Been thinking how best to use my 16x20 Chamonix camera after it arrives, probably sometime in the next 12 days. The photographer group I now belong to wants to do an Edmonton based project. We plan on each taking a Edmonton neighbourhood and doing any kind of photographs within it then moving on to another and another. I thought I could do my part of the project related to a theme I thought of a while back when I belonged to a b/w film photo club. The idea is called "Edmonton at Night". That previous group (lots of talk, little actual shooting) really did not accomplish anything photographically so the photo idea became a non starter. Maybe I can now bring the idea to life with the more serious photographers of my current group. I could photograph my neighbourhood and the neighbourhoods later in this project at night with the 16x20 camera. Then do up contact prints for the group. Heck in the future once I learn the process I could do platinum prints as well.
Still building my ULF gear kit. I would need to get a 14x17 reducer back, film, a super large dark cloth, a 450mm Nikkor F9 lens (which I have been told covers 14x17) and possibly a tripod thou my large Majestic Tripod might work. Also need to buy film, probably X-ray stuff and Adox at this point.
Many questions to answer. How hard is using and setting up the 16x20 going to be? Would X-ray film work at night? What about this new Adox film, good, bad?. Does the lens cover the format as promised? What about reciprocity failure, I could be doing hour long exposures. Does my tripod carry the camera?
The idea would be to convey feelings of solitude, loneliness, emptiness, yet with fullness in the natural environment. The effect people have on place, even when they are not present. The series would allow me to learn my camera before I use it to do the more important projects of the future. Anyway this could turn into both a learning project and a fun project. A subject like this would no doubt also get play in Edmonton based galleries.
