http://seesawmagazine.com/shore_pages/shore_interview.html
US 22, Union, New Jersey, April 24th 1974
Ginger Shore, Causeway Inn, Tampa, Florida, November 17, 1977
Jackson, Wyoming, September 2, 1979
Stanley Marsh and John Reinhardt, Amarillo, Texas, February 15, 1975
West Fourth Street, Little Rock, Arkansas, October 5, 1974
Uncommon Places
I read the interview with him in the Seesaw magazine, i found it highly interesting that he spoke about not really wanting to go to larger formats. I loved how he experienced looking at the ground glass and thought that once the camera was on the tripod why not move up to 10x8 over 5x4. In my experiences with both mediums, I feel that 10x8 is even still different to 5x4. The camera is so large and heavy that I approach transporting it in a different way that effects the subject I shoot, as a 5x4 field camera has been very portable still, though a little fiddly at times, especially in the cold. But the 10x8 is something else. Like him I was fascinated by the view on the ground glass. I love how detailed it is, and 10x8 being 4 times bigger than 5x4 really gives me something to look at to the point I almost don't need a loupe. However unlike him I was directly thinking to move up negative sizes, as I wanted something larger, something that could almost be a final print.
I love how he found the different format made him see photography differently, this is something I have definitely experienced. I have, over my studies been experimenting with larger and larger formats, but not until 10x8 has my photographic reasoning been altered. The other cameras still let me take trips as they were portable enough that I could stuff it in my bag, size and weight of them hasn't really bothered me as I am strong enough to walk for miles and miles up hills etc with a large heavy burgen, the 10x8 is too large for a rucksack, too heavy to just be carried on a tripod like the Mamiya RB67, it has to be transported in its PeliCase, which although it has wheels, is not built for the type of terrain that I am used to. ( I carried the Mamiya RB67 on my shoulder for 17 miles of the North Downs Way, I was tired but it still wasn't too much of a burden). Even the 5x4 can be taken on trips, all that happens is my consideration and thoughts become slower and more considered.
With the other formats I have been slowed down more and more, which I see s a good thing, making me consider my photographs more. But this format made me need to photograph different things and make me think of the photographs, because my darkroom paper negatives were final prints in themselves, as objects that stand in as a representation for my thoughts and feelings, other than 'oh thats a pretty view, i need to capture it'
He speaks about how the viewer also can consider a photograph more with a large format camera, I feel, like he says in the interview, that because it is so detailed one can look at various parts within the composition and spend more time taking in the details and reading each aspect of it, whereas with a smaller format for example 35mm, the images are smaller and there is often a lot less to take in.
He speaks of the photographs being a sort of diary, this is sort of where my thought process was about my relationship with the camera being one of a pet or a wife. His relationship is as a diary.
He says beautifully the different between taking a picture of a person using a tripod, versus taking a photograph handheld:
"There are a lot of portraits in American Surfaces, and I just love them. And they're not the kind of portraits that are about presenting the person as a three-dimensional character. They're almost looking at the people as surfaces, as cultural artefacts. And looking through Uncommon Places, I think that I went in a different direction with the portraits. Working on a tripod is very different for a portrait; generally people are less self-conscious, because there's not a camera between me and them. The camera is not an extension of me; it's this tool I'm using to make something. And I can pay more attention to them, because I'm not seeing them through a viewfinder. I'm seeing them with my eyes, and I'm choosing the moment just with my eyes, without a camera in between"
His concept of "surreal density" how all the details are in the negative, and by printing big you can see all these details, this is the magic of the ground glass, you see all these bits, you are hidden away under the dark cloth, a voyeur into the beautiful dirty world that is fascinating enough for you to spend the time and money to set up a shot of it. He speaks of printing big so all the tiny details in the negative that could go unnoticed, come out and can be read by the viewer for many minutes or just a few seconds.
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