Pumping Wood

wfwhitaker · Jul 24, 2006

Spent yesterday morning 'til lunch walking about with the camera and some fellow APUGger's. Fashionably wearing a backpack with 11x14, 2 lenses, 3 filmholders; carrying a Ries A100.

Man are my legs sore today!!

Donald Miller · Jul 24, 2006

LOL...I relate to you on this score...

RobertP · Jul 24, 2006

Will, Carbon fiber would be my best advice.

Robert Hall · Jul 24, 2006

RobertP said:
Will, Carbon fiber would be my best advice.

It's not the wood, but the glass!

wfwhitaker · Jul 24, 2006

Carbon fiber's nice, but the wood isn't just the tripod. It's the camera and the film holders, too.

4x5's starting to look pretty good about now...

Donald Miller · Jul 24, 2006

wfwhitaker said:
Carbon fiber's nice, but the wood isn't just the tripod. It's the camera and the film holders, too.

4x5's starting to look pretty good about now...

The pain will subside along with the increased appreciation for the prints made with the big negs.

But there is something to be said for 4X5.

grahamp · Jul 24, 2006

Will wrote: 4x5's starting to look pretty good about now...

This is from the man who was looking forward to doing 5x7 contacts last time we met?

I think you are approaching the problem from the wrong direction. Golfers have caddies, you know.

Gatsby1923 · Jul 24, 2006

wfwhitaker said:
Carbon fiber's nice, but the wood isn't just the tripod. It's the camera and the film holders, too.

4x5's starting to look pretty good about now...

Hmmm Want to trade my 4x5 for your 11x14? I have done some pretty long hikes with my 8x10 so I feel your pain. Made me wish I could have hired some Sherpas , but those are so hard to find in Western MA.

John Kasaian · Jul 24, 2006

I fugure that in another hree years, if I feed Him right, my son will be able to carry my 12x20 for me. He's too young right now and I don't want to do any damage to the lad so he carries my 5x7 for me these days. He did an admirable job last saturday at the General Sherman tree in Sequoia---something like a 500' gain in 1/2 mile and he took it at a run (with a half dozen film holders aboard for good measure!)

I'm proud of the wee lad!

He's also a darn fine retriever during duck season, and setter during pheasant season.

(I never could train a dog to "quarter")

Cheers!

Lee Hamiel · Jul 24, 2006

Either hire a Sherpa or a massge therapist afterwards

A 4x5 has the same appeal as using an M Leica body right about now I suppose.

wfwhitaker · Jul 24, 2006

Mmmmmmmm... Leica........

jp80874 · Jul 24, 2006

grahamp said:
Will wrote: 4x5's starting to look pretty good about now...

This is from the man who was looking forward to doing 5x7 contacts last time we met?

I think you are approaching the problem from the wrong direction. Golfers have caddies, you know.

..and the man who advertised for a Philips 7x17. Will, I carry mine in a baby jogger. I wonder if anyone makes a motorized baby jogger. Might have trouble getting that by the Park Ranger on the non motorized vehicle trails.

John Powers

wfwhitaker · Jul 24, 2006

grahamp said:
This is from the man who was looking forward to doing 5x7 contacts last time we met?

Hey, 5x7's still one of my 10 favorite formats!

jp80874 said:
..and the man who advertised for a Philips 7x17....

All the more reason to get a Phillips. I still want one!

And sorry, the 11x14 is not for sale. I'm afraid the original post is more a commentary on age and atrophying muscle than it is on formats. (But maybe the 11x14 is better left nearer to the car...)

jimgalli · Jul 24, 2006

Will, you were obviously just showing off for those other Ape Huggers. Everyone knows with cameras that big the good shots are always within 60 paces of the car that brought them.

Aggie · Jul 24, 2006

Reminded me of an old 70's song, "Silly Willy"

Harrigan · Jul 25, 2006

My siberian huskie helps me pull my gear and he loves it. Of course not in this heat.

Harrigan · Jul 25, 2006

that would be husky...oops

rbarker · Jul 25, 2006

While I'm familiar with that form of morning-after syndrome, Will, I think your approach to the problem may require re-thinking. If, for example, you were to hire a couple of members of the Swedish Bikini Team as assistants, they could both carry the equipment and serve as massage therapists afterward. (Just thinking about hauling an 11x14 in a backpack makes my muscles tense.)

naturephoto1 · Jul 25, 2006

Will,

Now you know why many of us use 4X5 and QL/Readyload film especially if shooting chromes.

The Leicas may look good at this point, but then for really small and light how about the Rollei 35S?

Rich

sanking · Jul 25, 2006

Dick Arentz told me once that the greatest views for 12X20 cameras are always found within 50 feet of your vehicle. If just anyone had told me that, well, I might doubt the truth of the statement, but being that it was Arentz I pretty much took it for truth. I confirmed this truth once by hiking about a mile with the 12X20 on my back, with the tripod, some holders and a couple of lenses. When I reached the spot I realized that the better view was from the car, so I trudged back up the mountain and made the negative. Some truths just can not be challenged.

It is curious how such truths are revealed to us. Several years ago I was driving along a dusty road in Nine Mile Canyon in Utah and saw a panel of rattlesnake petroglyphs on a cliff about 150 feet from the road, across a small stretch of sage bush. It seemed at first obvious that the better view of the panel would be had by walking through the sage bush and climbing up to the panel, using my 12X20 camera. However, about half way through the bush I saw a small rattlesnake violently shaking its rattles about 1.5 feet from my left foot. After very carefully extricating myself from this difficult situation I thought for a few minutes about the petroglyph, and two thoughts eventually came to mind. First, those native americans who made the rattlesnake petroglyphs some centuries before really knew this area, and two, I realized that it was much too late in the evening to continue through the bush to the panel, and that the best view of the rattlesnake panel would be with a medium format camera with a telphoto lense, stading near the car. It also crossed my mind that there might well be a lot more rattlesnakes out there between me and the panel.

Sandy

Donsta · Jul 25, 2006

Mmmmmmm.....Explorer...

Seriously - if you really want to schlep around with an 11x14, Dick's Explorer model is the only choice. In my experience, there should be a special name for that sweat that trickles down everywhere when you have severely overburdened yourself with a big heavy camera and more gear, filmholders etc than you could ever use, but you are halfway there and even if the shot is only "so,so", you're still going where no man has gone before with a whateverXwaytoobig camera....

wfwhitaker · Jul 25, 2006

Maybe a Ford Explorer...

Donsta · Jul 25, 2006

That's like a cheap and nasty CF tripod isn't it - it would prefer to be "turned over"?...

michael9793 · Jul 27, 2006

I'm 54 and I travel with a 8x20, but the backpack I use goes on a luggage cart with big wheels so I can get it through the mud and sand of the swampy areas I photography. I can see why as you get older you go smaller (cameras that is). But after lugging this thing for a half hour in 95 deg temps and 100% humidity. You start having second thought about getting under that darkcloth. But when your in the darkroom and see the images all that suffering is forgotten till next time. Did I say anything about mosquitoes.

Allen Friday · Jul 30, 2006

Two words: Ibuprofen Loading.

I learned this from a brain surgeon--yes, a real brain surgeon. Start taking Ibuprofen the night before a long hike, workout, photo trip, etc. Take Ibupropfen the day of the work out in the recommended dose and at the recommended times. It works as an anti-inflammatory and helps to keep you from getting sore in the first place.

Try it. I see a 16x20 in your future.

Pumping Wood

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