A Nice Weekend With A Ground Glass

[Walter Glover]

Too sunny in Sydney for the Bechers ..... but towerring appeal, regardless:









Some stripey stuff in Paddo:

[Maris]

Nice tower! Bernd and Hilla Becher would have trophied this one eventually but they'd have had to wait for some drab German style weather. And they would need their students fron the Dusseldorf School to sneak over one night and cut down the trees. Better the way it is I reckon.

Very witty stripes. The first one has a bit of extra space around it to give context and it works better. I would have done the second one to give the viewers no escape. I couldn't pick your reflection in the salon window...an old trap avoided.

[Walter Glover]

Thanks Maris,

Yep! I am more than well aware of the Bechers' penchant for the clouded sky and flat formless light. In fact, every so often in their monographs I find where they did have to shoot in direct sunlight for some reason and they really didn't handle it well. I have long held that a great point of separation between Australian photographers and those from elsewhere is the Aussies' inherent rapport with harsh sunlight. Perhaps for post-modernist temperaments the presence of bold modelling from the sun is too strident but I don't really give a stuff. I like the impact of harsh light — outdoors and in the studio.

I'd be curious to see the changes you muse on with regard to the second stripey shot. There was no difficulty in avoiding a reflection. To get tighter I would need another lens and camera. As it was, I used my Nikkor-M 300mm. I am very passionate about that lens. Had I still owned a Nikkor-M 450mm I might have been happier but my exploits of using extender lens boards on a Technika with the 450mm on my peregrinations through Britain proved immensely disappointing regardless of how my baffling I added to the tube.

As a result of last weekends shooting (displayed here) I have placed the wretched Technika on Ebay. Because I had to drop the bed in order to attain some lens fall I was plagued by bellows vignetting. As one would think for the time in which the camera was designed, it was intended for focal length from 120mm to 240mm — anything longer or shorter creates mammoth issues to be worked around.

This long weekend I'll be out with the Sinar which, once you have lugged it to where you want, is unlimited in ease of use without hindrance.

[Maris]

["Walter Glover"]
...I like the impact of harsh light — outdoors and in the studio...

Yes, me too. But the added complexity of the two overlaid patterns, the native shape and tone of the subject plus the light and shade overlay, makes success more elusive but richer when gained.

...I'd be curious to see the changes you muse on with regard to the second stripey shot. There was no difficulty in avoiding a reflection. To get tighter I would need another lens and camera....

I'm not above cropping to get tight framing. The 4x5 negative is generous and grants some leeway. But sometimes I crop too tight for fear the viewer's eye will escape the motif I'm bludgeoning them with.

...As a result of last weekends shooting (displayed here) I have placed the wretched Technika on Ebay. Because I had to drop the bed in order to attain some lens fall I was plagued by bellows vignetting...

I used lens fall a lot with my Master Technika and a 90mm wide to do interiors. My trick was to set the tripod high, just under the ceiling, screw the camera to the tripod upside down via the socket hidden under the accessory shoe, and ratchet the lens rise lever to deliver lens fall. That way I'd show the floor space and furniture (which people are interested in) and eliminate the boring ceiling.

This long weekend I'll be out with the Sinar which, once you have lugged it to where you want, is unlimited in ease of use without hindrance.

Lugged is right. That's why I sold the Technika in favour of a much lighter 4x5 Tachihara. The landscape and portraiture I do now does not need a particularly precise camera. The only straight line I have to get right is a sea horizon and I manage it...mostly.