New level of 4x5 hardcoreness.

[Sjixxxy]

So, how far have you gone for a photo? I think I set my own record tongiht.

Found myself on the beachy part of the Lake superior shore tongiht with the Speed Graphic in tote. Was a bit windy and the waves were growing pretty high and whitecapping. Some kids a ways down the beach where sitting about five feet from shore getting pummped by what was left of the waves as they came in. One of my friends sees this,a nd things it looks liek a whole lot of fun, so he puts his swim trunks on and goes out tow here the waves are really big and breaking, and gets pummeled by them. This is at about 10:00PM, and I'm thinking how great some photos could look from right up there in the middle of the action.

I was without swimwear, so at first I thought "Oh well, a great idea I won't be able to shoot." Then I decided to go hardcore and get the damned photos, so before I know it, I'm standing in my boxers about 150 feet off shore (And still only waitst deep surprisingly) in the middle on the night with a Speed Graphic resting on top of my head. Flash is attached to a Quantum battery pack which is in a vinyl Swiss Army Gasmask bag which is now strapped to my neck and being held on my shoulder. All focusing/aiming is being done by the small light of my Kalart Focuspot.

At this point, the normal shoot/cycle sequence has a few extra steps in it. Shoot, Jump to avoid whitecap, Cycle Grafmatic, Jump to avoid whitecap, Cock shutter, jump to avoid whitecap, cycle darkslide, Keep jumping to avoid whitecaps until a real big one decides to slam us again, Shoot, repeat.

I really hope these photos don't end up sucking. That was a lot of effort to get them.

 

[david b]

well KP,
that sounds awesome. I have not been in water in a really long time.

Please post some of the results when you can.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I've been out wading with the Technika, but not with a flash pack around my neck!

 

[DBP]

Wow. I never would have tried that with a battery pack. You need some flashbulbs. Most hazardous thing I have ever done to a camera was wade knee deep into the Atlantic with Nikkormat and zoom to shoot my girlfriend playing in the surf. I've done much worse with a Nikonos, including getting flipped head over heels, but that doesn't count.

 

[noseoil]

Water, what is that? Worst thing I've done recently was shoot the 8x10 at noon in Tucson inside the snake bridge. Not a bit of water anywhere, except under the darkcloth when it runs down my face! Plenty of light, but glad it wasn't like two days ago (110f). tim

 

[Earl Dunbar]

Not to mention the temp of Lake Superior! Has feeling returned to your legs yet?

Should be some great shots. 4x5 at Lake Superior is my idea of heaven.

 

[ricksplace]

Wow. I'm impressed. Any time I go into Lake Superior, my feet go numb and I get two little bumps under my chin....

I have lived by Lake Superior most of my life. It truly is a wondrous place. The highway between Duluth and Thunder Bay has some of the best photo ops anywhere.

I'm planning a road trip to Duluth in a few weeks to burn some film in my pre-anny speed. I can't remember the name of the river, but I think it is close to Beaver Bay; a short walk brings you to a pretty spectacular waterfall with high and low vantage points. I used to do a "circle route" motorcycle trip every year. The Keweenah (sp?) Peninsula from Houghton-Hancock to Copper Harbour is pretty spectacular too.

Rick.

 

[BrianShaw]

Boxers, huh

TMI

 

[Sjixxxy]

Boxers, huh

TMI

That was worth about 25% of the hardcoreness.

 

[Alex Hawley]

All ya need is a couple babes and you could be working on being Peter Gowland's successor.

 

[John Bartley]

Lake Superior in boxers and trying to stand still enough to make a photo?? Ummmm ... no thanks! You're a nutcase . The closest I've been to that is smelt fishing with dip nets in a river at Wawa in late April/earlyMay in my jeans and rubber boots - when the water gets to your knees and you can feel your toes going numb and you still don't leave because the nets are so full that you can't lift them, you know you haven't had enough Red Cap Ale

My personal worst .... a photo of our riverside place in Iroquois Falls on Dec 27'th a couple of years ago. I had snowshoed in a day earlier packing a trail so that I could drag in the 4x5 Calumet on a sleigh. I set up at 10:00am (tripod on the snowshoes 'cause the snow was too deep for the tripod) and by then it had warmed up to about -35'C and the shutter on the Schneider had loosened up enough so that I could get it to trip .... wasn't really sure what the speed was though .

cheers

 

[MurrayMinchin]

I went on a hike with some buddies once up a side valley off the main Kitimat River valley where I live. Toward the head waters of this side valley, the only flat place left to walk was up the glacial fed creek itself and fighting through the insanely dense avalanche alder was way too much work. The water was mere minutes from the hanging glaciers at the end of the valley and was c-c-c-COLD!!

Since it was raining, we would stop at each little rain fed waterfall and stand there for a while to warm up our feet.

I'm soooo glad it wasn't deeper than mid thigh...

Murray

 

[Lee Hamiel]

It wasn't 4x5 days for me yet - years ago I was on the top of a small waterfall in the middle of winter with ice all over but yet water was still falling - I was shooting with a Nikon F3 & a 28 lens & had the camera mounted on a tripod & was holding the entire kit collapsed & hanging over the edge the get the shot.

Long story short the shots were not what I had hoped for & I almost slipped & would have gone down about 50 feet to my ....

After I got a grip on myself I decided i did not need anymore shots unless I had some rope (which I did not have)

Hope your shots come out

 

[jmailand]

I went swimming in Lake Superior once in July. Luckily it was 90 some degrees outside, because the water had to be 45 degrees. I took a small point and shoot in with me just to prove that I was there. I probably swam for over a hour because of the heat. It took a week for me to find my balls again. Hope your shots turn out.

James,

 

[Flotsam]

On more than one occasion I've shed my shoes and rolled up my pants and set up my tripod in shin deep water to get a low angle lake-landscape. I felt something tickling my toes and looked down to see little Sunnies nibbling at them. If those things had teeth, they would be more viscious than Pyrannahs[sp].

In the Summertime I actually pack a pair of those rubber soled aqua socks in my bag. They take up little space and give much better footing on slippery underwater rocks and a bit of protection from the broken beer bottles that some A$$holes like to leave behind in our parklands.

 

[Sjixxxy]

Best from the group. There is one more still drying that is similar, but the timing was pretty much at moment of impact, and he is completely obscured by the blast.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

That's got the Weegee look, but somehow I don't imagine him wading into the water in his trenchcoat.

 

[Eric Rose]

Thats it! A trenchcoat and boxer shorts. Talk about a "flasher"!

 

[timothyhyde]

I wander around Washington DC at night with a 5x7. My wife thinks that is beyond hardcore.

 

[DBP]

I wander around Washington DC at night with a 5x7. My wife thinks that is beyond hardcore.

Depending on where you are, it may be much safer than wandering around with a 35mm. Lot to carry though, how do you do it?

 

[timothyhyde]

Not too bad--I use the big Lowepro Supertrekker on my back, with the tripod in one hand and the D2x (increasingly, I rely on this for very-low-light metering) in the other.

 

[Mike A]

I was wading at the top of a twenty foot high falls, not but ankle deep, when I ventured close to the edge to take a meter reading the dreaded moss on the rocks was just to slippery and over I went.

I slid feet first and when I hit the pool I never touched the bottom, not a scratch just pissed off and a wet light meter. My 11x14 was parked about five foot away when I took the unexpected plunge.

I now always wear felt soles when monkeying around falls and what have you, I realize it could have been real ugly, as I was at a pretty remote spot.

Mike