Finding Calm Within the Storm

Blizzard, Cottonwoods, River

November 15, 2019

Being a large format film photographer is an interesting avocation today. I came to shooting big film with the desire to produce large, beautiful, clear prints of the natural world. The outdoors provides me with more than subject matter. When I go “out” I am provided an energetic escape. As I like to say, I go to a beautiful place and, if all the conditions come together, I am moved to compose an image of one small, spectacular piece of that place. This has always been my source of creativity, escape, energy, rejuvenation, and ultimately, my art.

Occasionally, I get caught up in the world. I won’t delve into the details, but I lose my excitement, or motivation, or belief in the art that most often fuels me. When this happens, I find that pushing through difficult situations in the name of art can bring me back to a place of passion and creativity. The image above, “Blizzard, Cottonwoods, River”, came to life during such an experience.

Last winter the Lake Tahoe area, where I live, received massive amounts of snow. During one particular storm, all roads were closed, and we didn’t leave our home for four days. While the snow dumped, I geared up and headed out on foot. When I saw these trees silhouetted in the distance, I left the road and trudged, first through waste deep snow, then through chest deep snow, until I reached a clearing near the river. I slowly walked in a small circle until I had compacted enough snow to create a dense enough platform upon which I could set up my tripod, large format camera, and myself. After composing my image, loading a film holder into the camera and metering the scene, I waited until the snow fell heavily and the wind blew hard, creating true whiteout conditions. Then, I clicked the shutter release and exposed one sheet of color film.

The image is quiet, seemingly still. I think that is because I was able to convey how I felt in this place, in these conditions, when I experienced this scene and composed this image. With the world around us moving at a crazy pace, full of divisiveness and buried in unrealistic expectations and minimal attention spans, it is interesting that the one place I can find tranquility is within a storm. I don’t wish to mirror the world by providing images in technicolor conjured up in the computer in order to hold a viewers attention for 8 seconds and earn a “like” on social media. I want to share the power of the natural world as a remedy to those things. I hope to compose images that collectors will escape to when the world is overwhelming. These images can be both serene and powerful. I hope images like “Blizzard, Cottonwoods, River” speak to you as they do to me. The magic of big film is that it enables me to make these moments eternal. My experience, in that moment in time, can be shared and experienced forever.

After I’ve completed my photographic process in the field, I pack everything away, hoist my pack, and toil back through the conditions that originally motivated me to find beauty. As I trudged through the snow, I wondered if I had gotten it right. Was my exposure correct? Was the lens free of snow? Did the camera shake? I question my sanity, realizing I am wet, cold, tired and have along slow hike ahead of me. After several weeks, I received my developed film. The exposure was good, details / focus clear, my memory was awakened. As I drum scan my film and work in my modern digital darkroom, I question every subtle detail. I leave and come back. It takes days. In the end, my collectors will judge my vision. If you are moved as I was during the creation of this image, it was worth suffering for my art.

That is “The Fine Art of Nature”.

This image is ready to be released and is available for your collection! Please contact me directly and I will help make your purchase possible. Click Here for assistance!

Details:
Camera: Canham 5x7 Metal Field Camera with 4x5 Film Back
Lens: Caltar IIN (Rodenstock) 90mm
Film: Fuji Provia 100F 4x5 inch transparency film
Tripod: Gitzo 1325 Carbon Fiber
Tripod Head: Really Right Stuff BH55 Ball Head
 

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Pursuing the Elegant Landscape I've Envisioned

For years I've had a vision of what I would describe as "elegant landscapes". This vision includes characteristics such as fine, subtle detail, subdued colors or tones of black and white, calm compositions and unrivaled archival quality. This vision is based on a feeling that I experience in nature and want to convey through my work. EarIy in my career I moved to large format film photography for its ability to enforce this style in my work. The care required to compose the art, and the fine, subtle detail that came through in my large scale prints brought this vision to life. 

However, I found that I was still enabling the sensationalized imagery we are all bombarded with to hold me back from truly pursuing the elegant landscape I was conceptualizing. Honestly, I allowed external forces, at least in part, to influence a segment of my color work. I was afraid to take the risk and stray from todays norm. While I was shooting large format film instead of digital, and primarily capturing subdued natural tones, I knew there was an additional path I could follow to fully immerse myself in the pursuit of this vision. For the last several months I have been doing just that.

For almost a year I have been studying, pursuing and practicing a very traditional photographic printing method called Platinum / Palladium printing. Along with being the most archival printing method available, this black & white printing process is a craft that I control from start to finish. I expose the individual sheets of black & white film, I hand process each sheet of film, I can then choose to scan the film and print larger digital negatives, I mix my own Pt/Pd sensitizer and hand coat cotton rag paper (Hahnemuhle Platinum Rag) making my own photographic paper. I then place the film and paper in direct contact in a printing frame (contact printing) and expose the photograph under UV light within a light box I built by hand. Finally, I develop, wash and rinse the print by hand in my darkroom. I am able to control whether the print is cool in tone (black and white) or warm in tone (light to chocolate brown) by adjusting the temperature of the developer. As an end result, I am beginning to produce the elegant landscapes I have envisioned by taking control of an entirely new manual process that has an authenticity unlike anything I have previously experienced.

Not only am I excited about bringing this new process, and extension of my vision, to life as part of my fine art gallery offerings, but I am growing through the process. That is the beauty of art. Through the pain of pursuing a passion, we learn about ourselves and have our entire lives enhanced. Artists, as do most people, have ups and downs. I have allowed myself to focus on learning this process for months. I have also made the investment and taken the financial risk necessary to pursue this vision by investing in the hardware and materials required to produce tests, test prints, failed prints and finally, successful prints. I feel a sense of both pride and fulfillment in having pursued this vision, regardless of the outcome. That said, I am extremely proud of, and excited about, the amazing quality of the prints I am now able to produce.

Subscribe to my Free Insider's Newsletter and receive a 40% discount on this image. I am releasing a limited edition of only 10, 8x10 inch Platinum / Palladium prints on 11x14 inch paper. This offer enables my subscribers to obtain a rare historic print at a substantial discount, while helping me progress to producing 16x20 inch Platinum / Palladium prints. Click HERE to subscribe and receive your discount today.

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