Post trip blues

[Robert A. Zeichner]

I think there is an important lesson in all of this. It took me quite a while to get to a stage where I could dependably bring back worthwhile negatives from my trips, but then again, there is always the weather, over which none of us have any control. But the lesson , I feel relates to the game of golf, of all things! In golf, about 90% of all of the factors that contribute to that perfect shot need to happen BEFORE you take your backswing. Club selection, stance, grip, aim, strategy ( in the case of having to shoot from behind a tree, for example) all can be dealt with BEFORE taking that backswing. In LF photography, it's pretty much the same. Just as golf pros suggest going through a "ritual" when getting set for a shot, the same can work for you when making that photographic shot! The important thing is not to vary from that ritual. In this way, only the variables that fall into the remaining 10% of the process need to be thought about seriously. As in golf, practice is very important. Also like golf, we all have bad shots from time to time. Maybe even a whole string of them! In golf, the game begins with your next stroke! If you dwell too much on past mistakes, you'll rattle your concentration and continue to make more mistakes. If you put mistakes behind you and get back to that ritual, you'll eventually achieve success. Photography is a wonderful combination of Science and Art. Artists have periods of creative "Dry Heaves" and need to step back for a bit to regroup from time to time. Don't give up. Find the routine that you feel comfortable with and stick with that. When you run into problems, you can always come back here. We're all here to listen, share and learn.

[Chris Hawkins]

This is why it is good to enjoy photography on more than one level. The process can be as satisfying as the final result.

[Mark_437]

I like Robert's reply about 90% of it happening before the event. My rule is "look before you shoot". If I go to a new area and have little time, I generally fire away with a 35mm and hopefully get a few good shots, but I don't bother with a view camera because if I can't give things the study and respect that large format deserves, it's usually not worth it.

I've gradually come into a working mode you could call "photography as religion". It works as follows: I'm now using a very large camera. (12x20, and I must say all the naysayers are wrong - it's almost as easy as 4x5 and the enjoyment seems to increase in direct proportion to the film area, but that's a subject for another post...) Because I have a lot of demands on my time and I don't wish to spend all my free time away from my family, I mostly photograph early on Sunday mornings when my kids are still asleep. And due to the camera size (and film cost!) I only shoot one subject per outing (although sometimes I expose two sheets). And because I don't want to waste precious early morning light driving around desperately looking for subject matter, I don't go unless I already have a subject selected. So what this means is that I'm ALWAYS on the lookout for interesting subjects during the week as I go about my business, and when I find one I make a mental note of where it is and what sort of weather would show it best, etc. Sometimes I go on short "scouting" expeditions on my way home from the store or wherever. I don't mean to imply that I find one every week or that I shoot one on the Sunday immediately following it. Some have been in my mental file for years, and I look at them whenever I drive by, making notes like "if it rains this week that pond would be magic, assuming the clouds also cooperate".

My point in all of this is that by the time I've made the commitment to photograph something, it is with a lot of contemplation and the knowledge that I have one holder to use on one subject, and although things don't always come out perfect, I must say that since I've started this contemplative/unhurried method I've been happier with my photography than I've been in a long time. And if I go out and things aren't quite right then I just scout the nearby area for a bit (knowing I won't set up the camera) then go home and have breakfast with my family... and those outings are also wonderful in their own way. I guess I'm just saying that you can't force magic. Look and stay open and you will find it.

Best,

[Jacque Staskon]

A couple of decades ago I took a workshop with Minor White. At first I was off put by the fact that for the first few days he would not allow us to use a camera. We were there to learn from the master and I was quite upset that he had us doing all these other things, like thinking and talking and looking and seeing but no shooting. In hindsight, I was probably too young to really experience the quality of this mans teaching. Anyway, by the time the workshop was over I had only exposed 4 sheets of film. 30 years later they are still my favorite 2 images. What I learned was that Only by throughly knowing your subject and yourself will you give pleasure to your viewers, and you. I am still not sure if we can ever please ourselves. Seems we are our own toughest critics. When you are new to an area everything looks special and you become caught up in the idea that if you don't photograph it now you won't be able to later. So you make questionable choices, its only natural. This is why you are disappointed, you did not take the time to enjoy, learn, and find the areas magic. Go back with out your camera and just smell, listen and enjoy the wind on your face. Then get your camera and go back again.

[Bruce Schultz]

I can't tell you how much I appreciate everyone's input. This site is amazing in the spirit of assistance and eagerness to lend advice. I know what many of you are saying about stepping back and soaking up a new area before taking the first shot. Trouble is, this was my 7th trip out there, the 2 nd with a view camera, and last trip I took the obvious shots. This year, I focu sed on lesser-known areas. My frustration wasn't in the fotographs themselves as the screw-ups I made. But many of your comments are helpful as I consider what to fotograf in my own backyard, to get beyond the can't-see-the-forests-for-the- trees syndrome. Perseverance, bottom line, leads to results. But I think I'll go fishing first chance I get this week ---- and bring my camera. Thanks again

[Bill Glickman]

I have to admit, this is probalby the most humorouse thread ever... as we all read the posts, we say, yeah I made that screw up too! There was a wealth of experiience offered above. I have summarized my mistakes in a few major categories.

1. Equipment failure - there is so much equipment we use, any one of the components can hurt us, meters, film alignment, lab processing errors, light leaks, over / underated film, knobs that do not stay tightened down, shutter or apt. that are not "on the money" etc. It is so important to know your equipment inside and out, and investing in check ups or tests is some of the best money ever spent. If you limit these by knowing and repairing / adjusting your equipment, you have an amazing head start. This takes a lot of time, and most of us do not want to do it.

