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Jetty #1

Jetty on Llandudno's North Shore at dawn, North Wales coast

The story behind this image

Things were fun back in the days of film.

Not only did you have emulsions like Fuji Velvia, used here, that gave absolutely no leeway on exposure, but you also had the delights of reciprocity law failure to take into account during long exposures as well.

Mind you, when you got it right, the look of a Velvia transparency on a lightbox had to be seen to be believed, with vivid colours and lovely tonality.

Such was the case for this shot, taken before sunrise on one of my favourite jetties on the North Shore at Llandudno on the North Wales coast.

The pre-dawn colours were amazing, I've never seen the same since, and the exposure required for the Fuji Velvia, with reciprocity law failure compensated for, was an agonisingly long five minutes.

Imagine my delight when two weeks later, my trannies finally came back from processing and I realised that I'd nailed the shot.

Incedently, this photo was the first I ever had published as a runner up in a competition I'd entered in Practical Photography magazine, so I have a real soft spot for it as part of my photographic journey.

Image data

Filename - jetty 01.jpg

Camera - Canon A1

Lens - 28mm prime

Exposure - Around 5 minutes

Location - Llandudno, North Wales

This image - 640x800px JPEG

Original - Velvia transparency

Conversion - Epson Scan @ 2400dpi

Comments - Tripod used to steady camera.