Why it's cool to be a LF photographer

[Kevin M Bourque]

Here in Charleston we have a new bridge across the Cooper River.
 It's quite a showpiece....read about it here:

http://www.cooperriverbridge.org/

There's a wide pedestrian lane on one side and you can walk the whole
length of the bridge  I was right under one of the support
structures, doing some abstracts of the bridge against the sky.
 One of the construction guys (a painter, actually) pulled up
in a maintenance vehicle and asked me about my camera.  Turns
out he was a photographer, too.  Said he had a Wisner and all
kinds of other good stuff.

After a few minutes he said, "So, you want to go up in the tower?".
 The "tower" he was referring to is the top of the double
diamond structure, 575 feet in the air and only accessible by a little
elevator that rides up inside them.  The elevator is not
generally available to the public.  "Sure", I said, and up we
went.  

Charleston is mostly flat, so there's not much to get in the way of the
view.  I got great shots (I hope!) of the other diamond, the
city, and the older, partially demolished bridges.  This isn't
something that happens every day!  

This is one of those things that <span style="font-weight: bold;">only</span>
happens to people who carry 4x5 cameras around&nbsp;in public.
&nbsp;There <span style="font-weight: bold;">are</span>
rewards! &nbsp;

[Tadge Dryja]

Awesome.

So far I have only been harassed for lugging around my 4x5. But your post has renewed my faith that one day, something totally cool will happen because of it.

Let us know when you get it developed!

[Ralph Barker]

That's great, Kevin. When the fellow stopped, I'll bet you were anticipating another of those "are you a terrorist doing recon on my bridge?" encounters.

[Ed K.]

Cool! What a relief to hear that there is some magic left in this world, some
humanity! Hope you post a shot from your tower view!

[Terence McDonagh]

Congratulations.

As a structural engineer for a construction company I get a lot of great shots from the tops of high-rise buildings here in NYC, but it's the medium format guys that steel the bridge show. Check out http://www.davefrieder.com/index.htm . He uses a Hassie with a gyroscope to minimize motion blur (which can be significant on even the most massive bridges). Despite all the insurance he's bought and contacts he's made over the years, he's been basically locked out since 9/11 by the government agencies (last time I talked to him anyway).

The funny thing is that I get hassled less in NYC than I do when I travel elsewhere. The downside is lugging an 8x20 and it's associated stuff (tripod, film holders, etc) on the subway.

[Kevin M Bourque]

I've told a couple of friends about it and they all had the same reaction...be glad he wasn't a psycho of some kind (candy from strangers and all that). We'll I suppose anything can happen, but most nut jobs don't go after slightly past their prime forty-somethings. And hey, I don't think Wisner owners are, on the whole, any more twisted than most of us.

[Ole Tjugen]

I took one of my little 9x12cm folding plate cameras down to the harbour during a steamship festival.

I had no idea steamships could show off for the camera like that! They really liked my "period" camera. Next year I'll bring a "proper" 1905 model plate camera :-)

[Ben Crane]

I Had a similar experience a few years ago. I heard a radio story about the 75th anniversary of the colapse of the St. Francis dam. The site is only a short drive from LA so I decided to head up that way one weekend and see if there were any interesting ruins to photograph. Their wasn't much left of the dam but there were a couple interesting old powerplants in the area. A guy saw me by the side of the road with my 4x5. It turned out he also had an interest in photography and worked at the power plants. He said he thought I might find the inside of the plants interesting and invited me to could come by and photograph them when he was working. I did and it ended up being the start of a great project. I now have some of the work online.

Ben

www.benjamincrane.com (http://www.benjamincrane.com)

[Jon Wilson]

After 911, I wanted to take some Fall pictures of trees changing colors at the local Federal Courthouse. Even though the Marshals and Security personally knew me, I still had to go inside the "Security Circle" and get permission from the Chief of Security. Permission was granted, but I was also requested not to include the building the the photographs. I complied for the most part, but it made no sense given a nice telephoto lens could clearly be used to "scope out" the "potential target".

BTW, Ben, very nice work. I enjoyed your webpage!

[John_4185]

Be carefull taking LF pictures in Minneapolis. See, it's against the law to dance and such in the street. (Seriously, recent case citation available.) The cops might think the camera is an accordian. It's a Lutheran guilt culture thing.

--
Teacher: "Boy! Whatchoo doing back there!"
Student: "Smokin."
Teacher: "Okay. I thought you was prayin."

[matthew blais]

I showed my restored flatbed Korona to an owner of a local vineyard/wine ranch.
At a later date he hired me to document the vineyards over the course of the growing season.

When discussing the project, he was (almost) adamant that I used the Korona vs. renting a high end digital, which would have cost more in the long run.

The owner has a strong preference to "old ways/methods" and this working ranch shows this and is every bit a museum as well, in my book. An amazing place.

The images may even be more meaningful to him because of that. The plus is, I get to shoot all the antiquities on the interior of the ranch buildings for myself.

Getting paid to shoot at a place that no others have access to, and is full of wonderful scenes that I gravitate to is, well, priceless.

[Hugh Sakols]

Lately I have been intrigued by a California Central Vallely migrant farming community. My attraction began by making frequent stops to the local taco truck for what I consider to be the best tacos.For the last seven years, each time I have stopped, I feel welcomed and envious of the strong family values of the hispanic culture. This summer I desided to photograph my favorite stop but couldn't decide how to approach the project. By default I used my horseman vhr 6x9 because the film back was ready o go. I wasn't sure how the locals would react but they ended up being very accepting of my endevors. Later I brought my transparencies to share with the workers. Now they aren't phased to see me. I hope at some point to get the courage to get people in front of the taco truck but it may take time. Until then I plan on bringing them large prints of my endevors and asking what they think.

[Craig Wactor]

Same thing happened to me at the Vulture gold mine just outside of Phoenix. The owner saw me shooting LF and offered to let me into the gated off parts of the mine, and to let me in outside of normal touring hours too.

I remember the old Cooper river bridge in Charleston. Just driving over that thing was a feat of bravery!

www.craigwphoto.com