Nature and Travel Photography Matt Gragg —Field Notes

The intensity 

I took it upon myself recently to rummage through some of my old film files and began reminiscing about the good old days of Kodachrome. These barnyard chickens were photographed with this film on a Nikon Ftn, with what I believe was a 28mm f3.5 Nikkor lens, sometime around 1977. For a positive film emulsion it was unparalleled in its ability to render color with beautiful contrast and saturation.  It's kind of a shame that we photographers can't create the same kind of images with today's digital technology. I don't care what others might say about the quality of today's advanced digital equipment, including camera phones. None of this can replicate the true subtlety and ethereal qualities of film, and especially Kodachrome.

This photograph was taken from Lizard Island,situ ated on the northern reaches of Australia's Great Barrier Reef. I am looking at the the distant shoreline of the mainland coast of Queensland. It has been thought that perhaps in Aboriginal time this distance was over dry land (before the end of the last ice age). The evening I took this the ocean was incredibly calm, which rendered some amazing gold tones in the water.

A sailboat plies the calm waters of the lagoon surrounding Bora Bora. This lagoon was created by the fringing coral reef that surrounds the island. It's size is massive and there is only a couple of places where there is enough of a break in the reef to create a navigable passage for ocean sea vessels.

I came across this lovely flower in an outdoor atrium/koi pond at a hotel of all places.   This plant is an aquatic perennial. Under favorable circumstances its seeds may remain viable for many years, with the oldest recorded lotus germination being from that of seeds 1,300 years old recovered from a dry lakebed in northeastern China.

This photo was taken under ideal ocean conditions near Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park. The activity at this site has been the most prolific in nearly five years.