mike_lopez

Yesterday I made one of the best investments I've made in quite

awhile. No, it was not a financial investment. Instead, before

going home from work, I went to my city's central library (the main

one which serves my area). There they have Michael A. Smith's

Landscapes two-volume set, and his 25-year retrospective "A Visual

Journey." These books are classified as reference books and do not

circulate--and rightly so. So I decided I'd spend an hour or two

looking at the images in them before going home.

 

Wow. I've read some of his writings about AZO and Super XX film, and

the inherent benefits of contact printing versus enlargements are

obvious. But never before have I seen such glorious illustrations of

what he's written about. The photographs in these books are

marvelous. The tonal range and contrast are superb, and if there was

any dodging or burning involved in any of it, I don't see it. I

shoot 4x5 and 6x7 rollfilm, so it's the enlarging route for me, but

viewing his books is enough to make me at least think about going the

contact print route someday. These are truly awesome works. In

fact, I'm ordering a copy of A Visual Journey today. I encourage

anyone with access to these books to give them a long, deep look.

 

And Michael, if you are reading this, how about an autobiography?

You know, something to do in your spare time. :-)

Ellis, congratulations on your first child, as well. Believe me, I've already prioritized in my own mind what will happen within the next year. My wife's and child's needs will come first, no question. I'm just trying to think of ways to strike a balance between my familial obligations and career aspirations. Most of the input on this thread will help.

 

Mark:

 

>>Oh, gee I've never heard that "correction" of that common expression a thousand times before. Thanks for clearing that up. Obviously you're some sort of genius.<<

 

Then maybe you can start taking the "correction" you've heard a thousand times before to mind while calling a stranger "unimaginative," "helpless," "sad sack whining loser," or supposing that your engineering buddies are "smarter" or "have more on the ball" than me, or mis-quoting someone. Any time you make such basic errors while questioning someone else's "smarts," you should expect to be called on it.

 

>>Frankly, you just sound like a sad sack whining loser who's never going to make any money no matter what you try. And a big waste of everyone's time.<<

 

Fascinating insight from someone who has made what, six posts on this thread now? You must have plenty of time to waste on a sad sack whining loser like me. Especially since you made two more posts after saying what a waste of time I am. Keep wasting away, bud. It's mildly entertaining.

 

By the way, in all seriousness, I did agree entirely when you wrote this:

 

>>It's easy to get trapped in a mindset that says you need to live a certain lifestyle. Corporate America wants you to believe this. The government wants you to believe this. (Go shopping at the mall and take a vacation to Disney World or the terrorists win!) It's what keeps us all on our little hamster wheels.<<

 

My in-laws live near Disneyland and buy into this kind of crap all the time. I agreed with most of what you said and wasn't trying to slam you personally when I clarified the fact that I'm not broke (which you still can't seem to grasp--"sad sack whining loser who's never going to make any money"), nor looking for sympathy. It's not my fault you took that post to be a personal slam and decided to cuss at me while questioning my attitude and "smarts." But anytime a stranger on the Internet wants to start something personal, I'll respond in kind.

Thanks for the great input, Michael. I enjoy your advertisements in each issue of BW magazine, particularly your 2-page 8x20 reproductions. Several issues back I showed your Shore Acres image to many people, because that is one of my favorite places. Eventually I hope to see some of your work in person. I have been to your website, and I do remember being stunned by the fact that you picked up an 8x10 a year (I think--I read this a few weeks back) after starting with a 35mm and how you've supported yourself with photography ever since. Now I have some more insight into how you made it happen. Thanks again.

Actually, Mark, I didn't post the thread "wanting to hear" anything. As stated several times now, I was wondering whether there were other people in similar situations. I certainly was not looking for someone as presumptuous as yourself to make so many assumptions about my lifestyle. (Actually, the SUV/Civic comment likely would not have been made if you had actually read my second post before making your own). For you to drop your F-bomb and then question my attitude is very amusing, though. I'll give you that much.

 

And since you want to bring into question how smart I am relative to your engineering buddies, I'll let you in on something: when you say that you "could care less," about how much I make, I think you really mean to say that you "couldn't care less." Or maybe you do actually care about my salary. I don't really care either way.

I'll say it again:

 

I'm not poor. I'm not complaining of being poor. I'm not trying to quit my job tomorrow. In my first post I said that my job pays the bills but "does not leave a whole lot of discretionary money at the end of the month." That is not the same as saying I'm broke. Please don't assume you know what I make because you know some engineers. Even if you know an engineer who has exactly the same job description, geographical differences will probably negate your "knowledge" of my income. I don't drive an SUV, nor a 4-year-old Honda Civic. That would in fact be a step up. I was only asking if there are people out there who feel the same way I do, or have similar situations. I appreciate the attention, but I'm not looking for people to question my income and spending, nor am I trying to sound like I'm feeling sorry for myself while there are hungry or paralyzed people in the world. (!)

