Equipment

Most all of Aaron's images were captured with one of two wooden large format cameras. His favorite is a monorail type cherry wood camera he built himself using plans and sawn wood from Bender of Washington. He also works with another camera made of rosewood by Wista (model DX2) which is a flatbed design. Both are fairly light and have no electronics at all. In order to compose a photograph with these type cameras, the photographer has to use a dark cloth to see the dim, upside-down and back-to-front image on the ground glass at the back of the camera. They use four by five inch sheet film, which is loaded and exposed one sheet at a time. Film of choice is almost exclusively Fuji Velvia and Kodak 100 VS. Both these films reproduce vivid and saturated color, and Kodak VS is especially good at recording reds, browns and earthtones. Cibachrome paper is also very red sensitive, and this combination is perfect for recording the sandstone landscapes of the Southwest.

A very few early images were captured using a more modern medium format camera - a Bronica GS1. This camera and its lenses are far too heavy to hike with, and Aaron has retired it in favor of the large format cameras exclusively.

Of course the question photographers are asked a lot is "Do you use filters?". Yes - occasionally and sparingly - three different kinds: a polarizing filter, a graduated neutral density filter (usually a 2 stop), and for a short time I experimented with an intensifier. Neither one of these filters adds any unnatural color to the image whatsoever. The polarizer cuts down on glare and reflections, the intensifier filters out blue tones and enriches the earth tones of the Velvia and Kodak VS film slightly in certain light conditions, and the neutral density (or ND filter) is used to balance exposures when the foreground in a scene is dark and the sky is very bright. Most all landscape photographers use these filters occasionally - they are not the 'special effects' kind of filters, but rather, tools. Without them, capturing landscape images successfully would be impossible. Filters were used on the following images - "Long Ago" required the use of a neutral density filter - this scene has such a marked difference in exposure between the cave and the sky, that it is impossible to expose correctly any other way. The images "Fantastica", "Tiers of Light", "Rollercoaster" and "Firewall" were exposed using an intensifier to increase the film's capacity to record the earth tones, and accentuate the flames in "Firewall". A polorizing filter has been used on several of the images where water is present, to reduce glare from the surface of the water, as in the image "Be Still and Know". Several people have asked me what kind of filters were used to capture the image "Bethesda". The truth is that the light and colour in this truly magical place are so sacred and stunning at certain times of day and year that no filters at all are needed to record the image successfully. Go see for yourself...  

So far, lenses are a 58mm, a 75mm, and a 135mm made by Schneider and a 210mm Caltar.