Curley Ferns, Flathead National Forest

I was leading a workshop in Montana for the Photographers Formulary and saw this right at "too dark", or "available gloom". Because it was so dark, and because film get slower and slower as the exposure time gets longer and longer, it was impractical to photograph then. It was at the very end of the workshop, and I knew no one from my group would be up and around at 0500, I set my alarm for 0430 so I could be up and to location, make my photograph and be back before the last day of sessions would begin at 0800. I used a Toyo 45A camera, no filter and Kodak T-Max 100 film. Exposure was 25 seconds at f-32. Everything worked because there were large mountains just to the west of my location, which gave an extra hour of usable light before the sun came over the ridges and everything was a visual mess.