These are the first landscape photographs I made with a large format camera.
For about a week in 1999, I visited Maine with my family, three months before graduating college...on the verge of entering the "real world". I was getting work published regularly in magazines, and life was looking clearer, with an in-house editorial position likely in my near future.
However, I had long fancied myself toting my gear through the woods in search of the perfect composition. This was, after all, how I came to love photography in the first place. Exploring. Making photographs. Living.
I had been to Acadia once before, when I was much younger, and could still vividly remember the beauty and the grit of it; rugged, beautifully barren and diverse. When a family vacation opportunity arose, I cast my vote to head back to Acadia.
Cadillac Mountain. Acadia National Park, Maine. 1999.
This was my first visit with a camera, and luckily, I was able to borrow a large format field camera from school. Over the course of the week, I made four exposures with it, these two being among them.
Yes, I did have my 35mm camera with me. And yes, I did shoot both of these scenes with that 35mm camera. But...these two images...I worked for. I toiled over EVERYTHING within my frame. The height of the camera had to be just right, and I had to make sure I placed the camera in the perfect spot...not too close, and not too far. Yes, I cared about these things with my 35mm camera, but not with the same weight as with this large format camera.
These two photographs were carefully crafted and composed. They are special.