Back to the CBG

 The CBG: it sounds like another government agency, probably once related to disease controls. No, no, nothing like that, it is the California Botanic Garden in Claremont, CA, a place I have visited often during these past few months of the pandemic. It is one of my favorite places.

I wanted to go today to take photos with my 8x10 pinhole camera. They have an exposition going on currently called "Clayfornia", where they have placed different artwork made out of clay throughout two of the gardens. I wish they had more figures that look like people, but the works tend toward the abstract, with a few exceptions that include animals and this figure, a matron goddess or figure. 

Using my 8x10 pinhole camera and setting up as close as I can, I tried to take a photo. When I arrived at 9:10 a.m., the light was in the wrong direction, lighting up the back of the figure. I had to circle around the garden taking photos of other things before I returned at about 11:45 a.m. By then the light was a little better, but still not right. I will have to return in the afternoon, say, at 2 p.m., to get a better illumination of the figure.

What I have discovered is that my 8x10 pinhole is hard to mount on a tripod. The "quarter-twenty" screww is difficult to screw in, it is as if the screw is not long enough. I struggled mightily over this and grew increasingly frustrated, but figured, it will have to be something remedied in another way. I was using my lighter tripod, not the heavy tripod I always carry in my car. The heavy tripod would have martyred me, it is way too heavy and too clumsy to carry around. The lighter one was bearable, but still, it didn't provide sturdy support and would not mount the screw. Plus, being lightweight, it wobbled in the slightest breeze. Now, pinhole cameras are hazy enough as they are without my compounding the effect with a lightweight tripod, but I question the worth of having my spine bent over as a question mark, which is what would happen by lugging around the heavy tripod. So, the lighter one will have to do.

Here is the figure, with my cellphone, at the beginning of my walk. 

When I returned two and a half hours later, the sunlight illumination was better, so I was able to move closer and to the left. I placed the tripod right in front of the figure, and thought I would fill the frame. No such luck, the 8x10 pinhole is SO, SO WIDE ANGLE that the figure covers a tiny amount of space on the negative. It is as if the pinhole is so wide it could curve around the box and spot me. Well, I am kidding, but it is very wide angle.

Incidentally, this was the Catlab 80 film, which is supposed to be rated at 80 or below. I gave it 45 seconds, and I was using an orange filter. So, I was able to obtain something, but there is no getting around it, I will have to buy that Intrepid camera and use at least a 300mm lens to get closer images (plus, of course, sharper). This pinhole works for now, but it is too wide angle. And, if I can get a porter to lug around my equipment, that would be a distinct plus.