On location: Place

Whenever I give students an assignment, I always do it myself.  This helps me understand what it's like, and how easy the assignment is to accomplish.

So, this weekend I did the assignment "Place."  For this assignment, students were asked to photograph a single, distinct place.  They had to use two full rolls of film in this single place and couldn't include any other photographs on the rolls.

Before they started, I asked them to first just explore the place with their eyes and ask some questions...

• What do you see? 

• What visual elements stand out? 

• Are there dramatic lines and relationships, convergences of light and shadow, or bold shapes that appear? 

• How can you represent a three- dimensional space in a two dimensional photograph? 

• Do you want to create an informative representation or an interpreted one? 

• Can your place tell a story?

Before I could head out, I had to ready my gear.  I used a Mamiya 7II.  It's one of my favorite medium format cameras because it's very lightweight and easy to tote around.  One of the reasons it's so light is because it's a rangefinder camera.  The metering and film advance is also really similar to a 35mm SLR. 


My gear, all laid out:

• my camera (with fresh batteries and a strap)

• a lens shade

• a lens cap

• several fresh rolls of film (I'm using lford FP4+  for a low speed and fine grain)

• a couple of my favorite filters: yellow, polarizer and neutral density

    Everything goes into a case.  

I was long overdue for some time outdoors, so I decided on a specific area of Ravenswood near East Palo Alto.  It's a really big preserve with trails for walking and biking (these areas are too delicate to allow people to walk on the grasses and along the shore).  

There's a great view of the bay.  But, if I only made compositions into the distance, they would all look the same.  That's boring.  So I needed to get closer to ensure I had a variety of compositions.

Sometimes that means taking a new position, bending down and looking close.  

If you go to a place like this, please do not go off trail!  

These ecosystems are very vulnerable and the delicate balance is destroyed by human footsteps.  Many wetland birds lay eggs on the ground, and other creatures live in burrows.  You don't want to accidentally crush them.  

Here's where a lens shade will help.  If the sun shines directly on the lens, the light can bounce around inside the lens elements and create those unsightly flares.  You can also use your hand to create a shadow over the lens.  I should also mention the use of sunscreen and a hat.

You should protect your film from the sun when reloading.

In some places, it's hard to create a composition that doesn't include the freeway and power lines.  This was especially hard because I wanted to stay on the trail.  

You have to decide to include the power lines...

Or try a different angle and crop them out. 

Getting a different angle is often the better choice because you don't want all your pictures to look the same.  Again, this goes back to trying to make each composition unique.  It's a lot easier to do when you get closer and/or get a different perspective.

The red color of the water is due to bacteria that thrive in salty water.  

All that white stuff is salt from evaporated water.  

Don't forget that compelling compositions can be made anywhere!  You don't need to go to a beautiful place to make beautiful pictures.  See with your eyes, not with your mind.  Speaking of … that mud on the side of the road warrants closer inspection!

Back at home, I gather my film up for processing and get my camera bag ready for another day.  And here's the result: just 5 rolls of film.  I can't wait to get back into the darkroom and process it.