2. Technique - LF photography is a thinking mans game, there is no end to the amount of things you need to know and when you need to recall them, you need some method to quickly retreive the information. I have a calculator with 40 formulaes programmed in, charts, markings on my cameras, bellows compensation charts showing focus distance and their respective stop adjustments... etc. Not knowing all your basics, tilt angles, DOF, camera shake, etc. is a recipe for failure. A lot of improving your technique comes from evaluating your mistakes, very painful, but a great teacher. One of the worst aspects of us weekend shooters is the fact we go too long in between shoots for everything to be second nature all times.... this is why a quick check list never hurts before firing the shutter.

3. Subject... at this point in my photography, this is one of my hardest parts... finding subjects that overwhelm you with your eyses is not that easy. A perfectly executed shot of a mountain is not that pleasing to most people... our standards have become higher, so we need to look further for that great shot... and that takes time, time that most of us can not afford on a trip! So we tend to just shoot to be sure we have something to show from our trip! The poster with the 12x20 has a great plan for LF,stalk your scene and study it, get their early and think your way through the entire process. Atleast you may get a keeper or two on each trip, and that's not bad! I have a ton of perfectly executed photos of subjects that are just blah...and therefore, I don't care if they were shot on 35mm or 20x24" format, nobody would get excited about them... So I have learned to become a scouter first and a photographer second. It's not what I had in mind when I started shooting LF, but it works!

[fw]

Reading this thread, it is a relief to know I'm not alone in having mixed results! One of my very best photos was taken only shortly after I had bought an 4x5, and I put that down to a beginner's concentration on doing everything technically right, and the fact that, after a long period of intense work in my day job, a release from that seemed to sharpen my vision. Good luck always helps, of course! For several months after that period I found it difficult to get images that came close to the early ones - it doesn't help that I have to do my photography in fits and starts as I am not a professional.

One of the things that interests me greatly is the uncertainty over the final results, which several posters above have referred to. Only this weekend, I took a picture of a tree stump surrounded by evergreen plants and ferns which so far have survived the Japanese winter. I knew that the stump was intrinsically interesting, but it was only after looking at the negative that I realised that the wood had naturally split in such a way as to reveal, or imply, several Chinese characters - those for water, fire, rice and "big", all of which contribute to the nature of the image. Does it really matter that I had not seen this on the groundglass, but only when the negative emerged from the tank?

[Bruce Schultz]

When it rains, it dumps. To add insult to injury, yesterday at a local photo sho w, 3 sorry grainy, out-of-focus, muddy fotos won in what I suspect was a rigged show. Not saying I should have won, after all, I was happy with the Award of Mer it, but there were plenty of other good black and whites that should have gotten something. My wife won a 1st place for a color snapshot with a point-and-shoot 35mm. I laughed all that off and started looking at my fotos again last night, a nd darn it, they're good enough and I like them after all. And this morning I got back on that horse and rode off to take a foto of a neat old building in early morning sun. 1 shot only. I would have stopped and taken a nother shot that I've neglected. Maybe tomorrow. I've been putting off photograp hing scenes I drive past daily on my way to and from work. I have to admit that 1 screw-up turned into a nice foto. A nude clutching a clay pot was accidentally double-exposed with a shot of a backlit palm frond. It was my first double exposure, albeit serendipitously, and I like it. I was amazed that Ansel Adams had so many bungled shots. I read his account of s hooting at Mount McKinley and he dropped several holders in a creek, and huge mo squitoes landed on his film while the dark slide was out and they appeared on th e negative as giant bugs! But on that same trip, he got one of his classic image s. I'm amazed at how these guys persevered. And how those photographers who trek ked into the west with fragile glass plate negatives got anything is mind boggli ng.

[Paul Schilliger]

Last saturday as we had some snow-falls, I drove to a mountain area nearby. The scenery was neat but I could not stop the car for the side-ways had not been cleared. I suddenly realiz ed my snow chains, someone had borrowed from me days earlier where left home! So I decided the wise st thing was to return while possible. I went back home and unloaded part of my frustration on the inte rnet, in the LF Forum in particular. Today, I left work a little earlier and returned. The side-ways had been cleared but two mild and windy days had changed the scenery. So I headed for a mountain lake. I final ly found a place where I framed some uninteresting "illustration" photographs. But as the sun came down ( and the temperature as well!), the sun was crossing some light clouds on the horizon and behind me s ome patches of ice on the lake edges started to glow beautifully of a golden reflection. I searched for an image and decided I would rather squeeze the framing, but the 300 mm was too narrow. So I returned to my b ag and mounted the 210 mm. But by the time I framed something that pleased me, the light was passin g by very rapidly, so I hastily took my measures, pulled the quickload wrapper and as swiftly as my froz en fingers would permit, fired the shot just as the last color patches went off. But the shutter didn't g o and I realized my lens was still open! My hands where so cold I had not pushed the knob all the way! There was no point rushing to the bag for an other sheet for all color had gone by then. So after refraining from some x7=:~F, I tried relax and enjoyed the scenery before I returned home. But tomorrow if I can, I will re turn.

[Sam Bowman]

I had a similar experience during a trip to New Mexico to visit family. I took my 4x5 and bought a changing bag so that I could reload the holders "conveniently". By the time I got home and developed and printed the shots, I found that the first eight pictures were okay but all remaining shots (i.e. the field loaded film using the changing bag) suffered horribly from dust spots...what are some good pictures otherwise seem to have the pox. My promise to myself is to use a local bathroom and commit to doing the work necessary to create a dark environment somewhere rather than suffer the disappointment of the changing bag syndrome...luckily I have family in New Mexico and visit every year or so, so I can repeat some of the pictures...it would me more of an injury if I had the experience during a "once in a lifetime" journey...