Landscapes and Architecture photography is one of the more relaxing types of photography. In the earlier days of photography, Ansel Adams, William Henry Jackson, and the other pioneering photographers would sometimes hook a cart up to a mule or a donkey, and the cart would be loaded with 8 inch by 10 inch sheets of glass. Then they would make their own trails up into a mountain (they had no freeways then), and find a good spot to shoot. The photographer would set up their 'portable' dark room, which was a tent coated on the inside with a layer of yellow paint. This layer of paint was a kind of filter which blocked everything but yellow light from coming in (yellow light had no effect on the monochromatic film they used, which was only effected by blue and green light). They would set up the rest of their dark room, then they would set up the camera.
I've never set up a large format camera before, like the ones that they used, but I'm sure it's not an easy job. After setting it up they would find the scene they were looking for, focus it, set the exposure, and then once they had all this ready, there was more to be done.
Back in the tent, with the camera set up on the tripod outside, ready to go, the photographer would take a clean sheet of glass, and put a coating of collodion on it. Collodion was a substance like jello, that the photographer would put on the glass so that the emulsion, or the chemicals that formed the image, would not spill off, as the emulsion is a watery chemical. After getting the collodion on, they would put the emulsion on. Once they had the glass ready, they would put it into a 'darkslide' that would not let light get through to the glass. Then they would come out of the tent, and put the darkslide containing the glass, in the back of the camera. They would pull the darkslide out, leaving the glass inside the camera, and take the picture. Then they would put the darkslide back on, take the darkslide and glass out of the camera, and proceed to take it back into the tent. From the time that the photographer put the collodion onto the glass to the time he put it into the developing chemical in his portable dark room, he had to hurry, because the collodion could dry and crack if he wasn't quick enough.
At the end of the day (or possibly the week), the photographer would load up his tent, all of his chemicals, the shots he had taken, the glass that he hadn't used, and everything else he had taken up with him, and he woulod come back down the mountain (or back from wherever), to his home or lab. The journey was rough coming back down with no roads, and sometimes the glass would break if the cart hit a rock or perhaps the root of a tree sticking up out of the ground.
The photographer would get home, and whatever was left in one (or maybe two or three) pieces he would save. He would make a positive of it, and he would have a beautiful picture.
I guess we can be thankful for our roll film (George Eastman-The Kodak company) and digital cameras (I have no idea who to credit that one to)! Well, with out all of that hill climbing and donkey packing, I think it is a relaxing type of photography. |
