civilized ku # 2206-10 ~ you can't have it all

No U-Turn ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggen
Hi-Rise building ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggen
Pedestrian bridge ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggen
Space Available ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggen
Steeple ~ Binghamton, NY • click to embiggenThe closest I have ever come to "chasing the light" was back in my 8×10 view camera urban landscape days, circa 1979-82. At that time, I was operating under the influence, picture making wise, of Joel Meyerowitz' Cape Light work. A body of work which, according to some in the Academic Lunatic Fringe, is considered to be a tightrope balancing act on the line between Art (Fine) and art (decorative).

Like Meyerowitz, I was making pictures with a wooden 8×10 field camera using 8×10 long-exposure (tungsten balanced) color negative sheet film. Even though virtually all of my 8×10 urban landscape pictures were made during daylight hours, I (again, like Meyerowitz) did not use any tungsten-to-daylight conversion filter. All of my color correction work was done in the darkroom at the printing stage of the operation.

The use of long-exposure film - ASA 80, if I remember correctly - was dictated by the fact that, even in bright sunlight, when making an exposure @ f64 (at the huge magnification factor of an 8×10 view camera, vis-a-vis roll film cameras), the shutter speed can get rather long. Making pictures late in the day / dusk(ish) required even longer exposures - usually measured in minutes rather than seconds. With short-exposure color negative film, exposure times over 20 seconds result in reciprocity failure. Reciprocity failure is color-shifting, as dye layers of the film absorb light unevenly over the prolonged exposure - the result is color crossovers, a problem which spells death to color accuracy, even to the point of making a negative unprintable, acceptable color wise.

All of said, for most of today's picture makers (even "serious" ones), that's ancient film-based history. That is, if it's even in their history at all. Although, that said, color crossovers can be caused through the misuse of curves in the color channels in Photoshop.

In any event, even though my early 8×10 urban landscape picture making was influenced by that of Joel Meyerowitz, the fact was that most of my picturing was done late in the day simply because my days were occupied with making pictures for clients. It was only at the end of the working day that I was able to get out and about for the purpose of making pictures for myself - an activity I found to be both very relaxing and intellectually / visually invigorating.

This past weekend, as part of my NYS southern tier wanderings - a quasi-graduation event + a birthday (the wife's) get-away - I was lucky enough to get out and about for some late day picture making. I was passing some time while waiting (1 hour 45 minutes) for a table at the Lost Dog Cafe. And, like my earlier in the day memory-inciting run-in with Rat Fink, I felt like it was old times again, picture making wise.

The light was "perfect", the atmosphere was glowing, and the mood was quiet and relaxing. All in all, it was a perfect tonic for relieving my interminable wait for a table agita, which, as it turned out, was further exacerbated by the restaurant being out of what I wanted to order from their menu ....

... another fine example of the adage, you can't have it all.