Thinking About Waterfalls

Dennis DeHart, HDRI-Digital Capture, Columbia River Gorge, 2010

Klickitat River. Mt. Hood in the Distance

Buffalo Historical Museum and Digital Backs

While in Denver, I was looking at a Leaf Aptus 65 camera back attached on a field camera like mine. I was very interested for obvious reasons and the rep let me experiment with the Aptus for a good half hour or so in the trade show. While the benefits of such a device are obvious, one could shoot and have processed, some 3500 sheets of color negative 4x5 film for the price of the Aptus. The rep was smart enough to not scare me away, by giving me a verbal price quote of about 35-40% less then the street cost (maybe he quoted me the used price for the 5 year old version) The rep also mentioned that the show at the Buffalo Historical Museum by Michael Horowitz was done with an Aptus. So today I grabbed the family and checked it out.

Cathedrals of Industry
Photographs by Michael L. Horowitz
Part I: Colonel Ward Pumping Station
February 1 - July 25, 2008

First off, If you have not been to the Historical Museum, go! It is a great place to learn about the history of Buffalo. Buffalo has a lot of history and one could spend weeks exploring the region on this point alone. Admittedly, I went to see the exhibition Cathedrals of Industry more out of curiosity of how the Aptus performs then pictures of industry. Horowitz prints are well presented, semi salon style. It is quite pleasant to see photographs in this beautiful old building. I was not overly impressed with the image quality of the prints. This may be due, in part, to my preconceived expectations of the Aptus. A number of things could have also contributed to the quality of the prints (lenses on the camera, the quality of light, how the file was converted from Raw, sharpening filters, the printer used, paper stock, etc.) As with a majority of black and prints I have seen done digitally from beginning to end, the longer tonal range of film was missing in these prints. The digital prints that I have seen done well in black and white are generally from hybrid solutions derived from a film scan. I guess I am still a hold out for film both financially and aesthetically. I suppose if I was a commercial shooter, the Aptus could be a good tool. I can understand the need for convenience and immediacy, both of which don't always make for good art. Last week I had digital back envy, but fortunately today, I was cured of that, at least for now.

Photo: DeHart, 2nd floor Buffalo Historical Museum looking from above the Horowitz Exhibit