I love this word “vemodalen,” it is my constant state of being. I’m not sure if you print your images in a darkroom, if not, I highly recommend it. Once I started printing my own images and experimenting with alternative printing methods like bromoil, I felt like I was finally creating something that was uniquely mine. I’m not sure if we use photography to process our existential crises, or if being a photographer causes said crises.
That’s exactly where I learned everything - my high school darkroom. Loading my own rolls, developing my own film, printing my own prints. I loved the way it all smelled, too. I’d love to start developing my own film again, but I need more space to print my own prints for sure.
As a Cali native- if you head up the 395 to Alabama Hills don't miss out on Death Valley, The Bristle Cone Pine Forrest, Buckeye Hot Springs, and Bodie State Park (Edit) - Bodie state park is about a 20min drive from one of the entrance points to Yosemite, right at Mono Lake which is also a wonderful thing to see and camp at.
I've got a number of places yet to cross off and every time I come back I add more to that list. Silver lining is that I'm moving out here this summer, so it'll be much easier. But now I just added 4 more things to see on my California list - appreciate the suggestions!🍻
@@traviscobb121 Trust me, my list never ends as well. I've been reading Steinbeck and now just want to spend a year exploring one small nook of California. I still haven't been able to make my way up to the Lost Coast and I have lived here for my entire life! Good luck on the move!
Thank you for sharing this. I feel like you are close to a personal evolution point. The chair photo was amazing. There are so many places to go where the people are considerate. I am grateful there are places that attract people in droves, as it makes everywhere else so wonderful.
Thanks for the feedback. It’s a fine line for me to walk sometimes because I absolutely celebrate people getting outside and experiencing all of these gifts, but it can be hard to let some things slide that impact the experience of everyone else - too many chefs spoil the broth, or something like that. 🍻🤘🏻
Big trees - fantastic! Hard to do the justice though. You kinda don't want people in the shot as it introduces a squitty 70 year interfering lifespan into something altogether more enduring but they do provide some scale. You should have brought the garbage chair along with you as a prop. Thinking now, wouldn't it be great if all the trees had a few Louis XIV chairs near so you could sit in surreal contemplation of the mortality these trees remind you of - just a thought. Or chairs of a style that date from the times when these trees first started sprouting - newer trees get Eames or van der Rohe and saplings get Philippe Stark. Have you read The Wild Trees by Richard Powers? - great book about discovering, sizing and climbing these huge structures..........keep on keeping on 👍🙏
It's near-impossible from the ground to both capture as well as comprehend the scale of these trees - and when you try to video them, it very much cheats their gargantuan size. And now I've got a new book to add to the list.🤘
Agreed so much about the influencers out in the wild aspect of it. Even in everyday life seeing influencers and non-influencers alike getting content by Any Means Necessary makes my skin crawl from social awkwardness. People want to make content for the places that they go to but not actually experience the places they go to. They'll have their selfies, reels, etc, but at the end of the day they won't remember anything about it other than a 15 minute stop at one of probably dozens of locations they went to on a trip.
I'm slamming my hands on my table as I say 'thank you' - it's hard not to feel like a grouchy old man bitching about it, but it really does detract from everyone else's experience, as well as their own. And oddly enough, it was a movie that actually put into perspective how non-important getting a photograph can actually be by how much it removes you from the moment.
@@traviscobb121 Honestly, I think bitching about something like that just shows how much you care; not just for your own compositions/shots, but for your own memories and everyone else around you. You want everyone to experience it, to live it, and not fumble around with drone controls, selfie sticks, or whatever.
It’s no joke - it’s almost like it kickstarts the next round of imposter syndrome and you talk yourself out of taking another photo. I just want to go more places more do not.
Yeah I agree, too many inconsiderate assholes around. It's tough having manners when most people around don't. I've experienced the same problem and boy it pisses me off too.
