I was on a photo field trip at Point Lobos, CA in March 2007. While I was expecting to take landscape and nature shots, I spotted a group of amateur photographers learning and practicing with a large format camera, probably an 8 x 10.
Here are some views of the group:
I was intrigued by the man who was apparently leading that group. With some research on the web, I found that it was Kim Weston, a long-time large format photographer who leads large formats workshops at places like Point Lobos near Carmel in California. Click here to read Kim’s biography and here for a glimpse at his portfolio.
That group appeared to me having a good time, and there was a strong sense of energy. Here is a shot that caught my attention:
Original image
Nikon D50 • Nikkor 80-200mm • 200mm • 1/160s (ev -1.33) • f/22.0
3.31.2006 1:57PM
Each of the workshop participants have his/her own attitude and action going on. Kim Weston has the full attention of his students and everything leads back to him in the picture. The Background gives a non-intrusive support to the scene, the lines re-enforce the connection between the members of the group.
I edited that shot with the following aspects:
• Cropped the image to fit an 11 x 14 aspect ratio
• Removed the color information using the Channel Mixer in PhotoShop (to make a monochrome image)
• Slightly increased the contrast
• Added a vignette effect around the image to help focus on the scene
• Removed a few distracting rocks (euh… and a bag…)
Here is the final image:
Final image