CLASSIC BLACK & WHITE LANDSCAPES

The image at the top of this page, “Oceano Sunset,” is one of my favorites. I was with my dad and his uncle, Cole Weston, exploring Oceano. The sun was about to set, and I suddenly saw this image. I literally picked up my already set up view camera on its tripod, and ran across the beach to get the position I wanted. I was shooting almost straight into the sun, and the lens didn’t have shade, so I pulled the dark slide out of film holder and held it up above and in front of the lens, approximating where to hold it to shade it from the direct sun. I guessed a bit wrong and you can see the film holder at the top of the negative. Fortunately there is enough sky below it that I can crop it and get the image I envisioned.

The Merced River image was an early effort, being in Yosemite in January 1987. I took this standing on the bridge over the river. It was before I had my Deardorff. This was taken with an Ansco 5×7 view camera with a 4×5 back that had belonged to Brett, and he had handed it down to my dad, and then he to me. I believe my brother Scott now has that camera. You can see a photo of me with that camera in my self portrait on the About Me page.

The other images here were all captured with twin lens 6×6 cameras, some with a Yashica, some with a Mamiya. The last three were done in Silver Lake NH where a friend has a cabin. The shot of the bridge is done from in a canoe.