Large Format Weather Control

[john_henderson1]

I am new to 4x5 - got a Toyo 45A in September of last year. I've already made some interesteing observations. Perhaps someone can explain the phenomena involved.

 

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It's an absolutely still day. Not a blade of grass is moving. You choose a small aperture and correspondingly long shutter time to get that depth-of-field. The moment the film holder seats in the camera, a 40 mph wind comes from nowhere. Dust clouds build, palm trees fold in half, and small children blow by. You finally give up and release the shutter. Blades open. Blades close. Wind dies.

 

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Sometimes, insertion of the film holder kills the sun.

 

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OK....here's an example of another thing I've observed.

 

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I have the perfect angle of a lighthouse from across the parking lot of the museum. The second I am ready to trip the release, an SUV full of tourists parks directly in the middle of the picture. What is odd about this is that there are DOZENS of parking spaces closer to the museum entrance. They're parked out in middle of nowhere.

 

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To show that this isn't an isolated case, I was in the historic district of a small town early in the morning trying to take a picture of a church. It is HOURS before any businesses open. I have the camera set, about to trip the release, when a lady drives up and parks her car on the street in front of me. Note that I am in front of a parking lot - not a business. She walks a half block by empty parking spaces (They're ALL empty) to see that the place she wanted to go to is closed, and comes back and drives away.

 

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What causes these things?

[wilhelm]

To paraphrase Flip Wilson, "The Devil Made 'em Do It."

[daniel_taylor1]

absolutely. not limited to cameras though John. lug my telescope out

into the pasture, get all set up, and high alto-cirrus moves in and

covers my sky. fly a very tricky taildragger airplane, and the

strangest crosswinds flare up. olde-timers say they hadn't seen

crazy, gusty, crosswinds like that in years. marginal landing, but

any landing you can walk away from is a good one.

 

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I have gotten into the habit of shooting an initial shot, almost

immediately after a guick stab of readiness. knowing every detail

hasn't been ironed out, I don't want to lose the magic I see. just in

case ..

 

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and it does happen all the time. a definite candidate for the X-files.

[peter_hughes2]

You have magical powers. And you are not alone. I have discovered

that I can still the ocean waters by setting up my camera to take a

surf photo.

[doug_paramore2]

John: Just as trailer parks cause tornados, dark cloths and large

cameras cause high winds. You will be plagued with this throughout

your career as a large format photographer. I have come to the

conclusion that the static electricity generated by a dark cloth

rubbing on a large format camera attracts wind. This same static

charge is generated by the insertion of a dark slide, and at times by

the change in spring tension when a shutter is cocked. I have also

observed that moving a camera to another location can dissipate

clouds. You can see wonderful, full, fluffy clouds building up on the

horizon. By the changes in air motion caused by driving a vehicle to

a better viewpoint, or the movement of a large, tripod mounted camera

through the air, contrary air currents are set up which through their

swirling motion wipes out the clouds. All of the above is elementary

physics. I am sure you would have reached the same conclusion after a

bit of contemplation.

As for people parking in front of your camera, that too has a simple

explanation. If a parking space is pretty enough for you to want to

make a photograph of it, it must be special and therefore worthy of

one's consideration as a place to park an expensive SUV. You may be

able to lessen this effect if you point your camera in another

direction until you are actually ready to shoot the picture. As you

gain in experience with your large format, these problems will begin

to make sense in the scope of the universe.

Hope this has been of some help, Doug.

[john_hicks]

Did you ever notice that if you're shooting black & white, the humongous tourists that plant themselves within the scene are all wearing brilliant white shirts? And if you're shooting color, they're all wearing bright red or orange?

 

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And they _don't move on_!

