Kodak 200 at Belmont Bay

Golden-hour shoreline frames from Woodbridge, Virginia, where a goose family holds the bank.

Belmont Bay, Woodbridge, Virginia, United States / 35mm color negative (likely Kodak Gold 200) / Kodak 200 at Belmont Bay — Belmont Bay Loosies collection, 35mm film archive

The roll opens at the edge of a lawn in Woodbridge, Virginia, where a multi-trunked tree fans out against the pale evening sky and a hedge draws a dark line between the grass and the water. Beyond it the bay lies flat and quiet, a small boat holding still against the far tree line. Up close, the light gets tangled: holly leaves and clusters of pale blossom swim in and out of focus, catching the last warm sun.

Down at the shoreline the mood turns geological. Riprap boulders stack toward black water, every face lit amber from the side, and what appears to be a small snake lies coiled across one of the upper stones — easy to miss, exactly the kind of tenant this shore keeps. It is the roll's stillest frame, all weight and shadow, before the bank comes suddenly alive.

The geese take over from there. Two adults escort a pair of goslings along the grassy slope under a sky the water gives back in full — clouds drifting through the reflection while the family picks its way past a fallen branch. The goslings forage on their own for a frame, small and downy in the tall grass, then an adult stands sentry over a single chick in hard sunlight, black neck raised. The roll closes in silhouette: one goose at the waterline, the whole surface behind it broken into sparks. Kodak 200 keeps it all warm, grainy, and unhurried.

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Related

Virginia / Belmont Bay / United States / Nature / Animals

  • Cemetery - A single fall afternoon among old walled stones and white marble rows in Alexandria, Virginia, on 35mm color negative.
  • Fall Leaves - Three color-negative frames of leaf-covered ground and thinning trees along a Belmont Bay path in Woodbridge, Virginia.
  • Loosies - Orphan frames from the Virginia waterfront, where fog, flowers, and camouflaged moths all practice the art of disappearing.
  • Same Shots, Two Film Stocks - One evening at Belmont Bay, photographed twice — matching frames from two different color negative rolls.
  • Snowfall - Five color negative frames from a Woodbridge, Virginia snow that arrived before the garden agreed to winter.
  • Giants Art from the Dean Collection at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (I) - A color-negative walk through the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, from Dean Collection galleries to painted stone.
  • Giants Art from the Dean Collection at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (II) - Neon, marble, and glowing resin traded back and forth through the glass of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
  • RVA Day Trip - A short color-negative walk through Richmond, Virginia, from new glass to painted brick to late-sixties chrome.

Images

A multi-trunked tree stands in front of a hedge and a wide bay at dusk, with a small boat on the water and a tree line on the far shore.
Evening splits itself among the trunks — the bay waits on the other side of the hedge, patient as furniture.
A close view of glossy holly leaves and small pale blossom clusters, partly out of focus in low warm sunlight.
Holly in bloom, mostly refusing to hold still for the lens — the light agrees to be soft about it.
Sunlit riprap boulders slope toward dark water, with what appears to be a small snake coiled across one of the upper rocks.
Amber stones stacked against black water — and one quiet tenant draped over the rock, letting the last sun do its work.
Two adult Canada geese and two goslings move along a grassy bank beside water that reflects a cloudy sky.
The whole sky pours itself into the water while the family works the bank, unimpressed by the spectacle.
Two fuzzy goslings forage in tall grass near the water's edge.
Two small engines of appetite in the tall grass, heads down, entirely certain of their errand.
An adult Canada goose stands on a sunlit grassy bank above a single gosling, with branches and water behind them.
Sentry duty in hard light — the adult holds the high ground while the gosling attends strictly to the grass.
A Canada goose stands in silhouette at the water's edge, with sunlight sparkling across rippled water behind it.
The roll's last light breaks into sparks on the ripples, and the goose stands in it like a punctuation mark.