FIELD NOTES #3

I developed several negatives in early January, with much disapointment. Then, I figured something out.

Through much of last year, I was working with landscapes in LF. In this time, I realized that I suck at them real bad. Like real bad. Why? Because, I just don’t give a shit about them. To photograph anything… or paint for that matter, requires love. Care. Attention. I don’t have that for landscape photography and, while the exercise is good for expansion of abilities …I just don’t add anything to the conversation. At all. In fact, I do it a disservice.

In the end, the best thing about this field notes is the audio and the cell phone pic. In the actual negative there is way too much ground in the shot and some perspective errors. It was a failure of vision and of technique, all wrapped in in one banal, ho hum image. But the audio is really cool.

Pulsing with rail workers laying new tracks in the distance and the hum of motors and occasional truck passing by, there is an undulating sense of anticipation with a relief at the end. It’s all awash, in subtle, low tones. If you listen real close you can hear me trigger the shutter on one of those terrible shots I was referring to. I hear a lovely soundscape for a possible new TonePoem in the future. ‘Cuz thats about all I got out of this shoot … or any on that particular trip.