Patience with the landscape

[Ulophot]

I was reminded recently of a story about Paul Strand, told to me by his close friend, Walter Rosenblum, many years ago. I may not have the details right, but the gist is clear. I preface it with a note on Strand's early landscape work, which is cited by photography historians for having broken ground in integrating sky and clouds more fully, that is, with more compositional unity, in the overall design than others before him.

Strand had been given a commercial assignment for, I believe, a skyline photograph, and invited Walter to accompany him. The two set out early, Strand chose a location, set up the view camera, and waited. They spent a good part of the day waiting, but Strand never made a photo. "The coulds are not right," he told Walter. But the weather would be good the next day, so Walter readily agreed to accomplany Strand again.

By the end of the second day, Strand had made no more images than he had the first. Same reason.

Walter went out with Strand again the third day, but this time Strand's judgement -- remained the same. Clouds not right. After that, Walter left Strand to his own devices for that assignment.

For those who imagine landscape photography to be easy, a lesson.

[Ken Lee]

A great and instructive story. Thanks for sharing !

[johnmsanderson]

indeed!

[Mark Sampson]

Somewhere in the literature is a quote from Strand, as I remember it, "There is a valid moment for every cloud." No doubt he had the eye for clouds, along with many other things.

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

"not right" for who?

[John Kasaian]

"not right" for who?

Not right for Strand to take the shot.

[John Kasaian]

Somewhere in the literature is a quote from Strand, as I remember it, "There is a valid moment for every cloud." No doubt he had the eye for clouds, along with many other things.

That's a great quote!

[Alan9940]

Great story! Reminds me of one of my own from many years ago... I had hiked through the woods to get to this abandoned rock quarry and, as I approached the scene, it was awash in sunlight and was absolutely beautiful! However, it was a very cloudy day and my beautiful light vanished in an instant. Remembering a quip from my photo mentor--he said, "If you set the camera up, get ready to take a shot, and don't get it no big deal. But, if the camera is in your bag you definitely won't get the shot!" So, I picked my composition, set up the camera, loaded a film holder, pulled the dark slide, estimated exposure based on having sunlight on the scene, and waited... About 45 mins later, I could see a small slit in the clouds that, if I was lucky, would allow sunlight through for a brief moment. I watched the sky as the clouds slowly moved and, YES, in a moment my scene was awash with that beautiful light, once again. I reached up and pushed the plunger on the cable release. About 15 secs later, the sun was gone and didn't return for the rest of the day. One of my favorite experiences out photographing and a really nice photo, IMHO. ;)

[Alan Klein]

Great story! Reminds me of one of my own from many years ago... I had hiked through the woods to get to this abandoned rock quarry and, as I approached the scene, it was awash in sunlight and was absolutely beautiful! However, it was a very cloudy day and my beautiful light vanished in an instant. Remembering a quip from my photo mentor--he said, "If you set the camera up, get ready to take a shot, and don't get it no big deal. But, if the camera is in your bag you definitely won't get the shot!" So, I picked my composition, set up the camera, loaded a film holder, pulled the dark slide, estimated exposure based on having sunlight on the scene, and waited... About 45 mins later, I could see a small slit in the clouds that, if I was lucky, would allow sunlight through for a brief moment. I watched the sky as the clouds slowly moved and, YES, in a moment my scene was awash with that beautiful light, once again. I reached up and pushed the plunger on the cable release. About 15 secs later, the sun was gone and didn't return for the rest of the day. One of my favorite experiences out photographing and a really nice photo, IMHO. ;)

Where can we see the picture?

[Pieter]

I was reminded recently of a story about Paul Strand, told to me by his close friend, Walter Rosenblum, many years ago. I may not have the details right, but the gist is clear. I preface it with a note on Strand's early landscape work, which is cited by photography historians for having broken ground in integrating sky and clouds more fully, that is, with more compositional unity, in the overall design than others before him.

Strand had been given a commercial assignment for, I believe, a skyline photograph, and invited Walter to accompany him. The two set out early, Strand chose a location, set up the view camera, and waited. They spent a good part of the day waiting, but Strand never made a photo. "The coulds are not right," he told Walter. But the weather would be good the next day, so Walter readily agreed to accomplany Strand again.

By the end of the second day, Strand had made no more images than he had the first. Same reason.

Walter went out with Strand again the third day, but this time Strand's judgement -- remained the same. Clouds not right. After that, Walter left Strand to his own devices for that assignment.

For those who imagine landscape photography to be easy, a lesson.
Impatience is my biggest problem with plein-air large format photography. I can fiddle and adjust in the studio for hours or days to set up and make a shot, but I can't seem to take the time to set everything up outdoors. Part of my problem is, I ask myself is this the right one (location, angle, etc)? Is it worth the time and effort? When I can make a nice medium-format image in (relatively) no time at all. And experiment while I'm at it.

[pepeguitarra]

Where can we see the picture? Would you really like to see it (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doubting_Thomas)? :confused:

[Alan Gales]

When I first got into photography a few friends of mine also bought 35mm cameras. We would all go out shooting together at various places at different times depending upon when we could get together. My friend Dan told me that I was the best of us at getting a decent shot even when conditions were not favorable. He then asked me what what I thought I could do if I timed my photography for the best conditions. His question was one of the best pieces of photography advice I ever got.

[Alan9940]

Where can we see the picture?

The presence of light doesn't come across too well in this down-sampled scan, but a gelatin silver print sings!

192649

[Alan Klein]

Nice shot. I like the geometry.