Wetlands Fall & Winter '79 - '80

These were taken with 300mm and 500mm Nikkor lenses. The softness was a feature of the lenses combined with the moisture laden air over the wetland which is exagerated by compression of the tele, all of which produces an effect not unlike painting. I remember reading a comment by Ernst Haas about shooting hand held with a 400mm telephoto, that his images were not sharp mattered little if he got the effect he was after. He would shoot running game in Africa with slow shutter speeds to give he effect of motion. Unlike Haas I used a tripod, with harmonically dampened legs and a counter weight attached to the post. This was to minimize vibration. I also locked up the mirror ten seconds before the exposure, using the self timer. So the softness was all optical and atmospheric not due to camera movement.