Socorro Clouds

All images copyright (c) by Greg Fisch

White Sands Missile Range is divided into two major regions, North and South.  We had been working in the Southern area for the first half of the project and would begin working in the Northern half for the remainder.  Since, we were staying in Socorro, about 70 miles away, we had been commuting using the normal highways.  On this day, we decided to drive home through the Northern half of the range to check out where we would be working over the next couple of weeks.

Since it was extremely hot, I decided to put the camera in the back seat of the car to keep it cool.  It had gotten fairly warm so I opened it's large case as well.  When we arrived at the check post gate, the guard quickly noticed the opened case in the back seat and asked if it was a camera.  Of course I answered yes.  What a mistake!  It took an hour to get the forms filled out just to let us bring a camera into the area.  Plus, I had to promise not to use as well.

After leaving the Range, one of the famous New Mexico afternoon storms was brewing.  Again, hopping out of the car, I quickly set up the camera and made several exposures.  I used a medium yellow filter to slightly darken the sky.

Camera: Cambo SCII

Lens: Schneider Symmar-S 210mm f5.6

 Film: Tri-X 4x5

Development: Normal+1