Nudes

Large Format 4x5 Film In The Studio

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It feels like it has been quite a while since I’ve worked with 4x5 film. After a recent photo session in the studio I think I intend to change that habit. For anyone who has ever worked with large format film you know that it is a slow moving process. Very slow. Like sloth climbing up a tree slow. But as I get older and the meaning and purpose behind photography changes for me over time, the slow methodical nature of large format film appeals to me more and more.

Photographed with a Calumet 4x5 Camera and Ilford HP5 Large Format Black and White Film.

From a technical perspective this image has a lot of failures. I think there is a bit of a light leak in the 4x5 film back I was using which was made all the worse by the fact that my studio lights were very close to the camera and the model. Either that or there is a light leak in my developing tank. I’m going to have to do some experimenting to figure out which of those two potential problems is true. In addition, when I developed the film my temperatures were a bit high making the final results a bit too contrasty for my taste.

However, for some reason i’m more forgiving of technical errors when it comes to large format photography. The slow methodical nature of the process makes everything feel more organic, including mistakes. I don’t feel as compelled to have perfect results like I normally would with 35mm, digital, or even medium format film.

8x10 Pinhole Camera and Double Exposure

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I haven’t done a lot of work with a pinhole camera lately but looking at this image makes me feel inspired to break out the 8x10 pinhole camera and take it for a spin. This image was made under bright sunny conditions on an 8x10 piece of Ilford RC paper. I metered the exposure at ISO 3 and exposed for about ten seconds with the model in the frame, and then another ten seconds with the model out of the frame.

Photographed with an 8x10 pinhole camera and Ilford RC paper.

Pinhole photography has always been very hit or miss for me. For every frame that I enjoy, there are probably about twenty that I don’t. That might sound a little defeatist but in a way that is something I actually like about it. The bad images can be a little discouraging, but when I get an image that I really like it feels like I did something extraordinary. Plus it can be really nice working with paper negatives. It keeps the costs down to a minimum which allows a bit more freedom to experiment.

When Figures and Landscapes Merge Together

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Lately I’ve been far more interested in landscape and nature photography over figure studies and portraits. I suppose it is normal for any artist to go through phases in their work and I’m certainly no exception. There is something very appealing in this (sort of) post COVID world about taking a camera outdoors and just absorbing the silent stillness of nature. It’s nice to take my time with very little or absolutely no agenda at all and getting through a roll of film over the course of several hours as opposed to several minutes, which is the norm when I’m working with people.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Rollei RPX ISO 100 film in Medium Format.

I suppose it was inevitable when I was making this creative transition in my brain that I would create some images that merged the landscape and a nude together. I managed to find this spot at the perfect time. The weather was still fairly warm yet there was plenty of overcast and cloud cover to make the lighting very soft and even. Basically the kind of conditions the Pacific Northwest is famous for, though the extreme weather we’ve been having the past year or so has made less common. A tree on Sauvie Island had broken apart during a recent storm and made for a great piece of architecture for the model to pose on.

Looking at the final edited image, I feel confident that taking several steps back and capturing the entire scene was the right call here.

The Human Form in Architecture

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I’ve been exploring indoor spaces a lot lately. In part because the weather has been incredibly cold, but also because it has been thrilling to entire a defined space and figure out ways I can use four walls to my advantage. There is something about photographing in a studio sometimes that really forces you to just work with what you have in front of you.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 medium format film.

I am particularly happy with the light play here and the way the bright highlights were bouncing off the white roof out the window, creating heavy shadows that wrap around all the shapes in the frame. There is a fun juxtaposition here between the straight lines and sharp corners of the studio space and the curvy lines of the model.

I’m also particularly pleased that I managed to retain a lot of shadow detail even though I was working with Ilford Pan F film. Anyone who has ever worked with Ilford Pan F knows that it is very easy to get out of control with the contrast! With gentle agitation in the developing tank and mixing a slightly cold chemical bath I think I kept it under control though.

Golden Hour and Portraits

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It’s no secret that the final minutes of light right before sunset are often the best moments to make photographs. You have to be swift and decisive because you don’t have a lot of time before the sun dips below the horizon, but if you have your scene set up and get you get a little bit lucky with your exposures, great things can happen.

Photographed with a Sony A7c and Zeiss 55mm f/1.8 lens.

When COVID was in full swing and everyone was being incredibly cautious about where we went and who we worked with I did quite a few photo sessions in my living room. I have west facing windows that tend to get very dramatic light in the final minutes of the day. Sometimes the light is just way too harsh to work with, but on this particular day it was perfect. Probably because it was the fall season when the light tends to be a bit more subdued, yet full of color.