8x10 - a comedy of errors

[Willie]

https://fstoppers.com/landscapes/bea...-valley-174163

This gentleman has done video logs of his 8x10 trip to Death Valley. A comedy of errors that mount up quickly as he spends time trying to work with the camera. Ends up with a damaged Ebony and a trashed Ritter out of it.

Worth watching, especially as he reviews the chromes he shot. How he goes about it and his editing of the images is interesting. Maybe he is distracted by trying to video what is happening. I have never seen anyone so careful be so hard on gear.

Main question I have after watching is how can anyone drive around Death Valley on the roads and trails and keep a vehicle so clean?

[Thom Bennett]

Ouch! Is that common practice for landscape photographers to leave their cameras set up overnight unattended? I do appreciate how carefully he watches the light and plans each shot.

[ghostcount]

. . . Is that common practice for landscape photographers to leave their cameras set up overnight unattended?. . .

[Thom Bennett]

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

[Thalmees]

Hello Willie,
Thanks too much for presenting this great example of photographer.
Mr. Ben, is documenting the details behind photography, not his own photography only. Extra efforts by Ben.
Footnotes, that are genuine part of the photography pages, explaining what has been written above. Marvelous, saying the least.
Much of these issues and details are not of any level of concerns, and hardly being even considered by digital photographers. It's only one element of comparison between what is digital and what is photographic.
Wish he join this forum if not already a member.
Yes, most of what he do, is usually done by many(film) photographers in their trips. But documenting that is really an extra job toward others.
Car, food, camping, timing, safety, clever guessing/expecting, etc ...
Light observation, planning, studying weather, composing, planned waiting, correct time/place, etc ...
Thanks so much Mr. Ben Horne.
Of course, being honest and open to show us that big faults, is another positive from Ben.
I have my critique also around some details in his practice, but I find any critique is just silly beside the great positive message the videos deliver to any type of community, specially from a young artist photographer like Ben.
Do not know Ben personally, and did not watch more than tow videos by him in late 2016. Sent one to a local group of digital photographers to show how much effort, time and details behind making a single photograph, which can not be visible immediately!
Could not watch 10 videos today by this photographer, and not saying something fair about his experience and the kind willing to share others the details of making his art.
Thanks Willie for sharing.

[letchhausen]

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

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.

[David Schaller]

Ouch! Is that common practice for landscape photographers to leave their cameras set up overnight unattended? I do appreciate how carefully he watches the light and plans each shot.

Okay, biting my tongue to not go overboard, but I would say no, for many reasons, but especially not up on a ridge of sand in Death Valley, with a dark cloth attached. I'll just leave it at that.

[Two23]

Sometimes when I'm waiting for a train in the middle of nowhere at night, I'll leave camera & flash set up for up to half an hour while I go buy a snack or something, but that's pretty rare. There is no way I'd leave an 8x10 Ebony sitting out unattended. Most of the cameras/lenses I've had damaged were damaged by wind blowing the tripod over.


Kent in SD

[Jim Noel]

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.

[djhopscotch]

Ben Horne has been documenting his yearly trips to Death Valley since 2011, and i don't get the assumption that he doesn't check in with rangers when he comes into the Valley.

He has always admitted that leaving the cameras over night would eventually bite him, this year it got him twice. His reasoning for leaving the camera in place is fairly simple: he wants to capture the morning light and it takes him a long time to set his composition so that if he were to try and get set up with the sun rising he would miss the light.

I guess for the crime of showing his process to those interesting in large format landscape photography he has to face the scorn of everyone who has never made a mistake in their life.