Saturday was knew of those days you should just stay in bed!

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I was at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon shooting large format, how bad could it be? Well trying tk shoot in 20-30 knot winds, getting rained and hailed on, almost breaking your ankle with possibility of going over the side and then screwing up setting the fstop or shutter speed or forgetting to lock down focus as well as having to estimate exposure cause ur exposure meter died would be a start. However, I won't know till I develop film this weekend.

The upside is the tourists were amazed at my 4x5 camera, taking pictures of it and me, asking all kinds of questions even about how old it was. They were shocked to find it was a year old! Even had a guy look thru it, but got lost because I had red filter on and of course image was upside down and backwards, but he was still impressed.

However; I think I got 3 or 4 digital images that might be presentable.

🙂

[peter schrager]

part of the journey !!

[Jim Galli]

Sometimes you're supposed to leave the camera in the room and go sit on the edge and enjoy the storm.

[Vaughn]

But there were clouds!

[Peter Collins]

I can boast of doing all those things, and I didn't even have a breeze, let alone a gale.

[Ben Calwell]

In all my years of shooting large format, not once has anyone come up to me to ask about the camera. I take that back -- a guy did approach me once because he thought I was part of a highway survey crew.

[Jim Noel]

I try to go places remote enough to get away from people. Every time I have set up a camera in Yellowstone, Death Valley, Yosemite and dozens of other similar places, I have always had at least one inquisitive person. The worst is when they get in front of may camera to "get the same image". Those are the times when I get nasty to the point there is no telling what I will say whether the culprit is male or female. It doesn't bother me if they want to look through the camera. If they ask I always reply they may do do as soon as I make my exposure. How else are we going to recruit newcomers to LF.

[Jac@stafford.net]

Sometimes you're supposed to leave the camera in the room and go sit on the edge and enjoy the storm.

Ah, wise words which suit me perfectly. Thank you for that.

[Vaughn]

Perhaps it is the persona one takes on behind the camera. Most folks can pick up on the attitude of "I'm in the middle of something important. Leave me alone." And generally when I am in that mode, folks stay away. However, I have been around the educational side of photography pretty much my whole career, so I am bent that way. I am more likely to make eye contact, smile, and nod -- thus become a willing open target for the curious. And it is kinda fun to listen to conversations as people pass while I am 'hidden' under the darkcloth. But 95% of the time I am photographing where there is no one around.

In Zion during my recent Artist-in-residence it was a whole different story. In my month there, I had well over 300 people looking thru the 5x7 or the 8x10 (a few got to look thru the 11x14). Missed and/or messed up a few shots because of it (the distractions, some very pretty), but it was all part of the experience for the visitors and me. If I had my volunteer uniform shirt and hat on, I was fair bait! Especially with a beautiful 100 yr-old wood and brass 5x7 over my shoulder.

Towards the end of my residence there was still a couple places I wanted to get to. I finally hiked/climbed up this one canyon I have been wanting to get back to since the early 90s. Difficult terrain so I just took the 5x7. Beautiful, but a little disappointing with a very strong wind. I saw some beautiful images with twisted trees on the slickrock, but everything was moving with the wind, including me at times. Dang good hike, though, and a couple good images made (the dead mountain sheep on the slickrock did not move much). Photos from that day below.

Took an 8hr hike up a different canyon with the 8x10. Pretty good day, finishing off with a long exposure of some stonework under the road (tunnel and culvert). I put the pack back on, walked up the sandy creek bed and caught a shoe lace on a root. My weight shifted forward and with the 45 pound pack on and a 17 pound tripod in my hand, face-planted into the creek bed -- missing all the rocks and landing on nothing but sand. A trip like that earlier in the day mostly likely would have killed me...or at least caused considerable pain as I bounced down the sandstone! One has to be careful in areas even Big Horn Sheep trip.

[Michael Kadillak]

Perhaps it is the persona one takes on behind the camera. Most folks can pick up on the attitude of "I'm in the middle of something important. Leave me alone." And generally when I am in that mode, folks stay away. However, I have been around the educational side of photography pretty much my whole career, so I am bent that way. I am more likely to make eye contact, smile, and nod -- thus become a willing open target for the curious. And it is kinda fun to listen to conversations as people pass while I am 'hidden' under the darkcloth. But 95% of the time I am photographing where there is no one around.

In Zion during my recent Artist-in-residence it was a whole different story. In my month there, I had well over 300 people looking thru the 5x7 or the 8x10 (a few got to look thru the 11x14). Missed and/or messed up a few shots because of it (the distractions, some very pretty), but it was all part of the experience for the visitors and me. If I had my volunteer uniform shirt and hat on, I was fair bait! Especially with a beautiful 100 yr-old wood and brass 5x7 over my shoulder.

Towards the end of my residence there was still a couple places I wanted to get to. I finally hiked/climbed up this one canyon I have been wanting to get back to since the early 90s. Difficult terrain so I just took the 5x7. Beautiful, but a little disappointing with a very strong wind. I saw some beautiful images with twisted trees on the slickrock, but everything was moving with the wind, including me at times. Dang good hike, though, and a couple good images made (the dead mountain sheep on the slickrock did not move much). Photos from that day below.

Took an 8hr hike up a different canyon with the 8x10. Pretty good day, finishing off with a long exposure of some stonework under the road (tunnel and culvert). I put the pack back on, walked up the sandy creek bed and caught a shoe lace on a root. My weight shifted forward and with the 45 pound pack on and a 17 pound tripod in my hand, face-planted into the creek bed -- missing all the rocks and landing on nothing but sand. A trip like that earlier in the day mostly likely would have killed me...or at least caused considerable pain as I bounced down the sandstone!

I thing you hit the nail on the head. It is the person behind the camera and how "approachable" you convey yourself. 90% of the time I go out even in any place where one might encounter people I get an audience particularly when I get out the 11x14 and 8x20. And I totally embrace the event for what it is. Most folks are very appreciative of the distraction from the norm and their inquisitive nature is just great. I now carry a box of prints with me in the field so that if I am not far from the car (which is usually the case with ULF) these folks seeing in print form B&W imagery and what is possible is quite a wonderful event. I tell them that the more that folks know that films is available and the possibilities of controlling the end result to such a degree as with LF and ULF in the final image form the more they might consider analog and the more film might be sold and that is the driver IMHO.