William (Whitaker), I was almost nodding my head when I read your point #3. I've said similar things MANY times about my fellow employees. Way too many of them have nothing in this life except steady employment, a DVD player, and a super-size widescreen TV they can spend all weekend in front of, getting fat (or fatter). I am not like that, and I do consider myself fortunate in that respect. I guess you could say that at least some of my ambition in photography comes from trying to lift myself away from those types of people.

 

Now please understand, I didn't post this thread hoping somebody could tell me the best way to quit my day job tomorrow or anything. I realize it will take years of steady progress for that. I was just looking for people in similar situations, and it looks as though there are in fact people like me. I wasn't aware there were so many engineers around this site!

 

And while I understand the basics of a free market economy, I have to agree with Glenn Kroeger's assessment more than with Dave Schneider's. I could drum up plenty of people in my field who would disagree with the notion that we are paid what we are worth. It's not merely hyperbole when I say that there is human life at hand every day we do our jobs. We take on a lot of liability for little compensation. Someone above mentioned the high costs of health insurance. I pay a substantial portion of mine, because my employer doesn't pick up the full tab. Check out the story above about the hard-working photographer who spends days or weeks shooting plumbing fixtures, only to not get paid because some other guy will do it for 10% of the fee "just to get his foot in the door," and now you have to drop your fees or lose work, etc. I can assure you this does not only happen in the fine arts. And incidentally, I've never been a cable TV subscriber, my wife and I almost never go out to eat, I take public transportation to work at a discounted price, I do put money into a 401(k), and I drive a 13-year-old truck. I am saving whatever I can wherever I can to make this happen.

 

Thanks for all the informative responses. This is great stuff, the likes of which I'll never get from the people I know personally.

 

Mike

I would like to add a couple of questions related to Jay's thread for

discussion.

 

Like many (I presume), I have a day job I'm not thrilled with. It

pays the bills, but doesn't leave a whole lot of discretionary money

at the end of the month. I have an advanced degree in engineering

and I use it, but the pay is NOT commensurate with the responsibility

and liability I take on. I still owe money on my student loans for

this, as well.

 

I would love more than anything to be a full-time photographer. I am

slowly working on my photography as time allows, spending time in a

rental darkroom, taking road trips when time allows, etc. But there

is usually not a lot of time for this because of my job. And my

shoestring photography budget doesn't help. And my wife is pregnant

with our first child.

 

How many others find themselves in a similar situation? How many of

you have young kids or babies? How many have a hard time separating

yourself from your job to do what you really want? How many of you

are disgusted at the fact that you owe money for the education that

got you that job in the first place? ; ) Does anyone have any

suggestions for overcoming these obstacles, or at least striking a

balance between all these factors? If I had it to do all over again,

I'd love to go back and study photography instead of engineering, but

I can't.

 

Your thoughts?

Ernest, my 150mm is the W. I did notice the huge coverage of the 240, which is part of its attraction.

 

That said, I do use a wood field camera. Has anyone used this lens with such a camera, or will I have problems, as John alluded to?

I did a quick keyword search on the lens thread and didn't find

anything, so I apologize if this has already been asked.

 

I have my eye on a used Nikon W 240mm f5.6 lens. I'm happy with my

150mm Nikon, and I don't think I need the latest, most expensive

lenses available for what I do. Does anybody have any feedback on

this Nikon? More specifically, does anyone have any BAD experiences

with it? Thanks.

Thanks for all the helpful (and humorous) responses, everyone.

 

Michael, I appreciate your insight into �seeing� and lens use. Thoughts similar to yours entered my mind after I posted my question. But the main reason I asked the question was because it will take me a full day of driving to get to that location, and likely involve a couple days off work. And because my wife is expecting our first child, it will likely be my last camping excursion for awhile. If it were a location near home, then yes, I could just return as I knew more about what equipment I might need. But that won�t be possible, so I was trying to get a feel for what I need based on input from people who�ve actually been there. I understand that nobody can tell me �how to see� or what lenses I absolutely must have regardless of my vision. But if I had received a bunch of responses from people saying �The trails have been closed to allow vegetation to grow; you can�t get close to the trees and you�ll need a good telephoto to isolate them from the stuff in the distance,� I would have taken this advice to mind. Or if people had posted powerful images of the groves shot with wide lenses, I would consider that, as well.

I'm hoping to camp in the White Mountains sometime this year and I

was wondering if anyone has any lens recommendations for shooting the

Bristlecone Pine groves? I only have a 150mm lens for my 4x5, but I

could rent others if needed. As I've never been there before, I'm

not familiar with the lay of the land, the layout/spacing of the

trees, etc. I would appreciate any advice from people who have been

there before. Thank you.

