  Merced River, Happy Isles was made in June of 1973 early one evening during an Ansel Adams workshop in Yosemite. Inspired by Wynn Bullock’s photographs of moving water, I decided to experiment with a long exposure of the Merced River. I did not own a neutral density filter at the time. In fact the only filters I had were for my 35mm camera. I deduced that I could simulate a neutral density filter by combining filters of the additive primary colors - red, green, and blue. I had a red filter and a green filter, but the only blue filter I owned was a Wratten 80A filter designed for color photography. I screwed the filters together, and carefully held this awkward assembly over the lens during the 15-second exposure I had calculated. The combination of filters lightened the trees in the background - an effect that I have never been able to duplicate since. If you happen to own my first book Quite Light, you can find this image reproduced as Plate 11. This open edition silver gelatin, selenium toned print is approximately 8-7/8 x 10-3/16", personally printed by me (as are all my prints), processed to current archival standards, signed, mounted, and matted to 16 x 20” on 100 percent rag museum board All prints are carefully prepared and packaged in specially designed protective shipping boxes, and shipped fully insured via UPS ground. Normally there is a long waiting period for John’s original prints. This is a rare opportunity to obtain a print with a short waiting period.. |