I love my large format cameras. I love the process of working under a dark cloth, composing images upside down and backwards on the ground glass. I love manipulating the plane of focus across an image to draw the viewers' eyes through the photo as I envisage it. I love working with large film in the darkroom and the prints I make there. I DON'T love lugging furniture-sized cases around when I want to take photographs in the field. I don't love how heavy and bulky the equipment is, and I certainly don't love how much the effort of setting up a monorail camera distracts from the joys of making photographs. On top of that, I wouldn't even THINK of dragging one through airport security to take along on vacation.
If you are one of the handful of folks who have read my previous blog entries, you may have seen my 4x5 pinhole camera that I built a couple of years ago. It's small and light and actually kind of pretty. It allows me to make large format photos in places I could not before. But it's a pinhole camera, and interesting as that may be, it is no equal to the experience of using a true view camera.
So a month or so ago, I started drawing up plans for my own small, light folding view camera. The criterion were simple. It had to be as compact and lightweight as I could make it, whilst providing as many elements of the view camera experience as my limited building experience would allow.
Today, after weeks of sketching, measuring, and laughable attempts at 3D CAD drawing, I finally began the construction phase of my dream project. With the help local woodworker Marvin Grant, we laid out and cut about 2/3 of the wood needed for my new camera. All the necessary wood for the front and rear standards are roughed in and ready for assembly after sanding. Marvin's shop has just about any tool needed for a project this ambitious, and what he does not have, he can improvise. I'll be spending the next week sanding and refining our first-cut pieces, and will return next Monday to finish the wood cutting for the base and focusing racks.
In the mean time, I need to decide whether I am brave enough to attempt to build my own bellows.
More to come....
If you are one of the handful of folks who have read my previous blog entries, you may have seen my 4x5 pinhole camera that I built a couple of years ago. It's small and light and actually kind of pretty. It allows me to make large format photos in places I could not before. But it's a pinhole camera, and interesting as that may be, it is no equal to the experience of using a true view camera.
So a month or so ago, I started drawing up plans for my own small, light folding view camera. The criterion were simple. It had to be as compact and lightweight as I could make it, whilst providing as many elements of the view camera experience as my limited building experience would allow.
Today, after weeks of sketching, measuring, and laughable attempts at 3D CAD drawing, I finally began the construction phase of my dream project. With the help local woodworker Marvin Grant, we laid out and cut about 2/3 of the wood needed for my new camera. All the necessary wood for the front and rear standards are roughed in and ready for assembly after sanding. Marvin's shop has just about any tool needed for a project this ambitious, and what he does not have, he can improvise. I'll be spending the next week sanding and refining our first-cut pieces, and will return next Monday to finish the wood cutting for the base and focusing racks.
In the mean time, I need to decide whether I am brave enough to attempt to build my own bellows.
More to come....