Been interested in LF photography for nearly 50 years, but never got around to it. The last couple of years I've been playing around with a Kodak Medalist II with a sheet film back, shooting 2.25" x 3.25" and a bit of 6.5cm x 9cm. It wet my whistle and since 4x5 film is the same price as 2.25" x 3.25", I figured I'd finally take the plunge. I know I have a lot to learn, but I'm looking forward to it.
Best,
-Tim
NW RR Suburbs? You probably have peers in this group. Park Ridge, Des Plaines, Arlington Heights, Palitine or way up into the hinterland?
I drove taxi in Arlington Heights during the 1979 blizzard, in a Dodge Omni.
Old people could ride anywhere in the rather long town for $1, I got 50 cents after payout. Never a tip. Those old folk knew how to stretch a dollar for an up to a 12 mile slow ride.
But an Omni was good in the deep snow and almost fun for a couple rides.
3 times I got a dispatch to pick up 6 stewardess to take them to O'Hare airport. ORD. The first time I tried to refuse as the car only had seat belts for 4. Dispatch said go do it. NOW!
Fortunately this was still the era of tiny young women stews. 4 in the back and 2 in the right front seat. Cozy, as I tried to not get us all killed. Not exciting one bit.
This was job 2 after quitting school bus training in deep snow. I really needed a job! The big bus was a handful in snow and I soon realized I sure didn't want the responsibility for 60 kids. Imagine 60 screaming kids and deep snow. I don't need to imagine as when I was 8 a Minnesota school bus did a 360 on a downhill snow covered road. We stopped hanging over a T intersection. OK...
I quit.
My car then was a 1964 Dodge Dart Slant Six with a long hood. Cost almost nothing, no required insurance in those days. The snow was piled so deep all over the NW burbs that at every intersection one could not see cross traffic. So you slowly edged in and hoped for the best.
Same year I was cross country skiing on top of cars buried in parking lots so deep I never came close to scratching them.
I now live much farther south.
Welcome Tim!
Tin Can
Welcome! Show us your Chicago LF photos.
I'm originally from Ohio, and right after your blizzard of 1979, I gave my buddy from Miami University a ride home from college to Rockford. We came thru Chicago right after the snow stopped falling. 90/94 wasn't too bad, but by the time we got to Rockford, it was hard to even get off the expressway. I had my 1976 Pinto station wagon with snow tires at the time, and I remember driving around the streets of Rockford the following days, each street was a deep trench in the snow, piled up six to eight feet on both sides. And helping my buddy's dad shovel the snow off the roof of their house. You didn't need a ladder to get up there, you just walked up the snow.Originally Posted by Tin Can
That was the most intense snow I had seen until about fifteen years ago, when my wife and I were living in Portland Oregon, and we had to go thru the Cascades to get to an important event in Bend. Naturally it was winter, and naturally the snow was deep. Had to have chains on our four wheel drive vehicle, and even then, the mountain passes were barely passible. The snow was so deep on the sides of the highway (15 to 20 feet high) the snow plows had these hyper powered blowers that shot the snow up over the 15-20 feet walls of snow. It was impressive to watch but rather scary to drive in.
One of the reasons I've wanted to get into LF photography had to do with Portland, and driving our two family cars back to Chicago when we moved back in 2008. If you ever have the chance to drive US-30/I-84 east out of Portland, in the early morning as the sun is rising, make sure you have a camera. I didn't and will always regret it. The sun coming up between the walls of the Columbia River Gorge/Canyon, as the mist rises from the river, is just spectacular. Someday I'll get back out there and get the shot.
Best,
-Tim
Haven't taken any yet. Just putting together a camera package. Hope to do some test shots in the next few weeks.
Best,
-Tim
Out by the hinterlands. We're not too far from the Barrington stop. We live in the village, on the "bad side of the tracks". ;-)
Best,
-Tim
Okay, just for fun I will post one sorta LF thing. A couple years ago when I first got the Kodak Medalist and the Sheet Film Back, I was looking around on eBay for 6.5x9cm sheet film that might work with it. And I found someone selling some boxes of Kodak Super-XX sheet film from the late 1930's. I thought it would be cool to look at how they did things back then, and the price was peanuts, so I bought a box. Turns out the expiration on the film was like six months before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, that's how old this stuff was. And it still worked.
Now the image certainly won't win any awards, but I thought that it was so cool that film that had expired 78 years ago could still be used to make an image.
Best,
-Tim
Welcome, I think you will find this group the welcoming, supportive and well informed for all you online needs. There are local groups to meet up with in person when you have interests. I recommend checking out the Midwest Large Format Asylum. Nice bunch
https://www.facebook.com/groups/275113417230/
Thanks Francis.
Best,
-Tim
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