Photographing using a large format camera is not an easy task... So long as there is motion to my quest, I don't often feel like I need to rush. Today was not a good day to be using the 4 x 5 camera. I was not at all in tune to the basic movements of creating a photo on my ground glass. Dark cloth kept getting misplaced, the loupe, focus in or out, exposures up and down... I felt like I was trying to move, but ended up in the same place I started. Suddenly, fear came over me and I intuitively reached for the slr and finished the shoot with it. In hind sight, I know I did not prepare for this shoot, to be shooting with the 4 x 5. I'll be more aware, more careful and prepare for what I need to do to produce a photograph using a large format camera, next time...
I will say, even a bad large format polaroid has some redeeming qualities to it. Bad exposures and mis aligned tilts, there are something to these images that only I will ever see. There is still beauty in them I find alluring. Maybe to a few that have my sensibilities will see what I see...
So what I had envisioned with the large format, I did not even attempt. At the point of reaching for the slr, I changed the shot entirely, but kept my 4 x 5 proportion in the back of my head...
1 comment:
Ted, your work is stunning! Keep at that 4x5. It'll come 'round to where you'll feel comfortable with the format again.
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