The Worst
Author: Canoncowgirl // Category: insanity, photo babel, random adventures, you can't make this shit upI was going to start this post by saying "I think I'll stick to equine photography beccause, hey, whats the worst that could happen?" but I'm not going to say that. I'm not going to say that because God seems to have an irritatingly ironic sense of humor, so the moment I say "whats the worst that could happen?" I'll find out.
I bring all this up because I had an architecture shoot this weekend. I am not usually an architecture photographer, but, thanks to a required class at the Art Institute of Seattle, I am this quarter. Along with the class you're required to use a school owned view camera. If your not familiar with view cameras, they are an old, but still valuable design, a film camera that takes 4"x5" film. Heres what one looks like:
This one is actually almost identical to the one I used except this is camera #1 (not really) and I used camera #7. You can tell the difference between cameras 1 and 7 because camera 1 has a "1" painted on the side and camera 7 has its ground glass completely shattered. You see where I'm going with this?
I had all of Saturday reserved to make the hour and a half trip to Seattle to get the camera and then go on to Bellevue to photograph some of the beautiful new skyscrapers that have gone up. As I was walking out the door I had a nagging thought "Maybe I should bring the 20D, just in case" I scoffed at my own fears (or was it common sense?) thinking "Nah, besides-" say the fateful words with me "whats the worst that could happen?"
It was past 3 by the time I had my tripod set up in front of a building and was almost ready to shoot. The first two buildings I had wanted to photograph were a bust because of construction. The sky had been high overcast all day, which is great for portraits but awful for architecture because it results in an empty white sky. I was praying for a break in the clouds for a little blue sky and good light.
Shooting architecture requires a different lens and bellows than the camera is stored with and in order to swap them out you have to carefully take the camera apart. As I was attempting to do this the worst that could happen...happened.
The back of the camera includes the ground glass, the viewfinder for the camera. Ground glass is absolutely essential for composition, focusing and straitening the image. While I focused on dismantling the bellows the back came loose, tumbling from the camera and landing squarely on the rail- shattering the ground glass into a dozen pieces.
I imagine that someday when I am a ridiculously wealthy world famous photographer and someone is inspired to write a book about me the passage will go something like this:
"She stared forlornly at the glass, shattered like her dreams of photographing the beautiful buildings that day. As she looked up she saw the skies clear over the subject building, creating a perfect shot of cloud studded blue sky and soft glowing light. A shot that no camera, not 4x5 or 20D, would catch. In that moment she realized something deep within her. It was a burning desire...to never touch another view camera again."My writer is a tad melodramatic apparently, but surprisingly accurate.
The real fun comes Monday when I get to return the camera and explain to Jeff, who is in charge of renting them, why the camera is broken. I suppose I shouldn't be nervous, Jeff is a reasonable guy and besides....whats the worst that could happen?
;)
