I just completed my Artist-in-residence (AIR) at Zion National Park. It was a great experience and I have many sheets of 5x7, 8x10 and 11x14 to develop…and many rolls of 120.
The AIR program is run through the Park’s interpretive folks, and visitor contacts are encouraged. One wears the Parks volunteer uniform for 20 hrs per week (minimum, which I greatly exceeded). One also gives a talk at the Zion Lodge and at a local university (SUU in Cedar City). I gave an extra talk/demo at the Park’s museum. The Park will pick one print to keep (all rights remain with me).
In return, one gets to live in the Grotto House, the first building in Zion NP, made of 1.5 + foot thick blocks of sandstone. The cabin is a mile up the Zion Canyon Road from the Zion Lodge. Private cars are not allowed up the canyon (unless one is staying at the lodge, then only to the lodge) and since the last shuttle exits the canyon at 8:30pm and the first one comes in at 7:20am, the AIR has the upper Zion Canyon all to oneself at night – an amazing fact, considering Zion is the second busiest park in the country. Imagine having upper Yosemite Valley all to one’s self every night for a month!
I occasionally (3 or 4 times) walked on busy trails with my 100+ year old 5x7 on the tripod and let visitors look at the image on the GG. It took me 5 hours to walk a 1.5 mile trail! More than 250 people got to look through a view camera for the first time. As I was out and about photographing, and if the timing of the light permitted, I also encouraged visitors to look thru the camera (including the 8x10 and 11x14). My photography has always had an education bend to it, so I quite enjoyed it. But on many hikes I took I saw no one or just a couple visitors.
Very few people asked if it was a Hasseblad, and a couple did ask me if I was part of a “living history” program. Most folks asked intelligent questions, mostly concerning with the advantages of using film in an era of digital cameras. I usually explained that I print with 19th Century processes and since one cannot enlarge with these processes, if I wanted a bigger print, I needed a bigger camera.
Photos: One of my van at the Grotto House, and the 5x7 on one of my hikes.
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Originally Posted by ScottPhotoCo
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