Any Women 4x5-ers Out There - Ramblings by a Photographer

I love to learn. I really love the whole process of learning. Figuring things out, getting them to work or not and moving on. I really love to learn! I go to YouTube quite often for short snippet videos on how to do things.

A thought hit me - "I wonder how many other women photographers are using 4x5 field cameras?" So, I did a search, then another search and another and another and I found a small handful - and only a few documentaries on women in history that used large format cameras. Why is that? Why am I only finding a small hand full. I feel like I am repeating myself... Are there any other female photographers out there using large format cameras?

It really is such a wonderful art form, that large negative is so amazing. It is also a way of slowing down and being one with the space that you are in. I know, it sounds kinda "unicorns and rainbows" - but it really is. You have what seems like 50 bazillion things to remember - did you place your highlights reading in the right place on your meter - what about the shadows...you know what they say, "shoot for the shadows - develop for the highlights". Did you close your lens, is your shutter speed set correctly, what about your f stop, are you sure you're in focus - are YOU SURE EVERYTHING IS IN FOCUS?....and on and on and on oh yeah, and the one that gets me - did you pull your dark slide? Ugh! You really do have to slow down. But it is only you - and if you forgot to pull the dark slide on that last sheet, you glance around to make sure no one noticed it - there is no one there...you go back and pull the dark slide and press that shutter and think - hmmmm, I sure hop I remembered everything. Then you wait.

I took a few hours to myself this beautiful morning. Absolutely gorgeous, not a single flipping cloud in the sky - but it wasn't gray and foggy either. I'll take the "not a cloud in the sky" any day.

I drove about 30 minutes south of Half Moon Bay to Pigeon Point Lighthouse. It was around 10am when I arrived. Brighter then I wanted it to be, but I am still working through a few 4x5 learning curves, so, having a little more light is better than not. When I arrived to the location that I knew I wanted to photograph from, I grabbed all my gear and walked to the top of the bluff tops. I looked for the location that I had in my head and wondered North, toward the lighthouse about a block more. Set down my backpack, set up my tripod and piece by piece set up my Toyo45A with the Schneider 150mm lens. I had 6 sheets of film, 4 - Tmaz 100 and 2 - Rollei Infrared. That was it. I took my time getting everything where I wanted it to be, my horizon was straight, the lighthouse was in focus. I used just a little front lens forward tilt to add to the sharpness in the foreground. My first two sheets had more bluff and rock in the foreground and used a wratten 25 red for more contrast and were exposed at f45, 1/4 of a second. I knew I was going to crop out some of the foreground and some of the sky for the final image. I really like how it turned out.

The last two sheets of Tmax I shot moving up the hill more, incorporating more foreground - which really made the lighthouse look tiny. I need to re-evaluate them, I wasn't thrilled with the outcome at all and - one of those sheets, I did not use the wratten red 25 and, well, it looks really flat. I know I could do some adjusting in Photoshop. That is not what this journey is about. Not for me anyway. So far, that is 18 sheets in 2 weeks - just around my house (more or less). I have an idea! I have a plan....well, I have an idea anyway!

Now, to figure out how to deal with ALL THE DUST!!!! Ugh! That is primarily what I use PS for, to spot the image. There is a lot of dust. There is a lot of dust where I live - I get that, I live in a farming community less than a mile from the Pacific Ocean - so there is almost always a breeze - which means - there is almost always dust in the air flying around. YAY!

Here is an untouched, un-spotted, un-edited scan. What do you think?

LOOK AT ALL THAT DUST!

Earlier, I had mentioned that I also shot 2 sheets of Rollei Infrared...we have to wait for those. I need to shoot a couple more sheets to fill the tank before I can develop the film. Pins and needles.

Another day, another 4 successful sheets of 4x5 film shot and developed. I am getting the hang of it. I have a few ideas and I really want to see what I can do with this.

Back to my original rambling - are there any other women photographers out there shooting large format? I would love to know!

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