Large Format Photography Australia

Another from this morning. A rare occassion where I don't consider any of the (4) frames that I took to be throw aways.

This lacks brightness, but I suppose its fairly honest to the moment. First time I've pointed my camera straight down... I nearly lost it a few times!

Horseman L45, Schneider Symmar-S 135mm, Kodak Ektar

Moss on Ainslie by J P, on Flickr

"First time I've pointed my camera straight down... I nearly lost it a few times!"

John,
At nearly 4.6kg without a lens the Horseman L45 is a fat-arsed fish wife of a beast to schlepp about, let alone to point down or put on a boom arm. (I know all too well after just researching what to equip myself with to work with from a motorised wheelchair. The Toyo 45G is even heavier, let alone the Sinar P2 4x5 and 8x10 of younger days.)
I want to suggest that you carry a bit more, althought it's nothing very heavy:

1. A couple of re-usable empty shopping bags to fill with heavy stuff you can muster up on site and place as a counterweight on the leg opposite where the camera if swung,
2. a bungee strap to hang from the apex of the sticks to a heavy anchor (heavy kit bag) on the ground below,
3. go to a camping store and buy long metal tent spikes with elastic loops to hammer into firm ground.

The little carbon fibre Leofoto table top tripod I bought with an accessory weight hook the screws in to the top plate for such a purpose,

Perfect visual pizza! Good work in keeping the tripod legs out of the picture without letting the centre of gravity of the system stray too far from middle. If you find pointing the camera straight down is tricky think of the day you will want to point it straight up.