The Jungle Home by the Cliff
Photographing with the 8x10 view camera is an entirely unique photographic experience. Now that digital has taken over the practical side of photo reportage the use of large format film cameras is almost exclusively an artistic decision. 30 years ago I would have been asked by a client to use the 8x10 view camera to photograph food, architecture, automobiles, or some other such subject that would require extraordinary definition and quality. As recently as 10 years ago the 8x10 view camera was a standard piece of equipment in high-end advertising studios.
On the other side of photography, the art side, the 8x10 has been the standard tool of landscape photographers from the beginning. Photographers such as Frederick Evans, George Tice, Ansel Adams, and Edward Weston used the 8x10 for everything from still life photography to landscape and architecture. Brett Weston, Ed Weston’s son, used the 8x10 view camera for an amazing series of abstract landscapes.
My choice to use the 8 x 10 view camera is multifaceted. Ever since I was 17 years old I have been enamored with this format. My first 8x10 camera was a gray, Burke & James studio view, with a 165mm Wallensack lens. It had little coating and dated from just before World War II. My first subjects were still life objects, broad landscapes and clouds.
Sure, the large format renders a high-resolution negative, but good digital images have excellent resolution as well. There is a character to the large negative, a way that it records light differently from other recording formats. Also, it is a tactile experience setting up the large camera, selecting the rise and tilt, and adjusting the camera movements for maximum depth of field takes a lot of manipulation.
Large negatives, processed and preserved correctly, are an extraordinary record with good longevity. These negatives render excellent images using alternative processes such as Cyanotypes, Kalitypes and Platinum prints. These alternative printing methods are beautiful and have a timeless quality unlikely to be usurped by digital tools.
As the years have gone by I started to realize that my negatives also have historical significance. When I moved to Malaysia seven years ago I photographed several shop houses which now have been torn down for modernization. Back in the late 1970s I worked as an assistant for a large commercial studio in Dallas. Early on Sunday mornings I would take the 8x10 camera out to photograph old industry, trains, and warehouses. Much of what I photographed back then is gone, or renovated. I would like to think that the images have artistic merit, but for sure, they have historical significance.
As I set out last weekend for a drive through the middle of Malaysia up the backside of Cameron Highlands to make a big loop down through Ipoh and back to Kuala Lumpur, history, beauty, light and opportunity were at the forefront of my thought. Not everything looks good on film, and the light has to be right. As John Sexton always says, “light is the only subject”.
The photo of the jungle home with two motorcycles in front and a cliff in the back was a 15 second exposure at F64. Waiting for the light. Waiting for the wind. Something beyond a decisive moment.
