3.2. La traducción feminista
3.2.5. Las ramas albergadas en los estudios de traducción feminista
Not many people visit Death Valley in the summer. The first time I went, almost fifteen years ago, it was nearly deserted. When I returned in 1994, it was much more crowded, although less congested than in the milder winter months. My wife and son are more sen-sitive to the heat than I am, and with temperatures over 110°F, they decided not to join me in hiking.
Although most people associate the sand dunes with Death Valley, they’re really only a small area within the park. Fortunately, we were staying in the park at Stovepipe Wells, which is very close to some of the dunes.
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Figure 16. A #3 filter brings the contrast of the print closer to a full tonal range. Since the scene contrast was truly low, this is a creative
approach, interpreting the negative. It’s also closer to my recollection of the scene, especially after burning-in the bottom.
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Because there are mountains nearby, sunrise on the dunes is later than it would be otherwise. I got up at six o’clock in the morning to go out to the sand dunes.
It was still quite hot, probably in the nineties, and extremely dry. After driving the short distance to the dunes and parking the car, I decided to walk out to some nice high dunes in the distance. After a half hour of walking, I wasn’t any closer to the big dunes. I did find some interesting subjects for photos as I was headed for the bigger dunes, especially when the sun cleared the top of the mountains.
There were dunes with plants growing on them. I made several interesting photos that I hoped would show the struggle and isolation of these plants. It always strikes me how tenacious life can be in such inhospitable surroundings. Putting on the 100mm macro lens, I also made some close-up shots of some of the plants, using the strong directional light to show some dimensionality. The photos were okay, but I wasn’t particularly happy with what I’d shot so far.
Still heading to the big dunes, I came to a dune that I approached from a gentle slope, but which had a steep drop-off. As I looked up and down, I could see that it would be a long walk to get around this obstacle. Deciding to turn back, I found that even trying to fol-low my own footprints wasn’t as easy as I thought. I noticed there were very few footprints from people who were hiking the previous day. The wind overnight wiped away most of the Figure 17. (left) Death Valley
Dunes: The extremely limited tonal range of the scene is evi-dent in this test print. It was even lower than I had antici-pated.
Figure 18. (right) Using a #4 filter, and burning-in the top and bottom, made a big improvement.
This print is very close to what I’d envisioned when I took the photo.
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Figure 19. Using a #5 filter at the same exposure set-tings, including burning-in, resulted in an unrealistic but pleasing photo. The highlights are much lighter than the actual sand of the dune, and the shadows are much darker. Yet, this is the image that I prefer.
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prints, leaving interesting ripple patterns. The patterns were especially nice where the sun hit some of the dunes at a strong angle.
I took some time to explore. Eventually, I found a composition that had strong shadows near the bottom that helped “close off” the image and a slightly darker background at the top that had a similar effect. The strong sweep of the shadow along the right side of the dune was uncommonly pleasing. The wind gusted gently. The somewhat slow shutter speed (about 1⁄30of a second at f/2.8 with Ilford 400 Delta Professional rated at an EI of 200) would strengthen the photo if some of the blowing sand blurred. I didn’t have a tripod but I was confident of my ability to handhold the camera with either a 35mm or 20mm lens.
Readings with the spot meter determined that it was a low-contrast scene, in spite of the strong shadows. I exposed for the darker shadows, knowing the brightest highlights would be rendered as midtones in a straight print. I also knew that I would have a lot of options in the darkroom. I made several shots, then continued to backtrack for the road, never making it to the big dunes.
Within a month after the trip, I began making test prints. I prefer making all the test prints from a trip before working on final prints. It gives me time to live with the images for a while. Doing so helps me to decide whether or not to proceed with a final print of a par-ticular image.
The test print from the Death Valley dune—made at f/8 at 7 seconds—was extremely low in contrast, even lower than I’d expected (fig. 17). There was plenty of shadow detail as I’d guessed.
The sand of the dunes in Death Valley is like most beach sand. It’s not the brilliant white of the gypsum sand at White Sands in New Mexico. A realistic rendition would probably be made by using a higher contrast filter, but not the highest contrast. My first work print was made using a #4 Ilford Multigrade filter with an exposure of f/8 at 21 seconds (fig. 18). I also burned in the bottom about 10 percent and the top about 50 percent. This print is very close to what I’d envisioned when I took the photo.
I liked the results, but the contrast could be increased still further. I decided to try using a #5 filter at the same exposure settings, including the burning-in. The results would be darker shadows and lighter highlights (fig. 19). This goes well beyond what I foresaw when I was taking the picture. The highlights are much lighter than the actual sand of the dune, and the shadows are much darker. Yet, this is the image that I prefer. Even though the scene didn’t look this way, it’s the photograph that best conveys how I felt when I was in the dunes. I chose to be creative with the contrast, to go beyond the normal results.
While it wasn’t what I anticipated when I took the shot, the final print surpasses the image I originally had envisioned. It’s always good to go into the darkroom with an open mind. Many times you’ll be glad you did.