I'm enjoying your passion, and sharing your frustration when people can't connect, or at least respect, what you do with your camera - with film, no less. God, whatever form it takes, bless you for keeping silver halide on life support. I gave up. We can't blame people for being less passionate. But while we sweat and toil, plan and plot our photographs, people with Smartphones run through your view finder at exactly the wrong moment, snapping at everything in sight with little or no thought because of the seemingly limitless storage in Satan's little communicator. (I don't think there's a Satan, but iPhones have made me reconsider and suspect - I mean, come on, tempting us with the very same item he used on Eve - an Apple.) While we invest mountains of time in our presentation, they're busy cramming their tiny screens into your face over dinner and then swiping to the next tiny image to strain your eyesight. But when you offer your own work, lovingly crafted for presentation on RUclips, you can almost feel the silent groan - oh my God, it's the uncle with the slide projector. Well, fuck 'em. I had an uncle with a slide projector (I'm 67, by way of explanation), and I, unlike the rest of my ungrateful family, was awestruck as a kid, because he was a really good and thoughtful photographer. His presentation of his one and only trip to Europe, Egypt and Israel knocked me out, and was the inspiration for me since having been from North Cape to Ushuaia, from Hong Kong to Honolulu, and now living in Germany for the last 20 years. Yep, I believe it was my Uncle Haze and his slide projector that ultimately projected all the images of my life going forward, finding myself a patient and supportive trip-planner of a husband in the process, who, having lived on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall until he was 27, has the travel bug even worse than I ever did. Sorry to hog your forum, but I guess you, too, inspired me to let a rant rip. Thanks.
That's an awesome anecdote about your uncle - thank you for sharing. My great grandfather was a photographer, had his own studio and shot ambrotypes - I still have some of his glass plates. I've got boxes of slide film of my grandma and grandpa and I only have them because no one else really wanted them - they'd be neglected and over time their condition would deteriorate so much that those memories would be lost forever. For me, film photography is on one hand about the process and the work and skill that I'm still learning 20+ years later, but it's also about preservation. Preservation of a process that's still not dead yet but may be dying, but also a tangible preservation of my life - I want to have a negative frame of film to hold in my hand because I know that some JPEG will get lost and forgotten on my hard drive, just like those boxes of slide film would be lost if I didn't take care of them.
@@traviscobb121 I had the very great honor years later of showing that old man our trip to Kenya and Tanzania - which I shot with film - and he asked me for a copy of a photo he particularly loved. He later presented me with an oil on canvas he'd painted from the photo I'd given him.
I love this word “vemodalen,” it is my constant state of being. I’m not sure if you print your images in a darkroom, if not, I highly recommend it. Once I started printing my own images and experimenting with alternative printing methods like bromoil, I felt like I was finally creating something that was uniquely mine.
I’m not sure if we use photography to process our existential crises, or if being a photographer causes said crises.
That’s exactly where I learned everything - my high school darkroom. Loading my own rolls, developing my own film, printing my own prints. I loved the way it all smelled, too. I’d love to start developing my own film again, but I need more space to print my own prints for sure.
As a Cali native- if you head up the 395 to Alabama Hills don't miss out on Death Valley, The Bristle Cone Pine Forrest, Buckeye Hot Springs, and Bodie State Park
(Edit) - Bodie state park is about a 20min drive from one of the entrance points to Yosemite, right at Mono Lake which is also a wonderful thing to see and camp at.
I've got a number of places yet to cross off and every time I come back I add more to that list. Silver lining is that I'm moving out here this summer, so it'll be much easier. But now I just added 4 more things to see on my California list - appreciate the suggestions!🍻
@@traviscobb121 Trust me, my list never ends as well. I've been reading Steinbeck and now just want to spend a year exploring one small nook of California. I still haven't been able to make my way up to the Lost Coast and I have lived here for my entire life! Good luck on the move!
I had to Google The Lost Coast - now that’s on the list. I’ll be in Cotati, so thankfully this will be a little easier to access.🤘🏻
@@traviscobb121 I grew up in the Bay Area, had family that lived in Sonoma, its a magical area.
@@_GhostGarden_ I love it up here.
Thank you for sharing this. I feel like you are close to a personal evolution point. The chair photo was amazing. There are so many places to go where the people are considerate. I am grateful there are places that attract people in droves, as it makes everywhere else so wonderful.
Thanks for the feedback. It’s a fine line for me to walk sometimes because I absolutely celebrate people getting outside and experiencing all of these gifts, but it can be hard to let some things slide that impact the experience of everyone else - too many chefs spoil the broth, or something like that. 🍻🤘🏻
Yeah I’m going to go ahead and subscribe. Way to have videos in the can. Welcome to RUclips.