Speaking of Shen-Hao, is the back on their 4x5 reversible, to shoot in a vertical orientation? Do you remove it or something?

I had the following problem with ebay a couple years back. I was bidding on a lens. The seller had his reserve set, but the current bid wasn't very close to it. I set my maximum bid (the proxy bid thing) equal to the seller's reserve. But the automatic bid increment thing set my bid one increment higher than the previous bid. Nobody else bid on the lens, and the auction expired with the seller's reserve not being met, even though I had typed it in as my maximum. The seller contacted me the next day and we made the transaction without ebay's help. It's an annoying quirk they have that keeps people from making transactions at times.

Heh. Before I went up there, my boss told me a joke. He said that people are sometimes told to bring pepper spray to defend against bears, along with the bells. Then he said that you can tell grizzly bear droppings from others because they smell like pepper and have bells in them.

If you do plan on hiking, remember to bring some "bear bells" or something else loud and obtrusive to tie to your clothing or backpack. They are all over the place up there, and you're sure to at least see some bear droppings, if not the animals.

Could anyone please inform me as to the benefits/drawbacks of using

these developers with this film? Which would you use for

landscapes? Is one more difficult to push/pull than the other?

Thanks a lot.

As far as film processing, there is a professional store with an attached lab in Irvine. I couldn't remember the name of it (been a couple years since I was there), but I just did a yellow pages search on Yahoo, and I think it's Pro Photo Connection on Fitch, close to the 405. They do pretty good black and white; and my Velvia slides came out well. And this place should be okay for your third question, as well.

 

A bit of advice. It's going to be very hot away from the coast, as you said. I don't know about restrictions at the missions, but I recall there being a good deal of them in San Diego county and southern Orange County, relatively close to the coast. Shouldn't be too bad for those. Good luck.

Hang in there. Jim said just what I was going to say about Ansel Adams. I've heard that he made some 40,000 negatives, but again, how many come to mind? If you would like some examples of some of his lesser work, (and some downright terrible reproductions to boot), check out the book "Ansel Adams," but Kate Jennings, I believe. I see it a lot at the discount rack at Barnes and Noble. Flipping through this book, and then looking at his best images, will give you reason to believe in yourself. Try it out.

I've had similar questions in my own mind. Reading some of Ansel Adams' descriptions of his photographs (in Examples, The Negative, etc), it seems he almost never used a filter stronger than #8 or maybe #12. Yet he almost always had deep, rich skies. I've wondered whether today's emulsions are that much more responsive to blues than what he shot with, or what. Other than the possible film response, the only thing I can think of is that he must have been able to achieve some extreme precision in burning-in during printing. One thing that supports this conclusion is one of his sand dune images, in which I believe he said he used a #8 filter without a factor, and the sky is basically pure white. (See the current issue of View Camera magazine for this image). That tends to make me think it was very precise printing. I'd like to hear what other people think.

A few weeks ago I was reading on this forum about photographers who

get approached by people asking about their "Hasselblad" large format

cameras. I laughed, but didn't think something like that would

happen to me.

 

Well, last week I went on my first-ever "expedition" with a 4x5. I

was in Yosemite setting up my camera, and I could hear some people

several yards away talking, and I heard the word "Hasselblad." So I

thought maybe someone was shooting with one, but I just kept to

myself. Within seconds, a guy is standing right in front of my

camera and says "Wow, that's not a Hasselblad, is it? I've never

seen one like that." I said no, it's a large format camera. And he

says "Yeah, those 2-inch negatives are really something, aren't

they?" And I said "Yeah, but this shoots 4-by-5-inch negatives."

And the guy is just stunned and he says "Wow! 4 by 5! My uncle had

a Hasselblad, but I've never seen one of these! I need to get a

picture!" So he took a picture of me with my camera using his point-

and-shoot 35. Very amusing, given what I've read here before.

I've read several positive reviews of the Shen-Hao 4x5, but I've also

read that it comes with no instructions or anything. Are these

cameras relatively intuitive and straightforward? Is film loading

easy? Thanks.

I don't know how to load the camera with a film holder, I don't know how to "reverse" the ground glass, and I don't want to assume anything and end up breaking something. Like I said, I've never shot 4x5, monorail or otherwise. Thanks.

This may seem like a silly question, but I need to ask it. I bought

a Cadet 4x5 on eBay. Unfortunately, it didn't come with

instructions. I've never used any 4x5 before, let alone a monorail.

My questions:

 

1. Does anyone know whether this camera can be removed from its rail

to store in a backpack? When it's on the rail, I can't put it in my

backpack.

2. Does anyone have instructions for this camera who would be

willing to fax me a photocopy of the relevant pages?

 

Thanks for your attention.

 

Mike