While I had my “real job” I used to visit this area DUMBO whenever I could, usually the weekends, because I just thought it was fascinating to be near such ancient buildings. I had no idea it would soon be turned into an “upscale” area. So, of course, at the time, I look at the negatives, and feel they are good, but that they won’t be interesting to anyone else. Time goes by, and the stuff that fascinated me has been vaporized – mostly.
No picture in this one. Just a dilemma. As you can see, if you are following this at all, I’m mostly scanning medium and large format negatives. Don’t know what that means? Don’t care? Well, why should you. It’s ancient technology.
But here’s the thing. The medium format cameras were mostly square format. There were two that weren’t: the Pentax 67, and the Pentax 645. I have tons of shots from these two rectangle cameras. The view cameras were all 4 x 5 inches, so again, no problem there.
But the Rollei TLR and the Mamiya 6, I did a hell of a lot of shooting with those guys, and both are square.
Most of the time, I did my shooting with the idea that I’d figure out how to crop it to rectangle later. But some of these square shots don’t really need to be cropped. The only reason I do it is to simplify things in the photography store. It’s tough enough offering tons of options for sizing without having to add square to the choice, because you know what’s going to happen. As soon as I do it, I’ll start getting questions about whether I can crop (although they won’t use the word) some of the rectangles to square; and then I’ll have one more set of questions to answer.
As it is, I am often asked if I can print the rectangle prints as square prints. The customer generally doesn’t know what’s involved, i.e. you have to take a bit off from somewhere. (Take a bit off the top please barber).
Anyway – then you get into the matting thing, which is tough enough to keep up with in the sizes I offer. In fact, I swear, if a print is ever damaged in shipping – it is always a print that was matted, because the laws of physics and Fedex say that the longer and flatter a package is, the greater the odds that it will be creased, folded, bumped, or mutilated. Send a print that’s in a 5 x 7 package and you can wrap it around with so much stuffing and cardboard that it could be dropped down the person’s chimney and survive (so long as there was no fire going).
Once you get up to 16 x 20, even with three sheets of cardboard, and another sheet or two outside, and a bit of metal plating inside, one day it is going to be buried beneath a safe in the Fedex truck.
So there you have it. To add square shots or not to add square shots. That is the problem.
For now, I’ll say no. I’ll cut the things so that they’re in the 4×5 ratio and not let anyone know that they’re actually missing part of the photo. Actually, I do that already. Since there are plenty of square medium format shots on the site, and not a one of them is square – well – there you have it. Practicality wins out of artistry.
4×5 Field Camera. Tmax 100 Film. Second visit to Sedona. I was there three times. Each time it had become more touristy. Here the cameras got larger with each trip; whereas with Paris, they got smaller with each trip. Urban v. Landscape explains that.
Opening clams for a living can be dangerous on the hands and interfere with your piano technique. I’ve seen it happen where a would be Julliard student completely ruined their chances by ruining their fingers opening clams for a living.
The Fourteenth Ward
“To be born in the street means to wander all your life, to be free. It means accident and incident, drama, movement. It means above all dream. A harmony of irrelevant facts which gives to your wandering a metaphysical certitude. In the street you learn what human beings really are; otherwise, or afterwards, you invent them.
What is not in the open street is false, derived, that is to say, literature”
Henry Miller – Black Spring.
When I was reading Henry Miller, he was considered vulgar, outrageous, and obscene. He still is by many. But for a creative person, he was a hero for me. His best work is the life of an artist who has already passed the age when such things are considered by sane people. Remind you of anyone?
* * * And on a tech note, this was one of those night negatives with just about nothing on it, that I ran through tone mapping and used every bit of skill to pull something from the shadows areas. I really should have had a tripod with me if I was going to be with a single camera, one lens, and it was medium format. Nevertheless, things are what they are.
* * * And what were my favorite Henry Miller books. That’s easy: Sexus, Nexus and Plexus. If you only think – oh, he’s that dirty writer from the 50’s – do yourself a favor; get Sexus and find a passage where you talks about food. Or the process of writing. Or his time spent at the cosmococic telegraph office. (He uses a different name each time he writes about it). I used to do the same thing when I wrote about my time at the ad agency.
Yes, his style – personal and yet somehow managing to use a lot of great words, and at the same time wind up with a chapter that’s a story, even though he has to circle around forever to get to it. That style, and also the style of writing in “other people’s voices” - I use all the time. At least when I’m writing well.
I might start with something that actually happened, like the closet doors sticking – but then go off down an avenue of imagination where I’m treading the line between making things up so that the story can have a nice narrative curve; and downright lying because the events are boring.  That’s really what this is all about, when it’s going well.
