Lines in the Sky

For most of the past winter we lived under heavy cloud cover. At our northern latitude, clouds and winter make for dimly lit days. As a practitioner of the “sunny 16” system of judging exposure, winter daylight metering required wide lens apertures, so I called this a time of “cloudy 5.6”. Most often I aim for significant contrast in my black and white compositions. When the sun is close to the horizon and obscured by clouds, I have found the sky to be a compelling subject to photograph.

The skies over my local community have a significant amount of overhead infrastructure: Wires, cables, power lines, and metal structures catch my eye. Traditional photography, like painting, frequently avoids capturing these wires and lines. New housing projects bury them underground. But, in the dim light of winter, I admire the graphic patterns overhead.

Featured image above: I frequently drive by this office building on the side of a hill. A few times last winter I noticed two men in security guard uniforms looking up to the sky next to this building. I returned with a camera to their vantage point on a Sunday when the business was closed. Perhaps the two men were admiring the lines in the sky?

Occasionally the winter sky will clear, offering our neighborhood a view of the majestic Mount Rainier. I could have traveled some distance to find an unobstructed view, but I rather enjoy to sagging curves of the power lines.

Below is the view from a quiet urban street, on a gentle hill above a nearby town center. I stood on a sidewalk in front of a fine wooden cottage with a lovingly tended garden. Here the lines above are devoid of charm: almost threatening.

Near my residence, an enterprising family have constructed an enormous house on a large view lot. It is interesting that they have left the previous wire fencing in place at the front of their lot.

At a local road intersection, a lone utility pole carries the electrical and communications infrastructure for both streets.

In closing, here is a fine winter sky, with a wealth of lines.

All photos are on Kodak TMAX 100 film exposed at 100 ISO. I am currently bulk-loading this TMAX. The 100 ISO is helpful for bright sunny day meter estimations: f16 at 1/125th, f11 at 1/250th, f8 at 1/500th, etc. Home developed with Rodinal at 1:100 dilution, semi-stand: a few inversions at the start, then I leave it alone, returning after 30 to 45 minutes to dump it out. Negatives are imported with an Epson V550 flat-bed scanner. Darktable software was used for cropping and occasional adjustments to shadow detail.

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