One of my favorite portraits. It’s hard to take a picture of someone’s personality, but I think I succeeded here. Before I had access to a real studio I used a racquetball court.

10th Ave Bridge, Minneapolis 2002

This was another large format shot with a big monorail camera, which makes for quite a chore in the Minnesota winter. Overcast winter days can be dreary, but they are the best for most types of photography. This might be my most detailed 4×5″ shot I’ve ever taken, and I love the subtle tones and textures of all the different surfaces.

This is the 10th Avenue Bridge. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places and began construction in 1926! Some might find this photo more interesting once I point out that the other bridge, on the left, is the 35W one that collapsed in 2007. That one began construction 38 years later in 1964. Both bridges took about three years to build. We travel over bridges and other structures all the time, and never think twice about any of the various aspects of their history or design. Sometimes it’s worth exploring and looking under the hood.

This was meant just as a test of the lighting setup, using a polaroid back on my medium format camera. Sometimes now I tell people that I’m just testing the lighting to get them more relaxed and casual. Since digital has taken over everywhere, these little polaroid records of the shoot are now a part of history. Digital is beyond powerful now, but there is something tangible and special about the feel of something like this in your hands. Although I don’t miss paying $300 for a days worth of film and processing.

This particular type of B&W polaroid film came with a glaze that you put on the print when it was done, in order to fix the image. There was a natural bleaching, glossing, and duotone effect to this process, dependent on timing of application and age of the materials. I’ll feel a little sad when I come across a photography major who’s never been in a darkroom or felt something like this. Most schools still have a darkroom I think, but the time is coming up soon I’m afraid.

20×24 chromogenic print, from a section of 4×5 film, drum scanned.  2004

I did a series on the deck surfaces of an aircraft carrier. I’ll go more into that later, but I will say that almost 500,000 planes landed and took off from this aircraft carrier. This might be close to what they saw during their takeoffs on a warm hazy morning.

This was back when I was still shooting mostly film, circa 2002 or so. “Getting ready for the wedding, in the barn at the apple orchard.” This was in a particularly dark room with bright light seeping into the cracks and windows. The high speed black and white film did a good job of capturing the beauty of the moment as well as the light. I can’t remember if this was 1600 or 3200 speed film. It was underexposed so ended up slightly grainier than it needed to be. 6×4.5 medium format.