Ash
Selflessly Self-involved
This is pretty much the entire post as I put it on LFPF, but in case you peeps aren't aware, I got myself another 4x5. This time a lovely little Korona View 4x5, and fitted a Dogmar 150/4,5 lens on the front. I decided I wanted to take it for a spin this evening, and also to break the ice on carrying a LF camera outside of the bounds of my home 
Here's the camera with a Dagor lens, not dissimilar to the Dogmar.
And here's my adventure!!!
........
Right,
I sorted the Dogmar 150/4,5 aperture-less lens into a lens panel, and the Korona is pretty complete.
Decided to brave it for the first time ever - going out with a large format camera! It wouldn't be so bad if I was a few miles from my home, but going round the back felt a bit like cheating. I carried the camera and tripod, plus dark cloth, one DDS and my Leningrad 8 around to the small stream with steep banks. Propped everything up, even placed the tripod legs in the muddy stream! Yep! The whole shebang!
Turns out the stream looks rubbish on the GG, so I wandered off.
Remembering there's a field a few minutes away -in fact it's one of many in Lydiard- I was considering it as backdrop for some portraits one time. Seemed private enough I could take someone there for outdoor nudes or something. Maybe that would be nice?
So I get to the field, a whopping great 2 minutes walk away. I rehearse in my mind the "I'm a student, just taking a photo, if you want a print then I'll bring you one" speech in case I come across a farmer.
Trundling into the field I think, "Jackpot!! It's full of horses!" forgetting my only lens was a shutter-less, aperture-less 150mm, and it was getting on 7:30pm pre-dusk, with Ortho film in the camera
Set everything up again... The horses (probably 30, maybe more maybe less, a whole load of them anyhow) look like ants on the GG, so I wander along the perimeter of the field, with a thorny thick bush on my right hand side and nowhere to run except TOWARD the horses.
---
Okay before I continue, the last experience I can remember involving horses was during school about 5 years ago, being forced to groom and clean up the muck, then attempting to ride one around a small pen. My horse decided to lean and try and eat the daisies and flowers and consistently threw me off balance. I was scared to tears. My fragile teen persona dancing on the edge, with a gentle beast that wanted to freak me out as much as possible!
Oh, and my mother once told me a story that when she was in her teens, she was chased and cornered by a herd of cows.
---
With that in mind, even entering a field full of black and white and brown horses was a step higher on my fear factor. Calm breathing all the way, don't be more than 1 minute's walk from the fence.
So I tip-toe my way into the open space, towards the group of horses. A young'un slowly gallops toward me, mother in tow. I start to walk backwards, to avoid the cute quadruped from befriending me and incurring the mother's wrath. Remember, I'm no horse tamer.
It gets bored a few yards from me and clears off. So I wander back into the clear space toward the herd.
One quite white horse, with a few spots of dark brown in places, moves closer, but not towards me, more to feed on the grass. I make way for it, but try to maneuver myself, it was the perfect distance to get in the frame, with a shutter speed of half a second and seemingly great composition - fair sized horse in foreground, herd of horses making up the horizon.
It starts tapping its hind foot against the ground. I wait for maybe 5 taps and glance to see a larger brown male, with flared ankles jogging my way.
I hold one hand out calming saying "woahhh..." (cmon, my only experience of horses is cowboy films and a repressed teen memory!). It backs me up toward the tall hedge as I slowly, yet quite speedily, re-trace my steps; I was far from the gate and known freedom however.
My heart is racing!
I keep thinking, "can I drop the tripod, get my hand through the handle on the Korona, and duck and roll out of the way of the horse if it charges? Can I avoid the many dung patties I've already stepped in whilst staring this horse in the eyes!?"
The horse stares at me and it calmly walks right up. I stroke its nose, uttering gentle words and showing I was no threat. Heart in my throat, I can feel my body shaking, my knees screaming at me "hey are we gonna run here or am I gonna buckle and see you collapse??". A few moments pass, but the old cliche stands, it felt like an eternity.
I can't remember the next moment, but the next thing I know the horse is trotting to join the herd again.
I set the camera up one last time, decide that I REALLY don't think I'll get a good photo, not from that distance, and not with a fear of being trampled.
I wander out the field.
Further along there's a trenched area by a drain, and a felled broken tree that looks like an arch. I make do with my weak-nerves and set up and photograph it. The exposure was now 8 seconds. Light was going fast anyway.
