great basin. adox hr-50. october 9. (1)

I want to live in the Great Basin.

There are miles of open space. In this open space, you are reminded of your insignificance. You are reminded that the world does not revolve around you.

The land is accessible. Most of Nevada, which contains a large part of the Great Basin, is controlled by the BLM (Bureau of Land Management). That amounts to 48 million acres or 67% of the land area (https://www.blm.gov/nevada).

Most of all, I love the quiet. While I am 74 years old and have some health issues, my hearing is fantastic. Living in an urban area, I am constantly irritated by the noise we all make. In the Great Basin, my noise disappears in the open spaces. I experience Silence.

I ask myself, “Why don’t I live here?” While the Great Basin has many things that appeal to me, there are some things I would have problems with. The area is very warm in the summer and very cold in the winter, making it a land of extremes. Then there is the wind. The topography of the land, with its many mountains and valleys, creates pressure differences that drive strong air movement. Camping out in strong winds is difficult. Olympia has a mild climate with little wind.

Adox HR-50 is a black and white film with an ISO rating of 50. I shot the film with the Nikon FM3a using either the Voitlander Color-Skopar 28mm F2.8 or the Nikkor 50mm F1.2 Lens. I developed the film with HC-110 (H-a dilution rate of 1:63) for 9 minutes at 20 °C. I agitated for the first 30 seconds and subsequently for 10 seconds every minute. I scanned the negatives with the PrimeFilmXEs using VueScan.