When it’s not going well, it’s just a depository for ideas, photos, and did I say ideas? That maybe I will get back to and probably I won’t. And now my eyes are closing, and I’m happy I found the right image for this post. The right image for any post.
I could go on and tell you another story – about how I recently got into smoking cigars – and how I’m getting a box shipped to me of Upmann’s tomorrow, which is really what I’m waiting for; and how it annoys the hell out of everybody; and how it’s impossible to smoke cigarettes in NYC unless you’re a millionaire because the state has taken over their action from the mafia, taxing our vices… and I imagine that there will be the usual cry of don’t start smoking cigars; but it falls on deaf, addictive ears, that need this sort of calming effect. Best part of the day: sitting on the fire-escape, with the cat on a little rug I’ve placed out there; and me reading the paper on the iPhone with a good cigar and a vivid cross-wind in the fading light of the city caressing the one big elm tree in the backyard. Okay, caressing might be going too far, but I’ll use it anyway. The wind carries the sweet smoke towards the elm tree, caressing and inspecting it…. [snore...]
Cat jumps up on the bed when he sees I’m closing down computer and lights are going out; and my arm goes under the pillow; and the cat, now weighing in around 15 pounds – puts his head down sideways in the nook of my hand and wrist and purrs until we both fall asleep…
Next thing I know, something is tapping me on the forehead. Cat wants attention. Cat wants food. Cat wants something….
Let’s jump back to Paris for a few minutes. From first trip, 1991. Tbe financial district.
I was only there for a week. I see that I shot about 50 rolls with the Mamiya 6. Almost time to go and finish off France. Everywhere I turn, I find stacks of negatives.
A long time ago. Pre 9/11. Pre-recession. First Night on New Year’s Eve. 12 Midnight. Grand Central.
This was done a few years back with a crappy p/s camera. Now I’m in big trouble since my current camera (500d) can actually shoot high quality stuff). I have to be very careful to stay away from hitting that movie button or my time will be totally wasted.
circa 1993. 4×5 View Camera. Tmax 100.
Every time I process this shot I do it differently. It was on the way from Sedona, early morning, the puddle frozen with some glare, and I just remember the usual feeling of – do I really want to stop to shoot this. I often had this feeling when traveling with the view camera. Did I really want to get out and go through the whole rigmarole. In those days, I was heavy into what I had learned about the zone system – Ansels way of placing tones on what we’d know see easily in the histogram. Anyway – eventually I expect to have at least 30 decent landscapes from all that shooting.
And this is a shot that I have put into the store, which sold once in a while. If I had to do it again – I would’ve used a longer lens to get some compression but I was shivering – and wanted to get the thing on film as quickly as possible. After all the setup, I only took this one shot. Then packed up and headed on to Flagstaff where I didn’t find a single thing to shoot. I should’ve just stayed here and done a few exposures, but it seemed like one of those throw-away Ansel shots that he had already done better. I think his was a rendition of Aspens. Mine of course is not pure, like his was. This one is filled with carvings, hearts, and whatnot in the tree bark, not to mention the road marker which I liked having in the shot.
This was towards the end of my first round with the view camera. When I got back to NYC, I sold it. Then I got the idea of using a view camera to shoot urban stuff with, and got my next camera which I used for the subway shots, and a bunch of other urban things. I can tell you that when you took that big negative out of the soup and held it to the light – it always gave you a good feeling to have such a chunk of film.
Sounds like view cameras are still around, and film is made for them (one of the commentators mentioned this – sorry forgot who). I wonder what would be a good light-weight modern view camera that you could lug around without breaking your back. No way I could make the place into a darkroom again – but this 4990 scanner is giving very good results. Esp. since I recently cleaned it up good and found the proper film holder and recent Epson drivers.
It takes you into an entirely different world than anything you can do with digital unless I suppose you can spring for a digital back. But the part that I enjoyed, was actually the shooting. The feeling of having the cloth over your head, and focusing on the upside down backwards image. Thinking about swings and tilts and all that. Who knows… let me finish up with what I’ve got and then maybe I’ll look around to see what’s up with contemporary 4×5s.
Now, this is strange. I can remember where I was standing, that it was flat, and how I was composing the picture with the Mamiya 6 on a tripod, and there were the remains of a campfire nearby; but frankly – I can’t quite remember if this was Sedona or Yosemite. Those are the only choices. I feel like these were called “the two sisters.” But that was in Yosemite, and I sort of feel this was Sedona. Almost for absolute sure.
So I can go back through my Sedona and Yosemite stuff, and figure it out for sure, this was just one that I had pulled out a few years ago to scan and isn’t in the original leaf of negatives.
UPDATE: DEFINITELY YOSEMITE. I found my stash of Yosemite MF and that’s where this is.