I can see the horses galloping past, the perfect distance away, but this time on the other side of a stream and fence.
A couple horses look at me as they go past. One really nice young black horse has an extended look at me, I make "tick" sounds with my tongue through my teeth. I go to pick up my tripod, it makes a metallic clacking sound as it jolts on the dry mud - it spooked the poor horse!
I can't win.
Here's the picture I ended up taking.
Here's the camera with a Dagor lens, not dissimilar to the Dogmar.
And here's my adventure!!!
........
Right,
I sorted the Dogmar 150/4,5 aperture-less lens into a lens panel, and the Korona is pretty complete.
Decided to brave it for the first time ever - going out with a large format camera! It wouldn't be so bad if I was a few miles from my home, but going round the back felt a bit like cheating. I carried the camera and tripod, plus dark cloth, one DDS and my Leningrad 8 around to the small stream with steep banks. Propped everything up, even placed the tripod legs in the muddy stream! Yep! The whole shebang!
Turns out the stream looks rubbish on the GG, so I wandered off.
Remembering there's a field a few minutes away -in fact it's one of many in Lydiard- I was considering it as backdrop for some portraits one time. Seemed private enough I could take someone there for outdoor nudes or something. Maybe that would be nice?
So I get to the field, a whopping great 2 minutes walk away. I rehearse in my mind the "I'm a student, just taking a photo, if you want a print then I'll bring you one" speech in case I come across a farmer.
Trundling into the field I think, "Jackpot!! It's full of horses!" forgetting my only lens was a shutter-less, aperture-less 150mm, and it was getting on 7:30pm pre-dusk, with Ortho film in the camera
Set everything up again... The horses (probably 30, maybe more maybe less, a whole load of them anyhow) look like ants on the GG, so I wander along the perimeter of the field, with a thorny thick bush on my right hand side and nowhere to run except TOWARD the horses.
---
Okay before I continue, the last experience I can remember involving horses was during school about 5 years ago, being forced to groom and clean up the muck, then attempting to ride one around a small pen. My horse decided to lean and try and eat the daisies and flowers and consistently threw me off balance. I was scared to tears. My fragile teen persona dancing on the edge, with a gentle beast that wanted to freak me out as much as possible!
Oh, and my mother once told me a story that when she was in her teens, she was chased and cornered by a herd of cows.
---
With that in mind, even entering a field full of black and white and brown horses was a step higher on my fear factor. Calm breathing all the way, don't be more than 1 minute's walk from the fence.
So I tip-toe my way into the open space, towards the group of horses. A young'un slowly gallops toward me, mother in tow. I start to walk backwards, to avoid the cute quadruped from befriending me and incurring the mother's wrath. Remember, I'm no horse tamer.
It gets bored a few yards from me and clears off. So I wander back into the clear space toward the herd.
One quite white horse, with a few spots of dark brown in places, moves closer, but not towards me, more to feed on the grass. I make way for it, but try to maneuver myself, it was the perfect distance to get in the frame, with a shutter speed of half a second and seemingly great composition - fair sized horse in foreground, herd of horses making up the horizon.
It starts tapping its hind foot against the ground. I wait for maybe 5 taps and glance to see a larger brown male, with flared ankles jogging my way.
I hold one hand out calming saying "woahhh..." (cmon, my only experience of horses is cowboy films and a repressed teen memory!). It backs me up toward the tall hedge as I slowly, yet quite speedily, re-trace my steps; I was far from the gate and known freedom however.
My heart is racing!
I keep thinking, "can I drop the tripod, get my hand through the handle on the Korona, and duck and roll out of the way of the horse if it charges? Can I avoid the many dung patties I've already stepped in whilst staring this horse in the eyes!?"
The horse stares at me and it calmly walks right up. I stroke its nose, uttering gentle words and showing I was no threat. Heart in my throat, I can feel my body shaking, my knees screaming at me "hey are we gonna run here or am I gonna buckle and see you collapse??". A few moments pass, but the old cliche stands, it felt like an eternity.
I can't remember the next moment, but the next thing I know the horse is trotting to join the herd again.
I set the camera up one last time, decide that I REALLY don't think I'll get a good photo, not from that distance, and not with a fear of being trampled.
I wander out the field.
