We all have that one image that sticks in our mind and would like to produce something like it. Many photographers trek to Yosemite to photograph in the same spots as Ansel Adams did. One photographers whose work I love hails from Hilton Head island South Carolina. Ben Ham finds some beautiful marsh and lowland locations and if given the chance I would place my tripod in his tripod holes and hopefully create similar magical images.

While visiting my sister in Charleston I decided to seek out some low country areas and see if I could at least create something interesting. Near her home on Daniel Island I found some beautiful old curving oaks and a scenic marsh. Of course I drove all over North Charleston and surrounding areas for three days before finding the magic spot. I arrived just after sunrise so I had some shadows and sunlit areas to deal with… I made my exposures and hurried to the next spot. By 9:00 am I was done.

It would be September before it would be cool enough in my garage darkroom to process the film. I Knew I had something on film because I took back up shots with my Leica. But when I processed the 35mm film I made a mistake in assuming my fixer was still good. I ruined the few shots I had on that roll. I doubt they can be recovered.

So before I processed the 4×5 film I made a test shot in the back yard and processed it separately. Confident in my renewed chemistry I was able to process the negatives. The next day I created some contact prints and saw some of the images were what I had hoped for. My favorite spot did not turn out quite as well as planned because of sun flare on the lens. In some ways its an interesting detail and in others its an annoying artifact. I still need to master this print so will try to post an image here once I get the images properly printed.