Creek in Southern Oregon; the time looks to be spring; in summer, the creek goes dry. In winter, it's a river.

Tech: Shot with a Canon TX (about the most basic SLR you can imagine) on Tri-X, which was my film of choice for years. No idea what it was developed with. Scanned from a print on Ilford Cooltone paper.