Further along there's a trenched area by a drain, and a felled broken tree that looks like an arch. I make do with my weak-nerves and set up and photograph it. The exposure was now 8 seconds. Light was going fast anyway.
I can see the horses galloping past, the perfect distance away, but this time on the other side of a stream and fence.
A couple horses look at me as they go past. One really nice young black horse has an extended look at me, I make "tick" sounds with my tongue through my teeth. I go to pick up my tripod, it makes a metallic clacking sound as it jolts on the dry mud - it spooked the poor horse!
I can't win.
Here's the picture I ended up taking.
Bryce
Well-known
Ash-
Horses are herbivores, herd animals, and generally like people. Not for lunch, mind you.
Great story!
Horses are herbivores, herd animals, and generally like people. Not for lunch, mind you.
Great story!
bsdunek
Old Guy with a Corgi
Above comments are right. Next time, stay cool and take some photos of the horses, although your described equipment and film are not the best for that.
Like your old craggy branch!
Like your old craggy branch!
charjohncarter
Veteran
The image is great. Show us More.
sepiareverb
genius and moron
Well not to throw kerosene on your fire...
When I was a kid we were camping somewhere, me and my two younger sisters take a walk- end up in a field with two horses trotting toward us, a woman running behind yelling "Watch out! Duke Bites!!" Now at that angle seeing which horse had the proper equipment to be Duke and not Daisy was a bit tough, and besides we are just scared sh****ss so take off running for the fence at top speed. Like some Laurel & Hardy skit trying to get over the fence, one sister tossed over, me over and trying to untangle the other sister who is caught in the barbed wire. Well Duke arrived and proceded to pick my sister up by the shoulder with his teeth and help her over the fence. Thankfully it was chilly and we were bundled up enough that she was only bruised by this horsehandling.
I've not gotten on well with horses since, have ridden a few times, but I just don't have the needed level of comfort to do anything with horses well.
Nice image- I like the equine shape of that branch, and the quality of light from that old glass can't be beat. Hold onto that lens.
When I was a kid we were camping somewhere, me and my two younger sisters take a walk- end up in a field with two horses trotting toward us, a woman running behind yelling "Watch out! Duke Bites!!" Now at that angle seeing which horse had the proper equipment to be Duke and not Daisy was a bit tough, and besides we are just scared sh****ss so take off running for the fence at top speed. Like some Laurel & Hardy skit trying to get over the fence, one sister tossed over, me over and trying to untangle the other sister who is caught in the barbed wire. Well Duke arrived and proceded to pick my sister up by the shoulder with his teeth and help her over the fence. Thankfully it was chilly and we were bundled up enough that she was only bruised by this horsehandling.
I've not gotten on well with horses since, have ridden a few times, but I just don't have the needed level of comfort to do anything with horses well.
Nice image- I like the equine shape of that branch, and the quality of light from that old glass can't be beat. Hold onto that lens.
gregg
Well-known
Ein Baumzweig... Wo sind die Pferde?
Equine action is not best suited for 4x5...
Nice composition on the branch however - keep up the good work.
Equine action is not best suited for 4x5...
Nice composition on the branch however - keep up the good work.
Ash
Selflessly Self-involved
Thanks for the comments guys.
I was really impressed with the Dogmar, given that it is claimed to be, well, a dog. I'm hopefully going to take some shots with the M2 later this morning, then when I get home I may sort out my 4x5 gear and try some more shots near my house. Of course I'll be avoiding the horses
Nice story Sepia. I was waiting for a headbutt in my case
I was really impressed with the Dogmar, given that it is claimed to be, well, a dog. I'm hopefully going to take some shots with the M2 later this morning, then when I get home I may sort out my 4x5 gear and try some more shots near my house. Of course I'll be avoiding the horses
Nice story Sepia. I was waiting for a headbutt in my case
Xmas
Veteran
Ash
Horses are very partial to kendal mint cake or sugar lumps, but I'd not hand out more than one each.
Bulls with cows can be dangerous, but if you have a nice coloured cover for the view camera you can leave it & run and sue the owner for the matchwood.
Noel
Horses are very partial to kendal mint cake or sugar lumps, but I'd not hand out more than one each.
Bulls with cows can be dangerous, but if you have a nice coloured cover for the view camera you can leave it & run and sue the owner for the matchwood.
Noel