Landscape Photography in the Slow Lane

Slow Landscape Photography — Yosemite and the Large Format Camera

Someone once quipped: “I don’t travel to take photographs; I take photographs in order to travel.” It’s not as tautological as it sounds. I would amend it slightly but it would still mean the same to me. I make images in order to have a thing to do, a reason to be, in the place experiencing the sight, the sound, the temperature, the wind, the light, the confluence of everything that makes that moment in time and space unique to my experience. To think and feel in that moment.

Modern digital photography works very hard to undo all that. From auto-exposure to auto-focus to near-zero-cost exposures—the more you shoot in digital, the cheaper every exposure gets—to huge image buffers allowing rapid-fire shooting, to AI exposure analysis and even image composition, the human behind the camera is almost a mere appendage  not quite an appendix perhaps but often not more than a little toe. 

Don’t get me wrong. Digital photography is wonderful. Sports, wildlife, events? Yep, they were all done with film before. But now photogs can be much more effective and reliable with digital; that’s a good thing when the customer is paying for results. And if you’re one of those “bucket-listers,” who just wants proof and a memory-prompting where you were, then a modern phone is all you need anyway. And I still believe the phone's advances in computational photography could well leave other forms of digital photography in the dust. No doubt I love shooting with my phone and with my digital cameras. And the instant feedback is fantastic. And while admittedly, I can be as deliberate as I want with a Phase or Leica, or even a Sony or  a Nikon, I can also be as rapid as the camera permits (not very with the Phase).

But it’s not merely about the medium—film vs. digital. Plenty of legacy film cameras can fire off 5fps with auto-focus and matrix metering  I’ve got a Nikon F6 that will do just that. And if I want to shoot film, but want to make absolutely sure that each frame is properly exposed and in focus, and I can accept the limitations of 35mm format, then that’s the camera I will use  it makes a great scouting camera for seeing what something will look like on film. But it’s not what I will take when I want to experience the moment.

The Chamonix Camera in the Field — Large Format at Cascade Creek

For that, I will at a minimum take one of the medium format cameras, preferably the Phase, and/or a large format view camera  I’ve wanted to learn to shoot large format—that’s film of 4x5 <em>inches</em> or larger—since the late 90s  but I only finally did something about that two months ago when I did a lot of research and acquired a Chamonix  45F-2 field camera. Like a cross between an 80s command-prompt computer and brewing beer or making wine, it maddeningly does exactly what you tell it to do but without any immediate feedback on whether your instructions were correct. Nothing more, nothing less. And it does all that with the added benefit of being slower than molasses in January. If you're in a hurry, forget it. And I love it.

More to come. For now, my first B&W image made with the Chamonix. Titled lucidum, this is from Yosemite, beneath the overpass of 120 that runs across Cascade Creek and in front of the waterfall on your way into the park. Hiking to this spot with the new rig and setting up took the better part of an hour. I came away with three images. It was a worthwhile challenge.

Related Posts

At the other end of the spectrum from a view camera: whether an iPhone can stand in for all of this.

For the digital counterpart to the Chamonix in the field: the Phase One XT — the digital field camera that works alongside the view camera.

On the broader question of matching equipment to purpose: the thinking behind choosing camera systems for different kinds of work.

Provenance: Chamonix 45F-2 • Rodenstock 180mm • Ilford Delta 100

Fine Art Yosemite Photography Print

Yosemite's Cascade Creek in Monochrome Large Format Print

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Just for fun, I thought I would ask one of my AI writing tools to help craft a blog entry about using large format cameras. This is one of the pieces it generated. If you read this, you will realize it sounds to the ear/brain like about 95% of the drivel now being posted on the internet about almost everything. All that’s missing is repetitive restatements of the previous paragraph’s conclusion interspersed with annoying ads. But it's not all wrong either.

Introduction to View Cameras

A view camera, also known as a large format camera, is a type of camera commonly used in landscape photography. It offers photographers the ability to make precise adjustments to perspective and focus, resulting in stunning and highly detailed images.

Key Benefits of Using a View Camera

  • Ultimate Control: View cameras allow photographers to adjust the front and rear standards independently, enabling precise control over perspective and depth of field.
  • Image Quality: The large format negatives or slides produced by view cameras result in exceptional image quality with rich detail and tonality.
  • Movements: View cameras offer movements such as tilt, shift, swing, and rise/fall, which can correct perspective distortions and enhance the composition of landscape shots.
  • Techniques for Landscape Photography with a View Camera

Focus Stacking: Utilize the camera's movements to achieve enhanced depth of field by taking multiple shots focused at different distances and combining them in post-processing.

  • Use of Filters: Graduated neutral density filters can help balance the exposure between the sky and the land in landscape scenes captured with a view camera.
  • Composition: Take the time to carefully compose your shot, considering the use of leading lines, framing elements, and the rule of thirds to create visually appealing images.
  • Tips for Beginners
  • Practice with the Camera: Familiarize yourself with the movements and adjustments of the view camera before heading out to shoot landscapes.
  • Start Simple: Begin by mastering the basic movements of the camera before moving on to complex techniques.
  • Study the Masters: Learn from the work of renowned landscape photographers who have used view cameras to create iconic images.
  • Using a view camera for landscape photography can be a rewarding experience, allowing photographers to capture the beauty of nature with unparalleled precision and quality.
    Yosemite's Cascade Creek in monochrome in the waning light of winter afternoon.
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    Lucidum: Yosemite's Cascade Creek

    Cascade Creek moves through Yosemite at the base of the Highway 120 overpass, falling toward the valley below, and the image catches it at the hour when the afternoon is deciding how much longer it will cooperate. The title is lucidum — luminous, clear — for the quality of light on the falling water in that moment, the way it holds brightness in the stream while the surrounding granite settles into shadow. The photograph was made on large format film, Ilford Delta 100 in a Chamonix field camera, and the film resolves tonal transitions differently than a digital sensor does: not as a staircase of discrete stops but as a continuous gradation, which is part of why this kind of image looks the way it looks — like something that was found rather than made. The overpass structure is present in the frame as concrete and geometry, a counterpoint to the movement of the water below it. The image is monochrome not because color was absent from the scene but because the subject — light on water, stone in shadow, the relationship between what moves and what stands still — required it.