Tag Archives: TL120-55

Re-seeding Images

by John Thurston

My contributions for re-seeding our folio are all from the Mendenhall Glacier area of Juneau. These are near-duplicates of some work I offered in FolioA-Loop 23 (Raining Under Ice, Path To The Underworld, and others). As the folio-box fills and we need the space, I’ll have these images pulled and returned to me to make room for others’ work.

  • Pulled Out TL120-55, tripod, ProviaPulledOut
    Two kayaks are pulled out of the Mendenhall Lake on a scrap of gravel which, two years ago, didn’t exist. As the glacier melts, the rock face on which I’m standing was been exposed to the light of day and the creek (in the foreground) which used to tunnel under the ice falls freely into the lake. I walked in over the peninsula behind me. These two folks were able to take the easier route and paddle around.
  • Freshly Exposed Rock TL120-1, tripod, Kodak EGFreshlyExposed
    As that ice melts, new rock appears. This is rock which has never before been exposed to the light of day. The bit of ice on the right is actually the edge of the glacier. Two weeks ago, the rock in front of my camera would have been under the edge of the ice. It has been ground and polished by the weight of the ice being pressed up it. When I walk the peninsula, I have the opportunity to be the first to tread on a patch of ground.
  • On The Edge TL120-1, tripod, ProviaOnTheEdge
    This is a bit farther down the rock face. In another week (or maybe two), this face will be free from the press of ice and out in the light. If you were to crawl and down, you would probably reach the lake. I, however, feel too mortal to attempt the journey.
  • Under The Blue Dome TL120-55, tripod, ProviaBlueDome
    This is rock which has not yet been exposed to the light of day. It has spent centuries under the ice and will likely be exposed next year. Until then, it is lit only by the filtered blue light that makes it through the ice. Photographing here is a bit of a challenge. The light is dim, it is always raining melt water, and the roof is going to collapse; it’s just a question of when.

Raining Under The Ice

by John Thurston

Scan001098

This image is made much farther under the ice than Path To The Underworld. It felt, however, much less dangerous and I spent almost half an hour enjoying the space and composing images. A cavern like this this has required months to open and is fairly stable and mature, while the sliver revealed in Path is probably only weeks old and still changing rapidly.

If you have a wide-angle viewer, this would be an excellent time to bring it out. In any case, you will need a bright viewer to reveal the details in the wet floor, but this is my favorite from the set of images I made that day.

This was shot with my TL120-55 on a tripod.

Disappearance of a cavern

by John Thurston
Tl120 on a tripod

Note the rock with white-quartz knob

TL120-55 on a tripod

The top of that rock is in the lower right corner

While I know that all four of my images in the last loop from the Mendenhall Glacier, it is where my camera has most frequently been pointed in the past year.  Experiencing the changing ice and witnessing the emergence of fresh ground is thrilling.

Back in June of 2007, I stood in the middle of a stream which had torn a hole in the side of the ice.  The water was disappearing into the darkness under the glacier as it ran out to the lake. It was a bit disconcerting to make my way down the rock-face so I could stand in the stream of snow-melt and make the image.  It would have been a wet, hypothermic climb had I been knocked down and over the edge 😛

A little over a year later, I stood in the same stream and was stunned by the change.  I attempted another image from the same location as before, but found the composition totally boring.  Instead, I brought the camera forward about eight feet.  This was still in the stream, but my tripod had better footing and the composition had some foregound interest and receding lines.  By chance, a rock from the earlier image is present in the lower right of the later image.  It helps give an idea of how much has changed.

The first image was shot with my TL120-1 while the second was shot with my wide-angle TL120-55.  Both cameras were tripod mounted.

Both images are mounted in 46x52mm (MFW) mounts from Rocky Mountain Memories.  I really like the mount.  The aperture is 2mm wider and 6mm taller than the normal 40×50 (MFL) mount.  Give them a try if you can get your hands on any.