May 10, 2018
A year ago, I posted a thread asking for advice on building a portable skylight studio to shoot portraits in the field.
http://www.largeformatphotography.in...kylight+studio
Well, I did it. Last summer, I bought an 12x20' canopy tent with an 11' peak. I discarded the cover that came with it. Instead, I draped opaque fabric over the half that would be facing south, and draped the north side with white fabric. Last August, I set up the tent at a four-day folk music festival in Washington State called the Subdued Stringband Jamboree (http://www.stringbandjamboree.com/).
My approach out in the world is to shoot these 8x10 portraits for free. The people sitting for portraits sign off that I retain the rights to use the images however I want, and they can buy a print if they like the results. It's a hobby. I don't have any ambition beyond making images that appeal to me. I'm not trying to make money, and I'm certainly not angling for any notice. I did make enough selling prints, however, that I covered the cost of my film and paper, so that was great.
I'll be back at it again this coming August 9-12. Stop by if you're in the area. Everyone camps out. There's music basically 24 hours a day because everyone is walking around with instruments and they play all night around campfires. It's a good time.
All that to say, what follows are a few out-of-focus snapshots of the setup, plus a few of my favorites of the 88 portraits I shot last summer. If anyone else has done something like this, I'd love to see photographs of your setup, plus any images you'd like to share. I'd also welcome any discussion of the "WHY" of all this image-making we do. For me, I take pleasure in the process and the end-results. It's hard work and it's fun and I like the pictures these old lenses capture. I enjoy meeting the people who end up in front of the camera. Setting up out in the world like this invites that serendipity. This way, I have no idea what this summer's pictures will look like.
Cheers,
Cameron Cornell
Washington State
www.analogportraiture.com
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