8x10 - a comedy of errors

[Ben Horne]

I doubt if the ARCA Cube is going to do everything he thinks it will. Surely he will have to close the camera to pack it back to the car and that will mean that the focus, tilts, swings,shifts, etc., will have to be redone when the camera is reset on the tripod. You could speed that process up by noting the extension and movements originally employed but obviously that would need to be verified.

Thomas

I used the Arca Cube on my recent Spring trip and it works very well. Now that I have a quick release, I can simply take the camera off the tripod, put it in a plastic bag to protect it from rain/sand, and lay it on the ground next to my tripod, or put it on my flattened video tripod. The whole point of taking the camera off the tripod was to leave it in the exact shooting position, so I certainly wouldn't fold it and lose my focus and other settings.

[Ben Horne]

I'd echo Karl's comment. As a regular viewer of Ben's YouTube channel and consumer of his images, I'd say I've learned quite a bit from his videos, and his dogged persistence for getting the shot - whether that is early in the morning or returning to the same spot year after year. His images speak for themselves - and most in gorgeous Velvia. I think Ben's resent setbacks that he shared with the community are a public service!

Thanks Angus!!

[Ben Horne]

Ha!! Sorry, I don't have another 10 minutes to give this guy. He needs a video editor!

Sometimes my cat handles the video editing. Sorry it isn't to your taste.

[Ben Horne]

Yeah, I usually get tired of some of the rambling and click out. I admire sincerity as much as the next guy, but between the 'golly gee you guys are great' and the over elaboration of the minutiae of the gear I rarely make it through. What he's doing photographically isn't that interesting other than from the typical landscape point of view (which I admittedly have zero interest in). But what is interesting is the younger generation's expertise (there's others like him) with branding and cross-pollinating via Instagram, social media, etc. I see a strong benefit in that in turning others on to the possibility of large format and slower methods of working.

If you try to please everyone, you will please no one. I know the videos aren't for everyone, and that is just fine with me. I treat the videos in the field very much the same as a written journal. If you pick up someone else's written journal, you may not think that every page is the most exciting thing -- and that the person might have a tendency to ramble on a bit, but it is something that is very personal that I am sharing with the world. The whole point of the video journals is to tell the honest experience of going on solo trips. The good, the bad, the thought process involved, and the final results. It's perfectly fine if you don't find my photography all that interesting and that you have zero interest in it, but it is certainly my passion. It is something I spend a lot of time, sweat, and money on because I love it. I don't do this for other people, and I don't seek to please other people, I do it for myself because I enjoy it. One of the things I've noticed through the years is that other people have seen my enthusiasm, and they too have started to shoot large format. That is one of my goals, to get more people interested in LF so the film supply will remain. As you have noted, that is why it is important to be active on social media, and in some cases we are starting to see some traction.

[Ben Horne]

An obvious neophyte in my favorite Valley. I have been going there for over 25 years and if we saw him we probably would laugh at the inexperience not only with the Valley,but his photographic equipment. I can't imagine anyone leaving a camera set up,incidentally on a weak tripod the legs of which were not spread enough for stability, and certainly not a second time. Any one who goes int the Valley and doesn't check in, and pay the small fee by the way, to get the latest weather info is leaving them-self open to all kinds of tragedy. The rangers are there for a reason and know their job well. I won't even discuss the attempts at photographing this beautiful place.

I've been going to Death Valley every year since 2009 Jim, and my camera has spent more nights out than I can count. It has spent dozens of nights out in the field without a problem. All of the photos in the "Salt & Sand" section of my site were the result of the camera spending the night out and I have always been willing to accept the consequences. I've been to many places in the park that few people ever go to, or even known about, but it is comforting to know that an obvious neophyte that is inexperienced with not only the valley, but also my photographic equipment might catch a break one day and get beyond my neophyte status.

[Vaughn]

I imagine I have been laughed at in Death Valley. The ravens especially laugh behind my back -- I can hear them back there. Hiking solo in the Grand Canyon the ravens were odd company! But I have had my chuckles, too. I was 4 miles out on the road to the Devils Racecourse in my Eurovan until I found a nice place to camp. I had nasty back spasms that night and was in no shape to carry the 8x10 around, so I spent the whole day (and night) relaxing, drinking beer and watching the light change.

