Prominent large format wilderness photographer Ben Horne has enchanted viewers with incredible landscape and nature photography, primarily of the American West, for over a decade.
The Alluring Beauty of Ben Horne’s Large Format Film Landscape Photoshas enchanted viewers with incredible landscape and nature photography, primarily of the American West, for over a decade., Horne offers viewers an in-depth look as he journeys out into the field with his large-format gear, scouts locations, and captures photos.
“I purchased a used Toyo 45AII 4×5 camera and took that along with my 1DsIII on my first solo landscape photography trip — and the rest is history,” he explains. After starting with 4×5, he purchased an 8×10 camera shortly after that. “I first bought a 4×5 to see how I liked working with large format — and it was love at first sight. After getting my toes wet with 4×5, I purchased an 8×10 a short time later, which I had secretly admired since learning about large format. Truth be told, I could have stopped with 4×5 and have been fine, but there was something about the lure of working with an 8×10.
“Channels depending primarily on ad revenue are rewarded by the number of views their videos receive, which is why so many channels become so formulaic with the strange facial expressions in thumbnails, odd numbers of tips and tricks, and sensationalized titles with ‘STRANGE’ use of ‘CAPITALIZATION’ for emphasis,” he explains.
asked Horne how he handles video content creation in the field, given his primary purpose is making great photos. “As far as I’m aware, I was the first landscape photographer on Youtube. Back then, ‘vlogging’ wasn’t a thing ,” remarks Horne.As for the “cool” factor of film photography, Horne doesn’t care.
“Large format is limiting indeed, but that’s also why it’s so incredibly rewarding. It’s human nature to have greater respect for the things we work the hardest for,” Horne says. “Imagine being deep in a canyon where the sun is illuminating one sandstone wall, with the light from the sun-lit wall reflecting into the shadows of the opposing canyon wall. Not only is the light soft and warm, but it’s comprised of two colors, warm light from the wall, and blue light from the sky above. With two colors of light coming from different directions, any subject you photograph will have added depth and dimension,” Horne says.
Transparency film “loves this sort of light,” Horne says, explaining that transparency film “captures the blue from the sky more than digital,” which gives subjects more dimensionality. With the limited dynamic range, a scene with relatively low contrast can appear to have stronger contrast.
Of course, if a photographer botches an exposure on a digital camera, they know immediately and can adjust their settings accordingly. Horne has no way of knowing precisely what his photo will look like, although with his extensive experience, visualizing the results must help.“Fuji Provia 100F is a highly versatile transparency film. It has relatively low contrast and low saturation, which makes it quite forgiving.
“For me, the greatest advantage of large format — even greater than the impressive image quality — is that the camera slows me down and forces me to think more about what I’m photographing. Is this the best light? Is this the best composition? Should I photograph this subject another day when the conditions are better? There are no shortcuts, and I’m responsible for every step of the process,” Horne explains.
“There is a profound sense of satisfaction that comes with exposing each sheet of large format film. It gives a sense of accomplishment that carries forward through the rest of the day. As such, there have been times when, while returning to my truck, I found an interesting subject — yet I had no desire to photograph it because of the sense of satisfaction from taking a photo earlier that morning,” Horne adds.
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