Bird Watcher
Here’s my father, as a bird watcher and adventurer. He has been a very kind model as I figure out how to use my wooden 4x5 camera. I’m sick that I messed up the second image by pulling the dark slide out too soon while processing the film. I’ve found that photographing family members is hard for me to do well. My solution in this case was to treat him more as a character, rather than my father. So, I leaned into the binoculars, perch, and the whole setup.
The afternoon was bright and I had HP5+ loaded in the film holders. I placed a reflector on the ground to fill in the shadows and overexposed it with a plan to underdevelop the film. This combination is a technique called “pulling,” which I used to soften harsh contrast from the midday sun. I also set my shutter to f8 to ensure his whole body was in focus while keeping the background a little soft. In previous attempts, his face was in focus, but his feet were blurry due to being closer to the camera.