My most common field mistake is believing the wind will subside simply because I want it to.
Yes, I often fall victim to the illusion of wishful thinking. How ego-centric of me.
What actually makes the wind subside is not wishful thinking, but saying “I hate rabbits” out loud.
I live in the windiest country in the world. In the worst conditions, it really is best to just use something like a Mamiya 7...the lenses are so sharp that it can blend in well with 4x5 if you use a fine grain film. Otherwise, I resort to the same tricks as the others...usually using the car as a wind break if possible, otherwise natural wind breaks like boulders, houses etc. Certain photos are just not practical to attempt if the wind is blowing over 40-50mph (which it does here quite regularly in autumn and winter).
I don’t think the “I hate rabbits” magic trick applies to any particular species.
I simply discovered it by trial and error, going thru a Noah’s Ark of variations until I found one that calmed the winds.
I actually like rabbits, and don’t think the incantation puts any of them at risk.
Back in December of 2004, I accompanied Paul Wainwright to the summit of Mt. Washington (NH), where we spent a week testing equipment out in what is commonly referred to as “the worst weather in the world.”
At any rate…Paul had constructed this amazing, weatherproof box - inside of which fit his 4x5 camera (Zone VI I think) - with the box itself having been designed by Paul to allow him some decent access to camera controls, plus (if I’m not mistaken), a means of removing/inserting film holders. He’d done a writeup about this “weatherproof view camera” project for View Camera Magazine back in the early aughts.
The subject of my own testing was my newly built L45A camera, which both extremely rugged (and basically submersible without a lens), and the shape of which presents a very “slippery” surface to any wind present. This, combined with my aerodynamic duct-tape viewing hood (see photo), plus the Camera Bellows Co. bellows - so very lightweight that it simply vibrated and whipped around in the wind while transmitting virtually no vibration to the camera (while remaining completely effective) - makes for a rig which can remain quite useable in some pretty high winds.
Oh…and no, we did not sleep out in a tent, but instead were considered “guests/volunteers,” (we did a bit of cooking for the summit crew) and thus were given bunk rooms. Amazing though…that wind (commonly hurricane force), always heard and felt through the walls of the summit house!
I remember one night spent atop a mountain summit under hurricane force winds. I wedged myself into a big crack in a rock, and used the tent more like a wrap, staying awake all night trying to hold it together. That was before I owned a true expedition-quality Bibler tent. The following morning was totally calm, but with icicles protruding 8 feet straight out horizontal from the cliff face. That's when I pulled out the Sinar, not the evening before! But then too the steep slope below had also changed. I was anticipating a fun glissade down the long snow chute, and now it was slick hard ice. I broke off the end of my beloved classic old wooden-handle ice axe halfway down, slid fast clear to the lake at the bottom and broke through the ice - fortunately, the shallow end of the lake. But ice water filling my boots and soaking my pants up to the knee was annoying. I still have what remains of that axe, and should probably have a new ash hardwood shaft turned for it, just for sake of nostalgia. But thereafter, I went modern with a fiberglass handle one.
Well over 100mph winds that previous night. Sounded like a jet fighter right overhead hours on end. I think the highest winds I have ever shot a view camera in were around 70mph.
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