How did I end up here? Several decades ago I was working in a park here in NZ, carrying a grudge for a well known Landscape Photographer… who seemed to have it all. It wasn’t weird, I just wanted to do that too. I was broke, I bought a second hand Linhof Technika Field View camera with 3 lens boards and a (light) leaky bellows; from a very old man, with a special way about him. If I had to say what that was I would say he had a full heart. It came with various accessories and I bought more.

It’s format was 4”x5” (sheet film), I shot predominantly Fuji Velvia (positive) and various B&W (negative). It was really heavy and I would mount it on a large wooden tripod, that was also very heavy; from time to time I would think about placing a sale advertisement including “… can be found at the following coordinates“. Every thing about that system was excellent; the images were stunning. Trekking around that park expanded to other parks and eventually to other countries; and other cameras. I so it had begun, I cannot seem to shake it, I seem to be getting more obsessed with it.

That obsession and all the tricks I’ve learned could fill a book. Incidentally technique heads up, the image I have used for this blog item using the concept of compression.

I get so much by being out there in those glorious places, I often feel like I am floating outside of myself. And I cry. The effort, the grind and pain is all part of it. It reduces everything down to just taking the next breath and embracing it all, a precious privilege. Others have been there before me, they tell it like that too. Out there you fill your heart and you hold it there for as long as you can.

To honor that gift I try to lay it down (the shoot) in a way that gives me something I can give to you. That being, what I see when I’m standing there, as faithfully reproduced as I can make it. No more no less. There is nothing to add to that perfection. No extraneous embellishment. And now I find that this passion consumes my life.

It is a path towards perfection. If you get on it enjoy the journey. What you hold in your heart, and place in your mind … matters.

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Compression

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Focus stacking anyone?