And I was very entertained by the vehicles going by, I could see their dust as they hit the dirt road 4 miles below. A couple of rented sedans filled with foreigners who had no business being on that road bumped and rattled by. Several colorful rent-a-jeeps from Furnace Creek (mostly Asians touring the Great American West and having the time of their lives), and a group of nine fully decked out jeeps traveling fast and close, eating each others' dust for fun. They stopped about two miles below me, took a group photo of their vehicles nicely lined up along the dirt road before hitting the pavement at Ubehebe Crater. Occassionally, a Toyota FJ Cruiser carefully driven would go by...dotcom people from the Bay Area was my guess. And one night a rented vehicle driven by a middle age man and a much younger woman stopped at my camp -- the man complaining that they had given him a damaged truck (street type). Actually, his right rear tire had picked up a big rock and it bounced in the wheel well above the tire for awhile, ripping everything there up, including some pipes I have no idea what they were for. They were low on coolant, but refused my offer of water. They said the manual warned that adding just water would throw the calibration of the temp gauge off, over-heat the engine and could cause an engine fire. I didn't argue and they went off, stopping every time the engine over-heating warning light came on.

A ranger stopped by mid-morning and we had a nice chat. I asked and he said he had 6 calls for disabled vehicles already. He was on his way patrolling out to the racecourse, doing a loop. He was a graphic design major in college and had a good time looking through the 8x10 I had set up. I showed him a few carbon prints and platinum prints. Which I also did when two Japanese college students stopped by and visited the strange old white-bearded man parked in the middle of nowhere.

But 98% of the time the only sound was that of the wind and ravens...and an uninterrupted vista of 8 to 15 miles to the mountains defining the eastern edge of upper Death Valley. And when I was photographing, generally there was no one around. Quite nice.

[Alan Gales]

If you try to please everyone, you will please no one. I know the videos aren't for everyone, and that is just fine with me. I treat the videos in the field very much the same as a written journal. If you pick up someone else's written journal, you may not think that every page is the most exciting thing -- and that the person might have a tendency to ramble on a bit, but it is something that is very personal that I am sharing with the world. The whole point of the video journals is to tell the honest experience of going on solo trips. The good, the bad, the thought process involved, and the final results. It's perfectly fine if you don't find my photography all that interesting and that you have zero interest in it, but it is certainly my passion. It is something I spend a lot of time, sweat, and money on because I love it. I don't do this for other people, and I don't seek to please other people, I do it for myself because I enjoy it. One of the things I've noticed through the years is that other people have seen my enthusiasm, and they too have started to shoot large format. That is one of my goals, to get more people interested in LF so the film supply will remain. As you have noted, that is why it is important to be active on social media, and in some cases we are starting to see some traction.

Hello Ben,

I just wanted to tell you that I enjoyed your videos. They were not professionally edited but that helped make them honest and real. Keep up your enthusiasm. It's contagious!

Alan

[Peter Collins]

Alan Gales +1

[Butsu]

I am a fan of Mr. Horne's Video logs. I have watched probably 50 or so. I shoot 4x5 and when I need some inspiration, I turn to his videos. Why? Because he has a clarity of purpose and a zen quality to his process. He doesn't force a picture, but scouts, sets up, waits and still might walk away empty-handed. It appears he take few photos on any given trip but he 'keeper' rate is staggering.

In some ways, he is an anti-American photographer who flows with nature's rhythm and eschews quantity as a measure of his seriousness. He doesn't have any short-tempered arrogance so many other photographers seem to have. He uses his pride as leanring tools for the rest of us and for someone like me who is a hack LF photographer, seeing his mind-blowing photos come out of his sometimes messy process is incredibly supportive.

Many props to you, Ben. I suspect the haters are those who fancy themselves competitors somehow.

[Thom Bennett]

Sometimes my cat handles the video editing. Sorry it isn't to your taste.

Didn't mean to imply that they were not to my taste. In fact, I spent quite a few hours over the course of a few days roaming around through your videos as I have not had the pleasure of photographing out West and am fascinated by those that do. Such a unique landscape. I guess in this day and age we want everything succinct and to the point which, I realize, is a contradiction in terms for those of us who shoot large format. As I said in my original post, "I do appreciate how carefully he watches the light and plans each shot." That, to me, is the sign of a true photographer. Keep up the good work and maybe give that cat a raise. You're working that poor kitty too hard!