Catfish carcass on barbed wire fence, 2002

The title sounds like an old folk song: "Catfish carcass on a barbed wire fence, doo-dah, doo-dah..." Actually I'm just having a little fun. That carcass together with the carnival-like sign in the background produces a very odd (by which I mean interesting since I like the odd) effect.

Yup, a little minstrel ditty or country blues song would suit this just fine.

 

This was photographed and printed around 2002, not far from my former rural home.  Fishermen from a nearby fish camp had a tradition of impaling huge catfish carcasses on a barbed wire fence near the fish camp sign.  Over the summer the carcasses quickly dehydrated and mummified, so there was little odor.

 

If I'm recalling correctly, this was printed on Ilford cold tone RC paper, from Tri-X in my Nikon F3HP with 55/3.5 Micro-Nikkor.  Eventually I'd like to get back into the darkroom and redo this print - the sign and print edges need a little selective burning in with some contrast adjustments.  I have a few variations of this print, including some using a selective contrast/diffusion technique that involved printing through a sheet  of clear acrylic frosted with Aqua Net hair spray, either with yellow or magenta filtration.  The other half of the print exposure was with yellow or magenta and no diffusion.  Odd technique that produced a glow around the hard edges.  Nowadays you can mimic the technique by dragging the Lightroom clarity slider into negative territory, or with some contrast masking settings with unsharp masking.

wow, pretty dramatic shot, the rest was eaten, I suppose

I saw the thumbnail image without knowing quite what the subject was. Expanding the view to see the fish made me smile. I think the fish "pops" because of the contrast with the light background. Nice detail in the dark tones, too.