Window Light ~ Old Town San Diego

July 2014

Weekends offer the best opportunities to get out and shoot.  Things that need to get done around the house have to fit into the schedule too and of course family time is a priority.

I value the free time I have that allows me to get out.  This past weekend I made the trip to Old Town San Diego, about 20 miles from home.  Old Town is actually a California State Historic Park.  The park represents San Diego's early history from about 1821 to 1872 and has a collection of old homes and structures from the era.  "Visitors are offered a glimpse into yesteryear, as converging cultures transformed San Diego from a Mexican pueblo to an American settlement."

The old structures have an amazing character and with the right light offer many great opportunities to take interesting photographs with interiors and furniture that are unique and one of a kind.

The following images were taken in the La Casa de Estudillo, a traditional adobe home with a center courtyard.  The home is currently undergoing a renovation so the interior rooms weren't in the typical configurations you'd normally find.  Nevertheless, I did find some interesting angles that gave me some usable shots with amazing light from the large recessed windows.

All of these photographs were taken on my Leica M6 with a Voigtlander Nokton 50mm 1.5.  I shot the images with the lens wide open at 1.5 with a shutter speed of 1/15 of a second. I used my Sekonic L-358 light meter to measure ambient light.  The rooms were really dark, much darker than represented in these images.  I was a bit worried shooting these handheld.  By leaning against the doorway walls, I was able to get these.  Film used was Kodak Tri-X 400 shot at iso 200 and developed at box speed in Ilfosol3 for 12 minutes.  I agitated with two inversions every minute. 

As always, thanks for reading.

from: Bill McCarroll film Photography blog