So I finally got a hold of my scanning connection and took the opportunity to scan these 4x5 slides and some 6x7 medium format negatives. The 4x5s practically represent the only shooting I’ve done over the last year. It’s ironic that I took these particular 4x5s during a period when I hardly considered myself a photographer anymore.
This is a pylon in the back of the shop I work at. I procrastinated on actually shooting it for about a year until I brought my 4x5 into work. And as luck would have it, the pylon was knocked out of the ground only a few weeks after I shot this photo. Photographing such specific and meaningless things help me appreciate the fact that nothing is free from the uncertainty of life. That festering pot of deteriorated ash and paper was perfectly happy doing its thing until it got knocked over.
I spent like 3 hours trying to compose the frame the way I wanted it; trying to get the pipe to converge into the ground, but still having the top looking pretty circular. I had my tripod elevated on apple boxes and the feet kept slipping around on them; which is why it took my so long to set it up, and I was almost sure I would have to re-shoot it. So I was really surprised when I got this back in the mail. It’s sharp all the way down to %100. I’m thinking of doing 6 foot high wheat pastes of maybe this shot and a couple others to be able to take advantage of the resolution without spending a ton of $ to execute it.
This is a sweet potato. Or an organ, or some tumor growing a mangled pinky toe. Sharpest and most evenly exposed attempt at shooting something on a table with a view camera. I’m obsessed with uniqueness and that by combining many obscure and abstract ideas, you are mathematically doing something completely unique. Have you ever seen a photo of a sweet potato? Have you ever seen a photo of a sweet potato that has a toe growing on it?
Shooting this background with my 4x5 jacked up on a tripod in the bed of my pickup truck and this dude runs by with a chair on his head. I asked to take his picture and he promptly took a seat.