Appreciate the love 🤘🏻
Big trees - fantastic! Hard to do the justice though. You kinda don't want people in the shot as it introduces a squitty 70 year interfering lifespan into something altogether more enduring but they do provide some scale. You should have brought the garbage chair along with you as a prop. Thinking now, wouldn't it be great if all the trees had a few Louis XIV chairs near so you could sit in surreal contemplation of the mortality these trees remind you of - just a thought. Or chairs of a style that date from the times when these trees first started sprouting - newer trees get Eames or van der Rohe and saplings get Philippe Stark. Have you read The Wild Trees by Richard Powers? - great book about discovering, sizing and climbing these huge structures..........keep on keeping on 👍🙏
It's near-impossible from the ground to both capture as well as comprehend the scale of these trees - and when you try to video them, it very much cheats their gargantuan size. And now I've got a new book to add to the list.🤘
Agreed so much about the influencers out in the wild aspect of it. Even in everyday life seeing influencers and non-influencers alike getting content by Any Means Necessary makes my skin crawl from social awkwardness. People want to make content for the places that they go to but not actually experience the places they go to. They'll have their selfies, reels, etc, but at the end of the day they won't remember anything about it other than a 15 minute stop at one of probably dozens of locations they went to on a trip.
I'm slamming my hands on my table as I say 'thank you' - it's hard not to feel like a grouchy old man bitching about it, but it really does detract from everyone else's experience, as well as their own. And oddly enough, it was a movie that actually put into perspective how non-important getting a photograph can actually be by how much it removes you from the moment.
@@traviscobb121 Honestly, I think bitching about something like that just shows how much you care; not just for your own compositions/shots, but for your own memories and everyone else around you. You want everyone to experience it, to live it, and not fumble around with drone controls, selfie sticks, or whatever.
Gotta the introspectivness that most photographers feel
Feels disingenuous not to.
Unfortunately the stuff you mentioned about California brings the crowds. Catch 22.
2:30 is exactly why i haven't picked a camera up in over a month now😭
It’s no joke - it’s almost like it kickstarts the next round of imposter syndrome and you talk yourself out of taking another photo. I just want to go more places more do not.
@@traviscobb121 oh man absolutely!
Yeah I agree, too many inconsiderate assholes around. It's tough having manners when most people around don't. I've experienced the same problem and boy it pisses me off too.
I just keep telling myself to find new places where those people haven’t found yet.
I'm enjoying your passion, and sharing your frustration when people can't connect, or at least respect, what you do with your camera - with film, no less. God, whatever form it takes, bless you for keeping silver halide on life support. I gave up.
We can't blame people for being less passionate. But while we sweat and toil, plan and plot our photographs, people with Smartphones run through your view finder at exactly the wrong moment, snapping at everything in sight with little or no thought because of the seemingly limitless storage in Satan's little communicator. (I don't think there's a Satan, but iPhones have made me reconsider and suspect - I mean, come on, tempting us with the very same item he used on Eve - an Apple.) While we invest mountains of time in our presentation, they're busy cramming their tiny screens into your face over dinner and then swiping to the next tiny image to strain your eyesight. But when you offer your own work, lovingly crafted for presentation on RUclips, you can almost feel the silent groan - oh my God, it's the uncle with the slide projector.
Well, fuck 'em. I had an uncle with a slide projector (I'm 67, by way of explanation), and I, unlike the rest of my ungrateful family, was awestruck as a kid, because he was a really good and thoughtful photographer. His presentation of his one and only trip to Europe, Egypt and Israel knocked me out, and was the inspiration for me since having been from North Cape to Ushuaia, from Hong Kong to Honolulu, and now living in Germany for the last 20 years. Yep, I believe it was my Uncle Haze and his slide projector that ultimately projected all the images of my life going forward, finding myself a patient and supportive trip-planner of a husband in the process, who, having lived on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall until he was 27, has the travel bug even worse than I ever did. Sorry to hog your forum, but I guess you, too, inspired me to let a rant rip. Thanks.
That's an awesome anecdote about your uncle - thank you for sharing. My great grandfather was a photographer, had his own studio and shot ambrotypes - I still have some of his glass plates. I've got boxes of slide film of my grandma and grandpa and I only have them because no one else really wanted them - they'd be neglected and over time their condition would deteriorate so much that those memories would be lost forever. For me, film photography is on one hand about the process and the work and skill that I'm still learning 20+ years later, but it's also about preservation. Preservation of a process that's still not dead yet but may be dying, but also a tangible preservation of my life - I want to have a negative frame of film to hold in my hand because I know that some JPEG will get lost and forgotten on my hard drive, just like those boxes of slide film would be lost if I didn't take care of them.
@@traviscobb121 I had the very great honor years later of showing that old man our trip to Kenya and Tanzania - which I shot with film - and he asked me for a copy of a photo he particularly loved. He later presented me with an oil on canvas he'd painted from the photo I'd given him.
How cool is that!
@@traviscobb121 Of course, being my Uncle Haze, he wanted 300 bucks for it. I stifled my giggle and wrote him a check. 😁