...around the house...
...around the house...
I'm with you John,
I just got back from a trip to southwest South Dakota. The weather was almost too beautiful for a black and white guy (nothing but cloudless blue skies), and I could literally see the price of gas rise before my eyes as I drove back.
On those long, lonely stretches across the Big Empty, I found myself alternately analyzing cost-per-shot expenses and daydreaming about tabletop shots and tending my own garden (for potential macro shots, of course).
And I was counting my blessings that I had a home to return to.
"What do these little rants have to do with Large Format Photography?"
Little rants?!!? Gosh, I'm so sorry that we are bothering you with our discussion regarding the fact that some of us might want to do something to help, however insignificant it may seem to you. I'll bet you're one of those people acting like a fool at the gas pumps - one of those who has the audacity to bitch about gas prices for your precious car while others have lost EVERYTHING.
You are a schmuck, Mr. Peterson!
(to the rest of you, I apologize for my outburst - I just couldn't keep my 'little rant' to myself)
Great idea, John. I'll be wandering around what appears will be my new home in Rio Rancho, NM, just north of Albuquerque, anxiously awaiting the close of escrow around 9/16, so I can start building a new darkroom. Regardless of location, though, Labor Day should be one of the least laborious days of the year, I think.
Compositions of shells for me in the yard or garage this weekend. You can learn alot by 'back yard' photography. Certainly helps to find a bad shutter or lens problem before going on a trip; kind of like 'working out' photgraphically.
"The warning speech from our President this afternoon was, “If you don’t need gasoline, don’t buy it”.
This from a bloke who diverts a 747 to fly over New Orleans for publicity shots?
I must agree with the sentiment though, too often we (& I include myself) will travel long distances on the off chance of getting a decent photo, when we are surrounded by numerous opportunities in our own neighbourhood. If you regularly shoot landscapes why not try some LF portraiture? Macro work? Street photography? Try a night shot of your own home?
Too late - entered a Cowboy Action match in Minnesota weeks ago - go there every Labour Day - 3-1/2 hour's drive - hope there's no problem getting the truck filled up. Packing the 4x5, some Delta 100 and some E100G. Going to try to find time to get some shots of the Cowboys all dressed in their Sunday best.
Since I am fairly new to LF, I do a LOT of shooting around home while I am working on my processes and techniques. One of the nicest transparencies I have is a 4x5 macro of a Dandilion. I got the camera right down in the grass and snugled up to one. Shot it at about double normal size on E100G and was really impressed! It sort of came out as "a bug's eye view" of the Dandilion and the surrounding grass and certainly put a common sight into a context I had never seen before.
I stayed home last weekend, I'll stay home next weekend, but now it's time to hit the road.
Ya'll be good!
I appreciate John's comment and I've done some backyard shooting for mostly testing reasons, but I probably won't take his suggestion. Why? I live about 50 miles from the Smokies, and grew up here. Places like Tremont, Elkmont, Greenbrier, and Big Creek are "home" to me, and watching the seasons change is a big thing. The gas to get to Tremont will cost me around $16 and to the others about $20 round trip. I don't consider this an extravagant per day expenditure for holiday weekend "entertainment". The Blue Ridge would cost approximately $50 - $60 depending on where I went, but I'd also car camp and get two days out of it.
Another option if you want to travel is double up with a friend and split the gas if traveling is in your plans, and I may well do that.
Steve
I'll be waiting for the yearly September appearance of a garden spider that always spins a web across my basement window. I plan to use my rickety 8x10 and junker lens to try and capture "Charlotte's" silouette (sp?) in the window frame against a naked light bulb at dusk.
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