Behind The Shot: ‘Blue hill, Catharpin, Virginia, 2012’ by David Kressler

This image is part of a series called Interface that examines the intersection of urban and wild areas in our contemporary landscape. It was taken in an area of Northern Virginia that has seen an incredible amount of development in the last few years, with new housing going up everywhere. I am interested in the transformation of the landscape from the natural to the man-made as is made evident here as the developers build and push further out into the farmland and wild areas.

As often happens, I thought I had finished shooting for the day and this odd blue hill caught my eye as I was driving home. My favorite images are almost always the ones that I didn’t plan, but stumble upon, and this one was truly an unexpected gift—it just so happened to be a cold and foggy Christmas morning. Doing the actual shot was somewhat hurried as it was just off the side of the road with no place to pull over. I was only able to shoot two sheets of film.

This image is available as a print by contacting David Kressler through his website, which can be found at www.davidkressler.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

Equipment and settings: Linhof Technikardan 45s 4×5 large format camera, Schneider-Kreuznach Super-Angulon 120mm f/8 lens, Gitzo GT3540L Mountaineer 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod with a Manfrotto 405 Geared Head, Minolta Spotmeter F, Fuji PA-45 Instant Film Holder – 1 second exposure at f/32.5, Kodak 4×5″ Portra 160 Color Negative film