Back in February and March I escaped the winter of Colorado and took a trip to New Zealand, rebooting an itinerary that had to be canceled back in March of 2020 for reasons we’re all too familiar with. My plan was to just visit the South Island as the mountains and glaciers were my biggest interest, so I booked a flight and a tiny one-person camper van for about 20 days. I also knew that I wanted to use 4x5 film as it's the system I’m most familiar with and the results always please me more than medium format film, though I will admit that the smaller roll film is much easier to travel with. This trip was an absolute blast with stunning scenery, wonderful people, and a very easy travel experience. For this article I want to talk a bit about how I got there with my large format film, and what it was like to wander around the island for a few weeks with the goal of getting as much photography time in as possible…
Read moreThe Best of 2024
At the end of the year, I always like to look back on what I’ve accomplished and where I’ve been. It’s actually quite helpful to put together these retrospective blog posts to remember that there was typically more adventure and photos to show for it than I knew about. I get to refresh my warm memories of a winter desert trip or time spent on a Hawaiian beach many months ago, and take another look at the photographs to find my favorites. The process also became a reminder that many of my early summer images were left on the backburner as I took an epic 6 week road trip up to the Yukon. Writing this article helped me dig up a few that were missed in the chaos of travel. ..
Read moreMaximum Print Size For Film Scans
It’s time to cover another frequent question that I get: How large can I print from a film scan? This question is most often asked by those who are curious about having me drum scan their film, but it also comes from many folks who are just asking about scanning in general. It is most often phrased as such, “How big can I print from a drum scan of 35mm film?” Today I want to explain how complicated that seemingly straightforward question is, and what factors come into play when considering the print sizes possible from different film formats…
Read moreHawaii on Medium Format Film
Over the years, I’ve had many people say that I should photograph a tropical island. While I’m not generally one to give into unsolicited advice, it just so happens that a friend and fellow photographer (Kurt Stevens) lives on Oahu and was willing to graciously show me around. I would have ten full days on the island, and I wanted to pack light so for a change of pace the medium format 6x7cm camera went into the bag. Using roll film instead of sheets would make airline travel much easier, and since I don’t have very much experience shooting the ocean the goal was to be able to work with significantly more exposures to try various wave timing and shutter speeds. Essentially, the hope was to just try something a bit different. So I packed 18 rolls of film…
Read moreThe Best of 2023
Another year in the books! It’s time for my annual post where I share some favorites from the last 12 months and look back on what the year was like. While it didn’t hold the level of adventure that 2022 did (it’s hard to top a road trip to Alaska!), I still got out for some backpacking trips in the mountains and time spent in the desert and prairie. Spring this year was wet and incredibly green on the Great Plains, which made for excellent photography before the mountains melted out. Once the passes were snow free…
Read moreHow to Select the Right Color Film
I’m frequently asked about my thought process when it comes to selecting a specific film type for a scene. I already have a regularly updated article on color film choices, but I think it’s worth expanding a bit into what actually goes through my head in the field and why I reach for a certain film. In many ways, this topic will be highly subjective and frequently comes down to a “gut feel” on location, but I’m going to attempt to distill my thoughts and provide some useful insight to help you choose the right film for a particular image. If you haven’t yet read my article on color film choices, you may want to do so first as it speaks about the qualities of each film type…
Read moreAlaska - A Summer of Large Format Photography
Now that some time has passed, and I’ve had the opportunity to work through most of my Alaska film, it’s time to write about the photography experience of the trip. Where the last post was all about the adventure, this one will focus more on the logistics and challenges of photographing up there - especially on large format film. I’m also going to use this article as a chance to share a significant number of images from the trip, all taken on large format film…
Read moreColor Film Choices for Landscapes
Updated - April 2023
One of the most common questions from fellow photographers is about the types of color films I use and why I use them. I figured this would be a good subject to write about to provide some insight on film types. The question frequently comes from someone who may have just gotten their first film camera and wants to know what kind of film to use for landscapes, as well as those who are committed to one film type but curious about trying something new…
Read moreThe Best of 2022
Looking back on 2022, all I can say is “what a year!” My goal was to make it a photographically productive one with more adventure than ever and I can confidently say that was a success. This was mostly due to the decision to spend nearly 3 months on a single road trip, driving up to Alaska and back. You can read about part one of that trip here, but for this post I want to focus mostly on images outside of that trip. As I rewind through the images and journeys, it’s clear that it was an outstanding year even aside from the big Alaska experience…
Read moreAlaska - The Great North by Northwest Road Trip
