Sunday, October 08, 2006

My 8 x 10 Camera......It Has No Delete Button

I am posting a somewhat boring image from Lake Louise in Banff National Park taken this past September, I was shooting with my 8 x 10 view camera and had just 12 sheets of film with me to take me through the day. It was a wonderful day, it had snowed the previous day and in the morning the sun broke through the clouds and illuminated the various mountain peaks which inspired me to get out and make pictures with the "BIG" camera. Out of the 12 images I shot that day, one image was made on the side of the highway in Banff National Park as the weather cleared to reveal the snow covered mountains, five images were made at Lake Louise and six images were made at Moraine Lake, out of that I have three images that I like for my Portfolio. The images from Lake Louise were so so, I should have waited longer to see if the clouds and sun would cooperate, for the time that I was there, about a half hour, I didn't get a good break in the clouds to reveal the distant glacier, but I was in a rush to get over to Moraine Lake. Afterwards when I arrived at Moraine Lake and saw how spectacular the mountains looked I wished I had not taken as many photos at Lake Louise, but with film, what was shot was shot ! One of the things about the digital age is not only can one view an image immediately after taking the picture but more importantly if one does not like the picture it can also be deleted, its kinda like going back in time, its as if the image never existed. Its something that had never existed in photography before, this whole idea to be able to push a button to make a picture vanish ( well almost ). I love shooting with my view cameras and film, but I also shoot with digital cameras too and know all to well how easy it is to discard images that one does not like. But with film and by keeping my "mistakes" I think its important for me look at them and to try and analyze what did and what didn't work work with the particular image and try and avoid making the same mistake the next time, but there is always a new mistake and as the old saying goes you have to learn from your mistakes !

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

great picture
i love the large format and film