thatjoshguy.com

Tag: Portra

  • Surf City Sunrise

    Surf City Sunrise

    Clearly having not learned my lesson about lugging the C33 around when I still didn’t have a real good handle on using it, I took it with me on vacation at Surf City, NC, and once again attempted to capture a sunrise. At this point, I didn’t actually have the Bear Rocks photos back yet, so I still didn’t know what to expect.

    It’s not that these photos are bad. They’re fine. It’s that I wasted six (SIX!) rolls of 120 Portra 400 for seven mediocre images. That hurts, but it’s part of the learning process. I ran when I should have walked, and I paid for it.

    At least some of the clouds look lovely, and I do like the shot of the man with his dog.

  • Sunrise at Bear Rocks

    Sunrise at Bear Rocks

    In November of 2025, I joined my wife and father-in-law on a hike in Davis, WV to see the sunrise from Bear Rock near Dolly Sods. I thought I could handle lugging the Mamiya C33 up the hill and dealing with the low light levels without a tripod. I could not. At least if I was smarter, I would have sprung for Portra 800 instead of 400, but alas – I was still learning.

    I wouldn’t actually get these photos developed until much later, but I was satisfied with a few shots. Specifically, the last two here are personal favorites from this day. They were underexposed, but I like how they look with the blacks lifted.