Large format photographer out in the wild

Ces1um · Aug 30, 2019

I work in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and on my way home I happened to look up at a pedway which crosses above the highway. Up there is a man with a 4x5 field camera on a tripod taking pictures of the traffic. 5:45pm. He was wearing what looked to be a straw cowboy hat. Any chance it was one of the members here? It's not like you see many large format photographers out in the wild these days.

winger · Aug 30, 2019

It wasn't me. But that's pretty cool! I don't know that I've ever seen a LFer out except when a bunch of us are meeting up somewhere.

Ces1um · Sep 2, 2019

winger said:
It wasn't me. But that's pretty cool! I don't know that I've ever seen a LFer out except when a bunch of us are meeting up somewhere.

Took me by surprise. Must have been taking a photo of the highway.

MattKing · Sep 2, 2019

Ces1um said:
It's not like you see many large format photographers out in the wild these days.

I don't know about that...

Dr. no · Sep 18, 2019

Cathedral grove?

MattKing · Sep 18, 2019

Dr. no said:
Cathedral grove?

No - Tynehead Park in Surrey, BC, Canada.

Dr. no · Sep 18, 2019

Thanks! Haven't been there yet...

Luckless · Sep 18, 2019

I've run into a few photographers who have stopped to talk to me and mention they use large format, but so far I've not run into any of them with their gear setup out in the wild.

I've only brought my gear out in the wild a handful of times myself. Mainly my 4x5 sits on a shelf for the time being waiting for me to budget for a proper tripod to sit it on... The poor neglected thing. But I'm hoping by next summer to get a setup worked out so that I can do some public demonstrations.

jtk · Oct 7, 2019

See em' regularly in the desert Southwest (USA)...not reduced to photographing traffic.

jtk · Oct 7, 2019

I'm trying to ditch my Century Graphic (23) intending to shoot some 4X5 C41 (since Ektachrome processing takes forever) from my 45 Century Graphic....sad truth is that my APSC readily rivals 120 ...

I would process and scan my own E6 but I wouldn't shoot enough to justify it.

Have to admit that I have shot traffic and might again (at night) but there are too many opportunities/variables to do that with film.

DREW WILEY · Oct 8, 2019

I suppose those who only play Little League mostly attend Little League games, and this skews their notion of what goes on in the wider world. Some places you run into young people who have apparently never seen any kind of camera. They assume cell phone photography has been around forever. But last month in Wyoming, coming down a very rough trail after not seeing anyone else for quite a few days, I stopped for a shot across the canyon, set up my 4x5, when a guy and gal in their late teens hiked by. He stopped and remarked, "O wow, large format! I wish I could do that". That kind of thing has actually happened to me quite a few times. Just like turtles and crocodiles have outlasted dinosaurs, people will still be interested in this kind of tactile equipment after numerous generations of digital gear have all gone extinct, one after the other.

Pieter12 · Oct 8, 2019

As I posted in anther thread, from Bryce Canyon last Memorial Day Weekend.

Luckless · Oct 8, 2019

Pieter12 said:
As I posted in anther thread, from Bryce Canyon last Memorial Day Weekend.

A fun possible group project idea: How many large format photographers can you scatter around a valley such that they each take a photo containing a view of all the other photographers taking a photo of them?

Sort of a meta where's waldo?

DREW WILEY · Oct 8, 2019

Sounds like what wannabees would do, rather than any serious photographer. I like shooting where there are not only no other LF photographers around, but no human beings of any kind in sight. If you want to all pile out of a tour bus at once onto some "scenic turnout" at some Natl Park, you have my blessing, because I won't be anywhere around. That doesn't mean that backcountry is my only genre. I shoot in cities too, and have done portraits etc. I just don't like doing it in herds with all their damn gear talk. That kind of talk has it's place, namely on these forums. But on a shoot, all that kind of thing has to be intuitive if you're going to concentrate on the subject itself, without annoying distraction from others. But egad, why do some people think that if they grow a beard, wear a cowboy hat, and purchase a big camera, they're going to be the next Ansel Adams?

Pieter12 · Oct 8, 2019

DREW WILEY said:
Sounds like what wannabees would do, rather than any serious photographer. I like shooting where there are not only no other LF photographers around, but no human beings of any kind in sight. If you want to all pile out of a tour bus at once onto some "scenic turnout" at some Natl Park, you have my blessing, because I won't be anywhere around. That doesn't mean that backcountry is my only genre. I shoot in cities too, and have done portraits etc. I just don't like doing it in herds with all their damn gear talk. That kind of talk has it's place, namely on these forums. But on a shoot, all that kind of thing has to be intuitive if you're going to concentrate on the subject itself, without annoying distraction from others. But egad, why do some people think that if they grow a beard, wear a cowboy hat, and purchase a big camera, they're going to be the next Ansel Adams?

Don't forget the vest.

Sirius Glass · Oct 9, 2019

Pieter12 said:
Don't forget the vest.

And do not forget about the hat. Must have a hat.

Large format photographer out in the wild

Ces1um

winger

Ces1um

MattKing

Moderator

Dr. no

MattKing

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Dr. no

Luckless

jtk

jtk

DREW WILEY

Pieter12

Luckless

DREW WILEY

Pieter12

Sirius Glass

Large format photographer out in the wild

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