Wild Cretan iris
by Paul Cowan
Title
Wild Cretan iris
Artist
Paul Cowan
Medium
Photograph - Medium Format Film
Description
Moraea mediterranea (syn. Gynandriris monophylla), a dwarf iris that grows wild on Crete, pictured in its natural habitat in the foothills of the Lefkl Ora (White Mountains).
I captured this beautiful little flower a year ago using my old Pentacon Six film camera and slightly out-of-date Fuji Pro 400H film. Normally, I would have been shooting with an expensive digital camera, but less than 48 hours before I was due to fly to Greece my Canon 5D MkII stopped working.
I had been planning to concentrate on flower photos during what was to be my first trip to Crete at the height of Spring and since I quite often shoot film anyway because I find it a more reflective process than digital and I often prefer the tones, it was natural for me to fall back on the older medium.
This was the first time since I took up photography full-time that I have had to rely entirely on film and it was an exciting experiment but I think this photo shows that it was also worthwhile - as well as demonstrating that this equipment, is still very capable,
The camera was designed in the mid 1950s, though my copy was made in the 70s or 80s and the 80mm Biometar lens is also a design from the same era. I used it with extension tubes to allow me to get decent magnification of this very small iris.
Happily, it turned out that the only thing wrong with the DSLR is that it has a hidden internal battery that causes it to malfunction every four or five years when the battery runs down (something they don't mention in the manual), but pictures like this one make me glad that I didn't have it with me for my Greek trip.
Uploaded
February 7th, 2013
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