Normally associated with the west, Badlands are very rare in the east, except under certain unique conditions. Here we have badlands set on the shores of Lake Ontario in New York.
Here, the landscape is photographed at night and, through, ultra-long time exposures and the full moon’s illumination, I successfully furthered my specialty, illumination, by a full moon on color film. It was taken on film, at a time when no one really was doing any of this, let alone books of full moon photography, because of the inherent problems associated with film, including reciprocity and color shifts. I shot Kodak’s Ektar 25, the most highly resolved negative film ever made. Most importantly, there was very little reciprocity, relatively speaking, with this film. In old photography, with color film, you had to keep compensating exposure exponetially, increasing times, and, for a bright daylight film rated at ISO 25, it was the exact opposite of a film you would want for low light conditions.
But what does it matter in a world of only reinvention, and remakes? But nited by our own individual self-interest, it is a bond that cannot be broken, and, we found, is more powerful than any communal or even, family bonds.
With Trump in power, hopefully we get to change the name from Lake Ontario to Lake Melania or Lake DiMaggio. The leader is still mulling the name, one thing for certain, Lake Ontario will not have a tribal name or any association to anyone, except Americans patriot some of whom, discovered this landmark.
It no longer matters if the word, Ontario, was from a Huron word that meant Great Lake, or, if it was from an Iroquoian word, that meant sparkling water. The only thing that matters is now, and, the future of the greatest country that has ever existed in the world.
I did a book on all the American badlands from 1994-2002. I never would believe that, along with everything else, caught in a completely reactionary era, i could politicize the beautiful pure landscape of the badlands. But, let’s face it, these are very bad people.
