I have been to Slovakia for couple of times, but I have not been lucky to take any photograph which would be worth keeping, and you have to believe me, that this little country in Central Europe is extremely photogenic, so the problem was always on my side not that there was nothing to photograph. I was very happy, when Marek invited my and my family to spent a long weekend in Slovakia, which was also great occasion to test extensively my new camera. So I packed Ebony RSW 45, couple of lenses, 50 sheets of 4x5” Kodak T-Max 100 film and with high photographic expectations arrived to Banska Bystrica. Unfortunately, the weather was mostly against us, with exception of one afternoon, when Marek and our good friend from Lightharmony Stefan Mestan, took me to see their favorite locations around their lovely town. All the places we visited during that afternoon were proving endless photographic opportunities. So I was setting up my new camera quite often, which of course does not mean that I took a lot of pictures, the opposite is true, but I did find out one important thing, that I am not very confident with setting up large format camera. Unfortunately, I do very often forgot to do something or I do it in a totally wrong way, which is little bit frustrating.
Title: Tree, Camera: Ebony RSW 45, Lens: Schneider Xenar 150 mm, Filtr: Lee Big Stopper, Film: Kodak T-Max 100, Exposure: 900″ , f 8
This particular photograph is just one such example, when the result is a bit different from my original expectations. I took it just after sunset, so for those who are familiar with large format cameras, I do not have emphasize that focusing in low light conditions is rather challenging and in my case the same applies for setting up final composition. I was really sure that I placed the tree to lower left corner instead of right, but that is the result of seeing mirrored upside down image on the focusing screen. I just got so confused with this new set up, that I totally forgot to convert the image in my mind. The exposure time was almost 15 minutes since it was quite dark and I also use 10 stop ND Lee Big Stopper filter, to get some movements in the sky, to impart third dimension to what would otherwise be flat image. I was so sure that the moving clouds will start just above the three and create parallel line with the horizon, which would help to take your attention outside the image and force your imagination to think what else might be out there. In this case I see the lines leading my attention just to the tree and I stop right there and the story is complete. Despite the fact, that it is not exactly what I was hopping for I am still emotionally attach to this photograph, so I would like you to let me know what you think about it.