Have you ever wanted to travel as far north and west as roads will take you in North America, to see a land covered in glaciers, tundra, and wilderness? It’s a idea that’s been on my radar for a decade; after a brief trip by plane I found the vast landscape to be captivating on a level I’d never experienced before. But to do it right required a slow tour with plenty of time, and the journey would be just as important as the destination. This meant seeing it by road, on a trip without a strict schedule and with months to burn. After being tied up with busy summers for years I decided to set aside the summer and autumn of 2022 and finally make it happen…
Read morePhotographing the Lunar Eclipse on Large Format Film
While I’ve always enjoyed seeing the moon turn red during an eclipse, I’ve honestly never made any attempt to capture it in an image. This time I decided to try something out, but I also wanted the image to appear like my own, something that would work with my personal style. The prairie was an obvious choice and I knew of a homestead that faced in the correct direction to make it work. Seeing how I shoot on film, I also wanted to get it right on just one sheet and not a composite. A multiple-exposure image of the eclipse progressing across the sky would be perfect for this spot…
Read moreKodak E100 - Pushing the Limits of Slide Film
A little over two years ago Kodak started offering its new E100 slide film in 4x5 sheets, which meant I was finally interested in it after the initial launch period made it sound like the film would only be available in rolls. While it was exciting that a new transparency film was being produced after a decade of gloomy discontinuations, I wasn’t quite sure where E100 would fit into my shooting style…
Read moreThe Best of 2021
While I’ve never been one to put huge significance on the changing of a year, it turns out I’ve been doing these retrospectives on my work for almost a decade now. Generally speaking, it’s a rather healthy way to see where I’ve come from and how my work has progressed. While selecting images for 2021, it became quite obvious that I’ve been putting an even stronger emphasis on work from the prairie as this landscape has really been speaking to me on a personal level. I understand these types of images may not appeal to the widest audience, but it’s been rewarding to seek out new images and build a stronger body of work on this subject…
Read moreHow to Shoot Panoramas on Large Format 4x5 Film
Nothing quite captures a vast landscape or moody forest scene the way a panorama does; the wide, narrow format can emulate the way our mind sees these views by cutting out the mess and revealing only the essential visual interests. I’ve long been a fan of panoramas, especially when it comes to large print sizes…
Read moreFocus Scales for Large Format Cameras
Have you ever wanted to be a little more precise with focus when using a view camera? Where exactly should we set the focus and what aperture should we use to ensure a full depth of field with everything sharp from near to far? Raise your hand if you’ve ever used the method “just focus on something and stop down to f32.” It’s ok, I’m guilty of taking that approach myself. It works more often than we’d like to admit. But wouldn’t it be nice to know with 100% certainty that you nailed the focus and used the correct aperture?…
Read moreUsing Wide Angle Lenses on 4x5 Film
When first making the leap into the world of large format, it’s pretty common to start off with a lens somewhere around 135mm or 150mm. It’s a great and affordable standard focal length to get your toes wet in the format, I still use a 135mm all the time because it’s just so natural. However, almost everyone will find themselves wanting more than one lens at some point. If your tastes take you into the world of portraits or closeup nature, chances are you’ll want something longer. If grand scenic landscapes are your calling then you’ll inevitably desire something wide….
Read moreThe Best of 2020
Ah yes, the year that went as no one expected. Over the last decade I’ve made a habit of looking back on the previous 12 months of achievements and photography by creating a retrospective in the form of a blog post. For 2020 I almost didn’t bother. This year has been rough on a lot of folks for countless reasons; I’m certain you don’t need me to remind you of the hardships. But it would be wrong to write the year off and say we didn’t learn anything. Some people found new passions they weren’t aware of…
Read moreChoosing a 4x5 Camera and Lenses
2020 Update
Since I last wrote this article nearly three years ago, the interest in large format film seems to have skyrocketed. With this comes a wealth of new users, many who have never set their eyes on a view camera. Initially this was a post I had put off for a long time for a variety of reasons, the foremost being that I’ve never talked too much about gear because I find large format cameras to be such simple devices that hardly have any level of modern technology. Another reason is because there's much more…
Read more4x5 Lenses - Choosing the Best Focal Length
Whether you’re just starting out with large format photography or looking for the next lens to expand your shooting style, choosing the proper focal length for the scene makes a big difference. What I’ve noticed with 4x5 is that unlike smaller formats, it’s a lot harder to pick out what focal length a photographer used when taking an image. When viewing an image shot on a DSLR of a flower bush pressed close to the lens and a grand mountain scene in the background, it’s often easy to tell that an extreme wide-angle lens was used. This becomes a little more difficult to pick out when a wide angle lens is 75mm compared to 24mm and distortion almost unnoticeable. This has led to a lot of people asking me “what focal length did you use for this image?”…
Read moreRecent Podcast Guest Appearances
Over the past few months, I’ve had the honor of being a guest on two fantastic podcasts and it’s time to share them here for your listening pleasure. First, I was a guest on Adventures in Creativity hosted by David Szweduik, and second I was on Matt Payne’s podcast F-Stop Collaborate and Listen. Both of these podcasts have excellent hosts…
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