The other day I had written that I was getting the itch to make some portraits with the view camera and using color sheet film. Well I scratched that itch yesterday and processed the film today. This has been one of my more fulfilling projects during this extraordinary COVID19 Quarantine that we are all experiencing right now. I'm grateful that our children understand that their dad needs to make pictures, and regularly. If you are a photographer reading this you know what I mean, but the twist I put on it is using simple, but yet slow and methodical process to create of the manual cameras and film. I also worked with out the proverbial net as well but not producing a single digital image to check light. I worked with the instruments and education I've been learning over the past 17 years, and just went with it! Trusted my gut, listened to my inner voice to "check - check - double check" and live with what happens.
As I was photographing one of our kids, I had the other one take some behind the scenes photos so I could show them to all of you in this blog post, which is post #3. I guess I need to keep at it for another 10 days or so to become habit, and it looks as though I'm going to have that time on my hands! OK, back to the current agenda. So I'm thrilled to be able to show you some behind the scenes photos and two of the six sheets that I exposed yesterday. No need to show all six as these are my two favorites. I can report that I had no blinker and good focus and exposure on all six sheets! I also burned a roll of 120 medium format film through the RZ camera, I mean I had a cooperative and captive audience so I pushed the limit and they let me make some exposures with that camera too! I haven't processed that film yet, but that's a project for tonight!
Again, you maybe wondering, WHY Pete, go to all this trouble to work with a mature technology, to create six photographs, and only show two of them. Why not just use your digital camera shoot 100 photos, edit them and have them up in 20 minutes. To which my answer is, because this process won't allow me to shoot 100 photos and be done with them in 20 minutes. This process immerses me into the process and experience of photography. It provides me a joy of spending time talking to my subjects, looking at the light, paying attention to the craft, and honing my skill. The reward is opening the development tank to see the latent image in a tangible form, that I had almost full control over that image - (I can't claim full control as I didn't make the film, the lens, or the camera) That's a fulfillment that I just don't get from working with a digital camera, sure it's cool to see images come right up, but I'm over them about as soon as they appear on the back of the camera. Where as being forced to be patient and wait, well that's just something that has been an addiction to this craft from the time I first learned it!
So it took me two days of this quarantine situation to make a couple of photographs, but I'll have these pictures of our children forever and they are automatically backed up as a tangible negative. Next is to print them out as tangible priceless treasures for Molly and I to enjoy for a lifetime, plus prints don't require electricity to enjoy them!!
I hope all of you are continuing to stay healthy and safe - and once this extraordinary event is behind us - I invite you to experience what it's like to be photographed by me with a view camera and film!
Cheers!
Pete
