Here is a photo of the Gowlandflex so you can see why I’m calling this blog Big Ass Camera. The person shown should give you a sense of its actual size

Learning to work with this new tool has been a challenge. When the camera arrived I was having trouble focusing it. After a series of emails to Peter I found out how to calibrate the focus mechanism and I also discovered the focusing lens was loose in its lens board. Now that these problems are fixed I’m starting to experiment with the camera and having some success.

At the same time I have been having some fun at TechShop if you notice the top of the camera I’ve created an adapter to use a right angle view finder from my Fuji GX680 (the best camera I’ve ever used) on the Gowlandflex. This is a great solution for location photography because it means I don’t need a dark cloth to see the ground glass in bright light. The adapter is my own design and the parts for it were cut out of acrylic with the TechShop laser etcher/cutter. A brilliant tool (check out Epilog).

Now that I have the camera working the way I want It’s time to start making some images and I’ll share those with you starting with my next post. As I said when I started writing this is about learning to work with a new camera but the blog is also about creating a new body of work with Polaroid Type 55 as a medium.

I’m starting this blog to share my experiences working with a new tool. In the age of digital – and yes most of my work is digital – I’m starting to work with a very special 4×5 camera. It’s a Gowlandflex you can learn more about it on Peter’s website. To understand the camera you first have to know the limitations of most 4×5 cameras. Then you have to see this beautiful beast in person.

The downfall of most 4×5 cameras is the inability to focus once the film holder has been loaded into the camera. This means that if anything moves (even a few centimeters) the image will be out of focus. The genius of the Gowland camera is that it is essentially two cameras in one case – one to focus and one to expose. This means that capturing a decisive moment can be possible with a 4×5 camera. Now, of course lots of people have made amazing images with 4×5 cameras and recorded both decisive moments and real expressions – but still, not being able to focus at the time of exposure is problematic.

Why not digital – it’s faster, easier, cheaper, more portable and on and on. Only thing is you can’t shoot Polaroid p/n film with a digital camera and this film has a very unique, beautiful and unpredictable look to it. So, as much as this blog is about the Gowland camera it is really about the goal of working with Polaroid negative film.

Where are the photos? They are on their way. This is my first Blog entry and I need to get some photos ready to post. If you happen by here before that happens, well you can look at my website and see how far off the path the Gowland camera is for me.

Cheers,

Michael