[pete_andrews]

The worst example of this kind of thing that happened to me was this:

I'd just gone to my front step with an old rangefinder camera in my

hand to check the rangefinder focus at infinity. I have the camera to

my eye when a car drives by quite fast, and a second later there's a

loud bang. I swing round to see that the car has hit another car

parked at the side of the road, and the moving car is over on two

wheels, doing an imitation of a James Bond stunt. It passes another 3

parked cars on two wheels before dropping back down and spinning to a

halt in an empty driveway, now almost facing back the way it came.

 

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I witness the whole thing through the viewfinder, but did I have film

in that old camera and get the shot of a lifetime? I'll give you two

guesses!

[n_dhananjay3]

O Toole's law: Murphy was an optimist. DJ

[john_henderson1]

And how about this one: In a crowded theme park, if someone is taking

a picture with a disposable camera, thousands of apolgetic tourists

will go around to avoid getting in someone's picture. But I stand

there with a 4x5 Toyo on a Bogen 3046, and it's like you're invisible

to people.

[robert_a._zeichner]

About 4 years ago I had set up my 4x5 to photograph Devils Golf Course

at Death Valley. It was beautiful, Telescope Peak covered in snow,

everything was just about perfect. Out of nowhere, a tour bus pulls

into the parking area and about 5 tourists walk right past me and out

of thousands of square feet of empty space everywhere you look, park

themselves smack in front of my lens, absolutely oblivious to what's

going on. How can that happen on one day and on the next, a passer-by

asks 50 questions non-stop while you're trying to calculate bellows

factors before the light completely dissappears? This photography

business can be tough work at times!

[carey_bird2]

You forgot about this one: the sun that goes behind the cloud and

ruins the carefully previsualised image that relies on strong

contrast in lighting. Or, conversely, the sun that comes out from

behind the cloud to ruin your carefully previsualised image of gentle

quiet light...

 

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Not to mention the light that suddenly changes in the MIDDLE of that

30sec exposure...

 

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Good grief. Its almost enough to drive you to 35mm camera plus

motordrive.

[fw1]

What I find most peculiar is how the electricity pylons and wires,

cars, flying birds and anglers manage to get onto my transparencies

when they were clearly not in the original scene that was

photographed.

[george_nedleman]

The correct answer is the Chaos theory- A butterfly flapping its

wings in Buenos Aires makes it snow in Chicago. Static electricty

from the slide was the correct answer. Doug wins the prize.

George

[doug_paramore2]

Thanks, George. I shall donate the prize to charity. All kidding

aside, isn't this a great forum! It's great to find that others have

the same problems.

Doug.

[david_munson]

It seems that this phenomenon isn't limited to things that happen

immediately before, during, or after a particular exposure. For

several consecutive weeks at the end of January here in northeast

Ohio it was bitterly cold. I was getting all geared up for an Ian

Adams workshop on winter ice photography. And wouldn't you know it,

the day arrives and the temperature goes up to 40 degrees. True,

there were still beautiful ice and snow formations in the gorge, not

to mention a bright blue sky, but unless you were willing to

sacrifice a few degrees of body temperature and wade through 3 feet

of nearly freezing water (they still probably think I'm nuts), you

couldn't get to it. The group stayed a few hours and by the time we

left, the water level had risen about ten inches and what snow and

ice we had climbed in on had virtually disappeared. It took me a

good forty minutes to slog back to the van, cold and rather damp.

Why, oh why, couldn't it have stayed cold for just another 24 hours...

[dan_smith]

The problem is progressive depending on film format. You see it more

with your 4x5, but be forwarned: DON'T buy a 20x24 or you will be

tempting your eternal fate.

[neil_poulsen1]

I was set up with my 4x5 ready to take a photo of a favorite building.

A bus pulls up, and the driver takes out a book a starts to read.

[ellis_vener_photography]

I find that bringing along some chickens to sacrifice helps immensely.

[alpshiker]

Yes, at least you can have a nice barbecue party.

[urs_bernhard]

Hi John,

Congratulation, you finally made it! You got into real life. Thats all... enjoy it!

Urs