[LargeFormat] On Location

[Clive Warren]

Well it is very quiet here so thought I would break the silence. Last 
weekend I took some serious time out and headed off into Wales. This 
is only a short drive for me as my home location of Bristol is only a 
hop and a skip away using the motorway network.

The idea was to get away from computers, work and the always present 
paperwork that seems to follow me around. The whole weekend was 
overcast and there was a thick fog - not quite the pea soupers that 
you may have seen on old British films, but not far off it.  Great, a 
challenge to take some interesting shots with low visibility, low 
contrast and cold shutters :-)

Found a great location and set up for two days of hunt the photo. As 
it turned out the weather was ideal for capturing textures and 
atmosphere. The negs still have to be developed but am pretty sure 
that there are some inspirational shots waiting for a date with the 
darkroom. Simply not enough time to dev these here so will take 'em 
into the lab tomorrow and bite the bullet.

The entertaining part of the first day was maxing out front rise on 
the trusty MPP using a 90mm SA and watching the front standard and 
lens pop off the rear rails when focusing much to the amusement of my 
partner in crime that day. A reasonable amount of respect was gained 
by taking the shot anyway in the period that the front standard 
remained on the rails :-)

MPP had a rather strange approach to dealing with shorter lenses - 
they used to supply a lensboard with cone to extend the lens rather 
than a recessed board to allow more bellows. The thinking behind this 
was to keep the short lenses on the rear rail section inside the body 
of the camera - but this reduces the amount of front rise possible. 
Probably not a good compromise.

Good thing I like a challenge!

Will post something up on the Forum if it all worked out.

Cheers,
        Clive