Last month I was assigned to photography Black Diamond exec Peter Metcalf and his QA manager, Kolin Powick, on an early morning climb up the south ridge of Mt. Superior (11,132′) for a feature story in Fortune Small Business magazine. We also shot several BD employee/climbers testing winter gear high on Hidden Peak, and taking test-falls on their own gear in Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Super fun shoot! I had along a great assistant (photographer/climber Paul Richer), who helped me lug around the heavy 4×5, 8×10, & digital equipment.
Plus, the BD guys were all great to work with. I’ve got a lot of outdoor gear, much of it made and/or designed by Black Diamond right here in Salt Lake City, so it was fun talking with Peter about the history of his company and his optimism for its future.
Check out the article written by Jonathan Blum in this month’s issue (Nov, ’08) of Fortune Small Business!
Comments 7
Beautiful photos and cool opportunity!
Posted 17 Oct 2008 at 1:33 am ¶long time… Beautiful work. I’ve always loved your work, and I see you must have made it to Alaska, since you have some beautiful work of Denali.
Posted 17 Feb 2009 at 9:00 pm ¶take care.
Thanks Kate – hoping to get back up to Denali this spring!
Posted 24 Feb 2009 at 8:04 pm ¶Ok. I shoot almost exclusively with my (beloved) Super D 4×5 and my big deardorff 8×10 and I have never in all my images seen the background falloff in a spin-like in this one portrait. I have, however, seen this with some twin lens reflex cameras-something to do with the blade curvature I believe. So long story short… what it be? Also thanks for the awesome blog.
Posted 20 May 2009 at 8:09 pm ¶@please
Good question. It’s my understanding that the spin (or ‘swirlies’) are a result of optical vignetting on out-of-focus highlight areas near the edges of the image circle. Essentially, the circles-of-confusion which are perfectly round at the center of the image circle gradually become more like cat-eye shaped ‘ellipses-of-confusion’ toward the edge because the exit pupil is partially obstructed by the lens barrel itself. It happens on nearly all lenses at full-aperture near the limit of their covering power, more so at wider angles, but especially in lenses of antiquated formulas.
Blade curvature has an effect on the roundness of the blurred areas, but in more of a round vs. octagonal (or round vs. pentagonal, etc.) sort of way.
The lens used in the 8×10 portrait is a remounted Wollensack from near the turn of the century.
Posted 23 May 2009 at 6:21 pm ¶Petzval?
Posted 26 May 2009 at 10:23 pm ¶nice. Very.
Wonderful portrait and great explanation. It’s good to see a successful photographer that is a good “people person”. I’ve always said social grace and a true interest in others moves mountains. Wishing you continued success.
Thanks! Yes, the Wollensack appears to be a Petzval, but I’m not 100% certain since I haven’t unscrewed the elements. The brass retaining rings are nearly fused into the mounting barrel…
Posted 27 May 2009 at 9:48 am ¶Post a Comment