Redwoods:

Northern California

These photographs were taken during a 1969 field-trip through the northern California coast redwood forests and over the Cascades into eastern Oregon. These images were scanned from Kodachrome slides that were shot with a TDC Colorist camera. The use of ASA 25 Kodachrome made for very difficult shooting. The redwood forests themselves were far too dark so most of the forest shots were actually taken in clearings that provided more light. Unfortunately, the contrast between the clearings and the forest far exceeded the limited dynamic range of that particular film. Things got better as we moved up in elevation toward the tree-line, but if I were repeating the shoot today, I would use a wide-latitude color negative film.

Getting anything out of these slides was one of the biggest challenges I have undertaken since getting started on digital stereo. The slides are almost 40 years old, which created numerous problems:

• The slides were filthy and required careful cleaning, not all of which was completely successful.

• There was some fading, which required a degree of color correction.

• Fungal damage to the emulsion had to be retouched.

Lots of work, but it was fun to bring the slides "back to life"!

Viewing Options. The easiest way to view these images is to simply parallel free-view them. However, if you haven't already done so, visit my Gallery Viewing page to see all the other options that are available.

The interior of the redwood forest is very difficult to photograph, considering the slow speed of the film, the lack of dynamic range, and the fact that I didn't have a light meter!

Again, a few lighted clearings and some very dark forest.

Here the group stops in somewhat of a clearing, providing the opportunity for a photo. A cropped version, showing the people, is included near the end of the page.

Chester Arnold, with his back toward the camera, is on the left, Chaney is in the center, and a laughing Jack Smiley is on the right.

The forest begins to thin a bit, providing more light but still heavy on contrast.

The higher we got, the better the lighting!

Here we are at a mountain pass, not far from treeline. To give a sense of scale, You can see the members of the party, discussing botany and geology, on the extreme left of the photo on the ridgeline across the road..

Paleobotanical Notes: This trip was conducted prior to the International Botanical Congress in Seattle and was organized by Ralph W. Chaney. Other participants were Chester Arnold, Dan Axelrod, Herman Becker and his wife, Toshimasa Tanai, Jack Smiley, David Dilcher, Aureal Cross, Chaney's wife, and myself.

This is a cropped subset of the third stereo image shown above. Tanai is on the far left in the foreground with Arnold standing behind him. For those of you who never knew Chester, he was impressively tall! Chaney is holding court at the center with Smiley off to the right.