I have a new toy

Working with a 4x5 camera is a phenomenal experience.  Maybe it's the novelty.  But it could be that I've been able to see photographs in an entirely new light.  For anyone that has taken photographs with a monorail camera, you know what I mean.  Suffice it to say, it takes a while before you can take a picture with a camera like this.

But it's wonderful in that very way.  The way a 35mm digital camera is unbelievably versatile and allows the user to photograph virtually anything,  dark or bright, shifty or static, the large format really forces you to previsualize.  This is something that's easy to forget once you lose yourself in the trappings of a nice digital SLR.  It's really just a beautiful way to take a picture.  

I am taking a class at the Northern VA Community College in Alexandria, VA.  The price of admission guarantees the rental of all the necessary gear for the semester.  Pretty friggin' sweet if you ask me.  So I've decided to use it to supplement my ongoing project, naturally.  Here are the first results of trying to do so.  And by the way, I'm not that original to use the large format as a photojournalist's tool as opposed to the way Ansel Adams used it.  I have to thank Dave Burnett for the inspiration.  You have to see some of the stuff he's shot with a Speed Graphic to believe he actually lugged that thing around and shot the Olympics!  I don't know that he's the first to try it that way, but he's certainly my inspiration.

So anyway, here are my first few pics using the camera.  I have to say, I am really psyched about using the camera for the next couple of months.  I have so many ideas popping around in my head.  I just can't believe I didn't try this earlier than I have.