One Shot Story – A Mallard Drake

Close to my home there is a small valley with a creek and 10 kilometers of paved trail. I have been riding my bicycle on the trail for a few years, witnessing a steadily increasing population of Mallard ducks. Recently a pair of beaver have moved in to a section of the creek. They have built a dam that has flooded a large area, including a section of pavement, and the water has attracted even more ducks. Our local parks department has not interfered with this dam construction, leaving the water standing on the pavement after rain storms. The Mallards are common here in North America: adaptable to urban areas and able to breed with other duck species, although I understand they are invasive in some parts of the world.

I always pack a camera on my bike rides, and often I stop to snaps photos of the ducks. They are rather photogenic with their wide bills and webbed feet. A telephoto lens is suitable for a close-up photo, but these birds seldom stay still. They twitch, walk, swim, and lift off into short flights. If I was a wildlife photographer I would have an auto-focus lens, but my old equipment predates the AF era.

I have a framed print of this photograph hanging in a hallway. It’s just a photo of a common duck, but the texture of the print always has my attention. I have heard comments that the print looks like an etching. I think that the specific lens, film, and developing chemistry have combined to generate the texture of this image.

Here is the recipe of the exposure and development:

Lens & camera: Nikon Nikkormat FTN with an early Nikkor Q 135mm f/2.8 lens. The lens has a Sonnar design and the Q indicates four elements. It’s a heavy lens, best mounted on a heavy camera body.

Film: Kodak 5222 Double-X exposed at box speed – 250 ISO

Exposure: Hand-held, 1/1000 second, lens aperture @ f/4

Developer: Adox Rodinal at 1:100 dilution, 20 degrees C, for 20 minutes

The image posted above is from my Epson V550 scanner. I have cropped it, but otherwise it is unedited. That highlighted area behind the duck’s head is not a post-scan manipulation. This image has plenty of grain, but to my eye, the grain on the duck appears to line up and draw the detail of each feather. I understand that effect may be the enhanced edge definition of Rodinal developer.

This photo dates from early 2024 and I have been obsessed with Rodinal ever since. I would like to thank contributors to 35MMC who have shared their insight on Rodinal development technique. It is a wonderful chemistry.

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