yyt

i went to a lecture down the street where richard rinaldi went out and about with this 10x8 camera and then again to fall river for his latest book. i then remembered lois connor’s work in china where she travelled about on a bicycle with a banquet camera and i began to wonder if lugging the deardorff about gros morne was all that much of a problem.

it seems that the passing of time is lessening the pain of trying to be mobile carrying 20kg of equipment about. i seem to have forgot that even with only the hobo and no tripod the walk out of green gardens wasn’t easy. i remember more the slow awkward outings around woody point, trout river, the gulch and st paul’s more than leaving the camera in the machine when heading further into the park.

i remember how easy it was to simply pull off the road and make a snap.
i know that here it is pretty difficult as it is harder to stop along the main roads. people are more paranoid seeing everything as a threat. because there are more roads and thus more options the serendipitous encounter is more prevalent. there is only one option on the burgeo highway.

i opt for what i do for mobility the option of choice of way not dependent on how far out of the way it leads me. i still see my feet as my main method of transport and while there were definite health advantages to the 10x8 - the shedding of 10 kilos by simply using it, it did tend to determine the outing.

but the last two times i have driven and the last two times for the most part there were few options - the burin and the bonavista outings - heading out to bay of islands, the port au port peninsula. while the size of marystown and catalina would be a problem, petit jardin, lark harbour and rose blanche would pose no trouble.

as i am drawn more and more to smaller and more remote places why not slow down more. normally i drive to a place park wander then drive on. here during recent outings this summer, i have even learned how to make u turns on highways when my brain has finally processed what i had seen - there is talk of time lag between the pressing the shutter and when the image is made, my time lag is seeing something and recognising it as 80k/h. on the rock i am fully versed in parking on the verge.

i have five boxes of outdated 10x8 film left someone gave 50 sheets of tri-x 10x8 it would be a pity to have that to go bad. the boxes from 2005 are well on their way but i am guessing this is due to the film being re-packaged forte film from freestyle. i always suspect that it was x-rayed when i had it shipped to the evil twin. it is fine for silver gelatine prints but problematic for slower processes.

if i drove i could cover my bets, while i strive to simplify i would simply, finally admit that it is not possible for me, and pack the boot with the deardorff leaving room for the lads on the seat beside me. along the road i’d unpack it as i saw the sackville snapper doing, hitting larger populations it would stay put.

the romanticism of the large format does confront my style of working. usually frames are wasted as i make a snap before i think about what is in front of me, i then tend to work through what saw by editing out the peripherals and worrying about things formal and while usually it is still the first or second image is made - it seems that my distillation kills the spontaneity - this manner of working would bankrupt me with film costs multiplied by a factor of 10.
that factor has worsened. while everyone else is worried about the rise in petroleum prices, the increase there is meagre when compared to what has happened to film due to the digital “revolution”. in 2005 a box of film was $35 to-day $80. because of this i would use what i have left and then leave the deardorff packed, hoping that working with it would curb my hyperactivity with the lads.