Mat Marrash

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Large Format Friday: Meditation

No matter what I tried to do in the week leading up to today, things just weren’t coming together. There were several different videos that I’d start, stop, retry, and before I knew it I was 36 hours from my weekly deadline with nothing to show. Frustrated and unsure of what to do, I reached for my camera bag, and went out into nature. No goal in mind other than relaxing with my camera, and making some pictures.

Remembering that one of the State Nature Preserves I loved from my Ohio Uninterrupted project was less than one hour away, I headed south to Clifton Gorge. This time around, it was evening and there was only about two hours before sunset. Anticipating the lower light situation, I brought some previously loaded holders of Ilford HP5+, I’d need as much speed as I could get.

To my surprise the less than two years since my first visit was enough to show some change to the landscape. There was a lot of natural deforestation occurring with downed trees and rocks scattered from the winter’s wind and ice storms. This meant the parts of the trial I was anticipating some “good light” were not like they were in 2018. Instead, chasing the sun further into the sky opened up the beginning parts of the trail as well as the gorge overlook on its rim trail.

For the time I was down there, I managed to expose five sheets of film. And while it’s not my typical fashion to show them all, here’s my takeaway from that brief trip: