Here is the technical note that I wrote for the exhibit. Please feel free to ask follow-up questions for more details.
All the images in "Treasured Lands" were photographed on film using a large format camera.
The large format camera produces an image which matches my perception of a visually rich world. First,
because the size of the film is 5x7 inches, the camera records an amazing amount of detail, 25 times what is
contained in a regular 35mm frame. Everything which I saw is on the film, and even more. Second, the large
format camera is not rigid because the lens is connected to the film plane with a bellows. This let me control
the perspective and the distribution of sharpness with a precision which cannot be achieved with a regular
camera.
I find the aspect ratio of the 5x7 format ideally suitable for landscapes. The area size is almost twice as large
as the 4x5 used by most large format photographers, while the camera is not that much larger.
I have used for more than a decade a wooden camera hand-assembled by Keith Canham of Mesa, AZ. My
assortment of lenses range from 90mm to 720mm, however the lens I use for more than half of my images
is the Schneider Super-symmar XL 110/5.6, the equivalent of a 24mm lens in 35mm. This lens is very
demanding, because so much of the scene is included that all the elements have to fit together, but those are
the compositions I am striving for, as they draw the viewer into the scene.
I work exclusively in color, for I find it a crucial part of the beauty in nature. In the past, I have extensively
used Fuji Velvia, but as of late I rely exclusively on Fuji Astia, which provides me with a more natural
palette, an extended dynamic range, and twice the speed. Filtration is limited to a polarizing filter and a
variety of graduated neutral density filters.
Transparencies are scanned on Heidelberg drum scanners, after which I use a number of imaging processes
to realize the image in digital form. Digital imaging gives the color photographer a degree of fine control that
was very difficult to achieve in the traditional darkroom. Nearly all of the many kinds of flaws introduced
by the photographic processes, the film, and the scanning can be eliminated. I can now make prints that are
sharper, with more accurate colors, and much longer lasting than was possible before.
The prints are made on Epson Premium Luster paper, with an Epson 9800 wide-format printer using the
UltraChrome K3 pigment inkset. This combination has been projected to result in a permanence rating of
165 years (with UV protection), exceeding by many times the permanence of prints made in the chemical
darkroom.
