Clearing Storm, Picture and Setting Series, #11

Steestachee Bald viewpoint, Blue Ridge Parkway, Waynesville, North Carolina 

Another 7x17 from April of 2000, along the Blue Ridge Parkway, looking for pictures showing first signs of spring. On this one the digicam snapshots were really helpful because for some reason my notes on this trip simply don't include this day. Never got transcribed? I dunno. But the three snaps clearly identify the negative and remind me about the weird lighting—because the sun had burst through the storm clouds behind the camera while most of the view was shrouded in murky storm light.

UNICORN CROC—Picture and Setup Series, #8

Anderson, South Carolina

Back to some new installments of the Picture and Setup series. Moving through Alabama and Georgia, then through South Carolina in April of 2005, I spotted this derelict convenience store on rural two-lane Rt. 28, between Abbeville and Clemson. Midday light was harsh but that seemed just right for the subject. Also this was just right for the 7x17-inch Korona and 305mm G-Claron. My notes mention that it was right at an intersection with Asaville Church Road, so I used AppleMap this morning to check it out. The satellite image doesn't go to the highest resolution, but it's obvious that a ruined building of the right size and shape is still standing here.

Documentary Photography, Emotion, and Projection

The Sunset, Shinnston, West Virginia, 2002

Doing some online research recently, I tripped over a discussion at a photography board that began with a mention of some of my drive-in theater pictures from my website. The discussion took place more than four years ago and I was not aware of it. A fairly long thread developed, which consisted mostly of people recounting fond memories of DI theaters. That’s what usually happens when people see some of these pictures. One individual then went on at some slightly pedantic length about the socio-economic background of the drive-in theater industry, ending with a critique that my pictures were too emotional: histrionically nostalgic.

The Winner, Winner, South Dakota, 2002

That’s quite a bit of projection, there. I literally can’t be nostalgic about the DI because it wasn’t part of my past. I’m the right age, but grew up in the wrong place (they were never, even in the 1950s, thick on the ground twenty miles west of Manhattan) plus, my family almost never went to movies anyway. My experience began when I became interested in them as a subject for documentary photography, starting about 15 years ago. My connection to them is entirely in that extended present tense. I suppose I could manage to come up with some metaphorical nostalgia based on all that I’ve learned about the subject, but it’s not a conscious goal.

Documentary photography for me is observational, but never objective, neutral, or unbiased. No art form is objective. I think good documentary photographs result when the photographer makes prints (including now online, eBook, iPad, etc. presentations) that work as a bridge, that facilitate a perceptive viewer to move through the print to an emotional connection with the subject. Good photographs build that bridge, but the actual emotion comes from the viewer, and the viewer’s relation to the subject matter.

The Jesup, Jesup, Georgia, 2012

Let’s say someone looking at these pictures, “grew up at the drive-in,” (a phrase I hear a lot) or simply has fond memories of childhood family outings, or teenage dating with an unaccustomed degree of privacy. If there’s an emotional reaction, the emotion may well be nostalgic. She might decide that I’m intentionally making sentimental or nostalgic pictures.

I can imagine another possible viewer, let’s say a Fundamentalist preacher, who was raised believing that the drive-in theater was a terrible blot on society, an immoral “passion pit,” leading youth so astray that the saloon and the pool hall look like garden parties in comparison. If he looks closely at the pictures, he might establish an emotional connection, but it may be one of revulsion and opprobrium. He might accuse me of immorally promoting these dens of iniquity with my pictures.

The Starlite, Christianburg, Virginia, 2003

In a related vein, I’ve never referred to this project as being about “Abandoned Drive-in Theaters,” (or Dead, or Derelict, or Dark, etc). Yet, people almost always use one of those terms to refer to it. In fact, at least 75% of the theaters shown in my older web gallery presentation, and more like 90% of the 107 theaters shot in 2012, are fully operational, or at least were at the time I shot them. Seems like projection again, overlaying the viewer’s personal experience on the pictures. The things is, 90% of the theaters scattered across the country at the heyday, around 1960, are gone. Hundreds are still operating, but, out of sight, out of mind. Despite the fact that quite a few pictures in the project show evening activities, and that a lot of the theaters shown in their daytime landscape settings are gleaming white and in perfect repair, a lot of viewers just skip over those—maybe, "they don’t fit in”—and say something like, “I used to love the drive-in, too bad they’re all gone.”

