The 52 Project, Week 23: I Think There's a Pattern Here

On yet another seemingly boring Sunday afternoon, which may after today be called “8x10 Day”, I took to the streets of Toledo, OH looking for an image. Not feeling adventurous enough to go all the way downtown, I started at the Toledo Museum of Art and started working my way east, in hopes of an interesting image. Having the same kind of photo on my mind as taken in Week 20, I knew this kind of image might take a while to find; two hours to be exact.

I still need to work on scanning these contact prints.

Finding the patterned building leading against the sloped street was the easy part, filling it with somebody was much harder. Quite hard to tell in the photo, but I was on the opposite side of a four lane, very busy highway. So even when someone/a group of someones were coming into the scene, that doesn’t mean a semi, school bus, or sedan wasn’t. >__>

After about an hour and a half of queer looks, honked horns, and explaining this camera outfit to passers by, I was done; something needed to happen quick. Just then, a small pickup truck pulls off the road, nearly up onto the sidewalk, which would have simultaneously ended my loaner 8x10 and this project. Turns out, it was the owner of the building that the Eastman Commercial had been staring at for nearly two hours.

“Oh crap, here we go,” I thought.

Judging by the manner with which he pulled in front of the shot, I wasn’t expecting anything pleasant. Fortunately for my optimistically paranoid self, he was a fan of all things antique, AND willing to “pose” for shot with his building. He pulled away, only to come walking back into my shot 15 minutes later.

That brings us to this week’s key issues.

Is this image too much like Week 20’s?
Is the feeling of the image compromised by the fact that the person was encouraged to participate? Is it still Street Photography?

Why are there no answers here? Much like anything else art, the answers to these questions are entirely subjective. But that doesn’t mean you out there can’t weigh in. I’d welcome your open and honest opinion, as comments and critique only serve to help the artist. Thanks for playing along.

Something Good: Having well over an hour to meter the shot, compose, recompose, etc., etc., the shot and its processing were more than controlled, even with a red filter on a directly sun-lit scene.

Something Bad: Aside from the drama llama that comes riding in from the aforementioned issues, there’s some obvious dust spotting on the negative itself. This is the result of a dust being trapped on the darkslide and migrating to the unexposed sheet prior to exposure. Drats. >__<

Something Learned: There’s really nothing quick about the large format process, and I think I’m really starting to like it.

Next Week: A deliberate and very personal portrait.

The 52 Project, Week 22: Sunday, Sunday, Sunday at the Motocross

Processing last week’s negative late one Friday afternoon, I found myself anxious to shoot even more of this large format stuff. Within minutes of this hankering, my LF sponsor/mentor/camera donor Spencer came up to the lab to extend an invitation my way. He was going to take his freshman digital photography class out to Delta, OH to cover an all-day motocross event. Not seeing how I could possibly do sports photography with an 8x10, I accepted the invite, seeing it as a personal challenge.

Long story short, this motocross and all the people there were very cool. Though many folks looked at me as though crabs were crawling out my eyes, I was allowed access to all of the course, getting me really close to the action. One question remains, however...

How does one capture high speed action with a view camera?

Just like they did it back in the early 20th century, of course. ^__^

Step 1: Pick a good vantage point capable of producing interesting subject matter.
Step 2: Pre-focus the image, utilizing rise, fall, swings, and tilts to maximize depth of field.
Step 3: Meter, meter, meter some more. Focus again, stop down your lens, and meter again.
Step 4: Close your lens, insert your film holder, remove darkslide, covering back of the camera to insure against light leaks.
Step 5: Wait for the action to come to you. Plunge down the shutter release a split-second before the intended composition falls into place.
Click image for more exact exposure information.
Voila! Now all you have to do is not screw up any of your processing. Though easier than it sounds, I took 5 shots that day, and here’s the best/least screwed up of them all:

Something Good: The shot definitely has adequate action, composition, and depth of field.

Something Bad: The subjects are a little dark, but this was a trade-off for overall tonality of the image (deep blacks, lots of middle greys, bright whites). This was likely a result of using a Red filter (-2.5 stops of light) and only compensating 1-1.5 stops due to shutter speed limitations (max of 1/150 sec.)

Something Learned: With a lot of patience and practice, we’re talking a 6 hour day of trial and error, you can shoot anything with a view camera. And just like any kind of woodworking, measure twice (at least), and cut once (take the shot).

Next Week: Finding comfort in repeatable subject matter, a good thing or getting lazy?

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.