The Photographer and The Jeeper
I’ve been on Twitter since April 2010; it has been an interesting time sharing my knowledge with people just starting out in photography and the experienced photographers. I know at times I come off as being a “know it all”; I know that not any one person knows it all, that would be sad if we as a people stopped pushing the boundaries of knowledge and art. I have 38 years of experience in photography and I have plenty to share.
I have been developing my own photographs since the age of 17 in my home darkroom. I started my education in photography in High School 1978; back then we worked with one camera a Yashica Mat G (120) medium format roll film camera, with one type of film and we mastered it! My first teacher was Bill Yensen, later I had a night school teacher Bill Hope. Later in College Ron Lawson and I apprenticed with a commercial photographer Nils Lundquist; this where I learned to use the “big cameras” the 4x5 view camera & on a few occasions the 8x10 view camera. It is a camera like no other; it teaches you to patience and to think through a composition, and you get used to looking at the world upside-down and backwards. I still have the 4x5 view camera, well I actually have 3.
All the while reading books from other photographers on technical aspects of photography as absorbing the volumes of photographers such as Ansel Adams, Ed Weston, Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham and many others. All the while finding my own style that was me; yes you may see those photographers mentioned in my images, but it is not that I am trying to be them it is that I feel the connection to their work. I have to say that my main subject of interest is photographing nature while hiking and backpacking with my first camera (a Minolta later converting to Nikon) in the local the San Diego Mountains of Cuyamaca State Park. The big landscapes are great but there is so much in the details and I love to just walk the ground and fine those small things, the texture of sandstone carved by water eroding it, a rock that’s been in a wash and has been arranged by water placing them in unique arrangements, the tree that grows in the direction of the wind all of these things interest me. Being trained in Commercial I still love working in a studio but doing still life’s, arranging objects and lighting.
I worked in many photo labs doing custom B&W printing. I also did freelance photography and 11 years photographing U.S. Navy recruits going through Navy Boot Camp. When the base closed I continued in freelance photography until I decided to make a career change in order to gain the financial means to work on the fine art instead of chasing clients so I went into the computer IT world; which is what I am doing now but I am close to leaving this career and going back to my first that is Fine Art Photography maybe some commercial work.
As I hiked I wanted to go further and with more cameras i.e. the medium format 120 and the large format 4x5 field view cameras. Well hiking with all that gear and more was not practical so that is when I got interested in choosing a vehicle to take me further with cameras and gear. My Uncle had a Jeep wagon for hunting and I was always liked the Jeep design. Later I purchased a 1990 “YJ” Jeep Wrangler to explore the places that I wanted to photograph. I then went on a couple of camping trips with the Jeep and enjoyed the traction that 4wd gave. Needing to get more skills in negotiating rocks, hills etc. I found a 4wd Club (Tierra Del Sol 4 Wheel Drive Club) while I did get the knowledge on using the Jeep to its full potential and getting to know some good people and seeing places like the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, East Mojave Desert. One thing that happened that I was not expecting is that I got distracted from my main mission — exploring and photography. When I got with a group that was not into photography and I was I found that was doing very little photography. It was hard to be in a group of vehicles and to stop and wander photographing the landscapes and details. So after 16 years of not doing the type of photography that I originally wanted and not going to the places that I was reading about I left the club to pursue that original purpose.
So here I am pursuing my original purpose; now that my Jeep is setup so well that I can travel anywhere that I set my sites; the Eastern Sierras, Anza Borrego, East Mojave Desert, Death Valley, Joshua Tree National Park and eastward to the Grand Canyon, Canyonlands National Park. I still like to pursue the areas and trails that are a challenge my Jeep and my driving skills.
So as I have coined the term: “PhotoJeeper” — Defined as — “A person that does photography and uses a Jeep to get there.”
Today my cameras consist of Nikon Digital (DSLR) cameras a D3200 & D750. My film cameras are Nikon 35mm, F, F2, F3 /T, NM2n, N8008. My 120 “medium format” consist of Hasselblad 500 c/m, Yashica MAT L/M and a Mamiya RB67. My “large format” cameras are a Calumet 4x5 (mostly a studio camera), Crown Graflex 4x5 and a Kodak No 2-D 4x5 made by Graflex. I don’t bring all when on a trip, the DSLR’s are the standard as is the Hasselblad 500 c/m depending on the location and whether I am taking just the Jeep and not either of my trailers determines the cameras. There is a lot debate about digital and film. Well there has been volumes written and frankly from my experience one is not superior to the other from just a pure photography point of view. I can print two photographs and one digital and one from film and you will not be able to tell the difference. I think they both have a place, I am glad I learned on film but in the end photography have always been part technical and part art, and the photographer needs to be educated in both. Photography will always be about light, apertures, and shutter speeds. The darkroom is the same only one deals with chemicals and the other software the principals are the same and always will be.
I post my adventures on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/PhotoJeeper/ and on Twitter @PhotoJeeper also on Instagram same name.
