While going to various sporting events, I've started taking my 4x5. Work cuts into my photography a bit more than I would like. I often wonder if I worked at creating pictures full time if I would soon tire of the subject? I kind of like it this way, short bursts of maximum creativity.

    Of course, I've been a news paper photographer for over 25 years, and taking pictures continues to thrill me.

    Near Rock Dam there's a huge volcanic wall that's always intrigued me. After seeing Paul Caponigro's West Hartford Ct., 1959, rock wall, I knew that is was time to capture my own rock cut.

    My print will be on display at Wenatchee Valley College's Gallery 76 until Dec. 23, 1999. Printing it was a challenge, in that how light or dark do you make it? The shadows have lots of detail on the negative, but when you print for the shadows the highlights are too bright. If you print for the highlights, the shadows go to black at the contrast level I was using.

    So I compromised, printing for the shadows and burning in the highlights. Then in the final processing, I immersed the entire print in a weak dilution of Potassium Ferracyanide. This brought up the highlights while leaving the dark areas alone. It also raised the entire print's contrast a just a bit.

    If you try this, make sure you get a good fix with agitation afterwards. And to do all the other necessary steps to create an archival print.