Field Work Update and Thank You!
The last few weeks of making photos and videos about photos have been some of the busiest of this entire year. Instead of producing the standard talking-head episodes of Large Format Friday, I headed out into the field to produce some work first-hand. I’d be lying if I said these were easy to make, but they have a slower pace and level of interaction with the photo that I’m starting to enjoy. The first of the two trips was a return to Rock House in Hocking Hills:
The morning itself was super chilly, but without any wind gave the air an eerie silence. The trail leading up the to cave entrance of the Rock House was slick from the previous night’s snow, making for a slippery hike. “Bad” conditions aside, it was a wonderful time to be alone on the trail and witness the calm, diffused morning light. Eight sheets of film were exposed, and you can watch the creation of all of them above.
This past week, I decided it was time to head back to a location I haven’t visited since early 2018. Blackhand Gorge is one of Licking County Ohio’s biggest draws, and one of Ohio’s largest State Nature Preserves. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because I made several trips out there during my project, Ohio Uninterrupted. t’s packed with miles of trails for hiking and biking, with a variety of natural and manmade attractions to keep folks coming back for more. When I arrived first thing Thursday morning, I couldn’t have anticipated the type of fog and haze that greeted me at the entrance to the trails.
So, these are already on various portions of social media, why the blog post? I wanted to share my thoughts on the making of these videos and share the finished work in more a 5 second snippet of the video. Starting with the work, I’ve picked three favorites from each shoot and have uploaded high res versions to Flickr. Below is a gallery of the images that you can click through to view even larger.
As for how the videos turned out, I think this is a positive direction for the channel and has a feeling closer to what I had imagined when rebooting the channel earlier this year. Not only am I chatting with the viewer about large format, they’re able to see the interaction between photographer, camera, and the scene being photographed. With a little magic of television in developing and scanning, the viewer even gets to see the finished result right at the time of the exposure, to reinforce the various talking points made during each composition. Essentially, someone watching a “Field Work” series episode is tagging along on a LF hike, setup, and shoot and getting see all that goes into making large format pictures.
Is there anything you’d like to see out of future episodes of Large Format Friday? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
If you’ve watched any LFF episodes and/or have subscribed, I want to offer my gratitude. It’s been a tough year, but seeing that folks are interested in large format and helping the channel grow is truly heartwarming. Thank you all so much for the support and know that I’m going to keep giving my all to bring you more great content!
Have a safe and happy Holiday Season, and we’ll see you in 2021!