The 52 Project, Week 21: The Large Format Candid

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when bored on a late September afternoon? No matter your answer, I’m positive nobody else responded,

“Take my view camera out on the streets, of course!”

I've taken to scanning 8x10 proofs, they're easier.

“Huh, this kinda looks like a candid,” one might say. Well, it most certainly IS. Here’s the long version.

Itching to see what the view camera can do with people in the picture, I loaded up the 50+ lbs. of equipment into my car, driving until I was struck by something interesting. Little did I know, that drive would be only about half a mile drive from the University of Findlay campus.

There it was! This poorly kept, icon of dilapidation just begging for an interesting photograph.

“Hmm, there’s still a little too much symmetry there for me,” I thought.

Looking down at my watch, it was 2:50pm, school was almost out. Somebody was just bound to bike/run/walk through my frame. Little had I remembered that my metal monstrosity of a camera is less than inconspicuous. >__>

Luckily, I had my handy dandy decoy tagging along with me. My first attempt at a set of subjects involved a brother and sister pair of school children. Lauren had them all but coaxed, until the little 1st grade girl, wise for her precaution, decided it would be better to not be in a picture taken by a stranger. About ten more minutes went by, and then, there he was. Overweight, wearing a cut-off shirt, and he even had his dog with him. This was it!

Removing the darkslide from the film holder, I readied myself to release the shutter. But just as my subject starts walking into the shot, he looks my way.

“What do I do? He’s looking at me!!” D8 “Quick Mat, think fast; do something, anything! Just DON’T look over at him.”

Having run out of things to do at the last second, I leaned in towards the lens, turned away, and pretended to clean the lens during the 1/15th second exposure. And there you have it, the large format candid, or as candid one can make an 8x10 camera.

Something Good: I got the shot I’d envisioned in my head, thanks to careful metering, pre-visualization, patience, and steady processing.

Something Bad: This shot took a while, again. About an hour in the field, and a little over a half hour in the darkroom; too bad the darkroom times can’t really be brought down too much.

Something Learned: It’s not impossible to go somewhere with a shot in mind, but very hard to get the shot you’re looking for before you get there. Any number of unpredictable things can happen, and it’s best to keep an open mind about what you want in the shot. If you don’t mind camping out a while, by all means, wait till the shot walks in front you; and at $10/shot, I’ve got all day. ;)

Next Week: We’re off to the races! This time capturing action with the 8x10...seriously.

The 52 Project, Week 20: The Longest 20 seconds of My Life

It’s a giant stack of straw bails, how hard of a picture could that be to take? With an 8x10 camera, it was quite the daunting task. Let’s go to the play-by-play.

I blame the focus weirdness on the V700
Searching around for something to shoot that definitely cannot move, I find myself driving over to one of my dad’s many straw barns. Lugging the 50+ lbs. of gear into the barn, it’s fifteen minutes before I even have the lens cap off and am ready to begin focusing.

“Oh man, it’s really dark even on the ground glass wide open,” I say to myself.

I pull open the barn door at the far end of the barn, letting a weak, but soft light source fill the front of the image. By thirty minutes, an image is really coming together, sitting upside down and backwards on the ground glass. Now it’s time to meter.

“Shadows are 1 min. at f/32” as I jot down notes from my light meter.
“Underexpose three stops pushing them into Zone II while adding 1/2 stop bellows factor. Now I’m at about 20 sec.’’

I hook up the 2’ cable release to the lens, close the lens, cover the ground glass with dark cloth, and now it’s time for the film. Taking the film holder out of the bag, I’m quick to attaching it to the back of the camera, placing the holder between the ground glass and the bellows. I hear a heart-wrenching “snap” as the holder slips into place. I carefully withdraw the dark slide, and “click”; of course this click lasted 17 nerve-racking seconds.

And so ends just another “simple” 8x10 exposure. Maybe someday later I’ll come back with some “Tales of Tray Processing” and “Film Loading Follies” to accompany this story. But for now, this week’s wrap-up.

Something Good: It looks like a stack of straw bails, and my word is it SHARP!

Something Bad: Light leaked in during the course of loading/unloading/exposure. Still not sure which, but I’ve since exercised proper precautions and have had little troubles.

Something Learned: I need to get much faster at setting up and tearing down this camera. This one exposure clocked in at just over an hour when all was said and done. The last time I took a similar shot (link), that “process” was about five seconds worth of composition. Is the larger negative worth all the trouble? I guess that’s for each of us to decide.

Next Week: Taking the 8x10 to the streets. Good times, good times. ^__^

The 52 Project: Rules Revisited...Again

If you know this reference, I <3 you!So, now that the cat is out of the bag (and by cat I mean mountain lion), let’s examine how adding an even older, large format camera to mix effects The 52 Project as a whole. First, let’s go over the founding purposes of this project:

1. Getting out and shooting film - I’m still doing this, just slower and with larger film
2. Trying out new films - Ditto
3. Posting my findings and progress - completely unchanged by format change

On the whole, nothing Earth-shattering will come of posting one or two 8x10 shots per week instead of posting a few more shots from a roll of film; besides, it’s not like the Hasselbald is dead, I still use it a whole helluva lot. Now let’s think about what adding large format to The 52 Project can provide:

1. More discussions on cameras - there’s much to learn with view cameras
2. New work-flow - there’s also more that needs to be done to ensure an image shows up
3. The Zone System - we’ll talk when you’re older :p

So let’s review, adding the 8x10 not only preserves the integrity of The 52 Project, but it also broadens the spectrum of material that can be incorporated into this year-long study. Sweet for the readers, most-assuredly death for me. X___x

Something Good: The readers will be getting more content while I play around with new toys.

Something Bad: I can’t afford a bit of this 8x10 business. Oh, and film is nearly $6/sheet.

Something Learned: Routines must not be my thing. I’m always redrawing the rules and letting them evolve with my new photography exploits. For those of you who embrace this change, thank you, you won’t be disappointed.