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Equipment
I am a purist when it comes to capturing photographs - I treasure my traditional film cameras and I feel a sense of sorrow as I watch these timeless tools rapidly being made redundant by digital technology. I can still declare that the performance of my panoramic and large-format cameras and film, and the practicality of using them in the wilderness, have yet to be matched by any digital camera technology available, and so I happily continue using these cameras and having my film processed traditionally. The beauty of these cameras is their raw simplicity of operation. The cameras themselves are completely mechanical. There are absolutely no electrical components and therefore very little to fail in the field. Composition, focussing and exposure settings are all executed manually. Lens shutters are controlled by surprisingly reliable spring-loaded timing mechanisms, consistently achieving accurate exposures. The only battery-powered device is my hand-held lightmeter, used to calculate the correct exposure for every frame I shoot - so crucial to my photography, I carry a spare. It operates for many months on a single battery - the only source of power I ever need to carry with me. The size and weight of my cameras necessitates the use of a rugged heavy-duty tripod to ensure absolute stability - essential for the long exposures I shoot in often windy conditions. |