Edge of the Great Plains

The edge of the Great Plains as it meets the mesa country in northeast New Mexico.

Taken on large format with Efke 25 bw film processed in dr5. The dr5 gives it the warm tone.

With basically open rangeland in the foreground and moving clouds I excluded most of ground to concentrate on the sky with a hint of the mesa country.

Looking for some thoughts.

How does it work? Is it a decent image? Does it tell a story of the Great Plains meeting the mesa? Or does it lack that punch of color and taken at the magic hour that is more the norm here on NPN?

It is one that I like but I tend to think it will go over better with a large format crowd than a site like this.

I have made the trip from Amarillo to Raton many times. Although the landscape is remarkable, the sky dominates the scene anywhere you look. I like what you have done, and it certainly works for me. Maybe less sky makes more depth, but you lose the vastness of the plains. Just my .02.

Awesome! Really has a fine art feel to me. Wouldn't work without that well defined cloud just above those bushes or whatever they are. I would not crop that sky no matter what.

Very impressive!

Love it, Darren. The cloud motion in the top half of the frame contrasts well with the static landscape, and the processing is perfect.

FWIW, there may be more LF folks here than you might think. I decided to sell my 4x5 a while back because I just wasn't using it. I really enjoyed shooting with it, but the cost for film, processing, and drum scanning wasn't fitting with my budget too well...150 bucks a pop was kinda steep for me. I don't think one necessarily has to shoot LF to appreciate work like this fine example.

Thanks all and that does help.

Some images jump out at you as being really good. Then there are those that might be ok and maybe not. It can be hard to tell. I think as a rule images of flat country are not very popular. I like them and love exploring the open range but I think it is an acquired taste. I am also still finding the best lens to capture the Great Plains with as no format or lens I have seems to do the trick in the way I think they should.

Bill, I know there are a few NPN'rs still using 4x5, it just seems DSLRs predominate and I sometimes think our tastes as a group have shifted to expect all images to be magic hour, amazing sky, awesome light, etc as being the new "normal". That make sense?

I know what you mean, Darren, but it's always refreshing to see something different for a change. A good photograph is a good photograph. I'd like to think departures from the "normal" are enjoyed and appreciated by others too (though the number of views vs. comments doesn't seem to suggest that for much of the work presented here...)

Darren, the clouds reflect the great openness of the area, nice take on the great plains.

Saying this is nice doesn't seem to do it justice, wonderful job Darren it has a very classic look and feel to it.