The Boulevard, Kansas City, Kansas, 2012

As I design the book layout, a couple things I’m planning are that each plate will be identified with the name and location of the theater, along with the date the picture was shot. Also, endnotes will, wherever possible give brief, historical stats on each theater, including whether it’s still operational at the time of publication.

The Warwick

Warwick, New York

Working on the design of the drive-in theater book yesterday, I found that the scan of this 7x17 inch negative was made on my Microtek 9800, back in 2009, when the scanner was failing. Long stripes across the sky when you look closely. So one of my tasks this morning has been to locate the negative, made in 2002, to scan it in two sections on my Epson V750. After merging the two scans in Photoshop I've got a nice rendition of the dramatic light and clouds on the late winter morning I shot it. More good news, a quick search online tells me the Warwick is up and running for the season, having managed to make the expensive conversion to digital projection.

As always, click on the image and you'll get a larger, clearer view of the picture. Don't forget there's still the April print offer going on, details at the top of the right-hand sidebar.

Mission Tiki Drive-in Theater

Montclair, California

Early morning last June, with thick greater Los Angeles haze and smog in the air.

Town and Country Drive-in Theater

Abilene, Texas

The owner told me that if he owned the mineral rights and oil wells, instead of just the theater and land, he wouldn't have any worries about converting to digital projection for his three screens.

Printing While It Rains

Woodbury, Connecticut

After all that scanning, assembling, cleaning up, and adjusting, today it's time to look at some prints. The image on screen is all well and good, but it takes a print to really see the picture.

Meanwhile, the temperature soared from barely fifty in the morning to near ninety this afternoon, with thunderstorms and monsoon rains rolling in.

Woodbury, Connecticut

The Ruskin Family Drive-in Theater

Ruskin, Florida

Because of my week-long artist-in-residence stay with the Firehouse Cultural Center in Ruskin, I got to visit repeatedly at The Family drive-in. I also got to meet with the owners and had a long, highly informative interview with Ted, a vital, older gentleman who has been working in the movie theater business since childhood. I learned a lot I hadn't known about the underlying practice of running these businesses either as independents or as small chains. He's been involved both ways. I also got to spend time in the evening before showtime, where a relaxed, low-key sort of amusement park atmosphere prevails, which resulted in some nice pictures. On the main road trip I seldom was able to visit theaters in the evenings for logistical reasons. It was near the summer solstice, so the light was barely fading before eight and the show couldn't begin till trailers started to run around nine o'clock. Since I never miss an opportunity to photograph in early morning light, getting up at five just wasn't compatible with checking out evening activities on a regular basis. Anyway, if I dare say it, that's a whole different project to think about...

The Family's setting certainly says Florida to me. The light, the tropical trees, and—notice a meticulously kept grass field rather than the gravel favored in the mid-and-far West. Another point of interest is that The Family had already converted to digital projection last year, the result of a fund-raising drive initiated not by the theater owners themselves, but by local fans of the theater.

Forest Floor

Litchfield, Connecticut

Another recent 7x17" shot.

Group Portrait

Ruskin, Florida

Last October during my week-long artist-in-residence stay at The Firehouse Cultural Center, one of the interesting activities was a meeting with the art students at the nearby regional high school. We began the session by setting up the 8x10 Deardorff and 7x17-inch Korona cameras in front of the school. Most of the kids had never seen anything like a view camera before, much less looked at the upside-down-and-backwards image on the ground glass. They really got into it and began to pose for each other in front of and behind the camera. Then someone suggested a group portrait, which seemed like a good idea. This was one of the negatives in this morning's processing run.

Then we went inside and I put out some rather large digital prints (13x32") made from 7x17 negatives. They seemed quite fascinated, being much more familiar with photographic work on screen than as finished prints. They also asked some perceptive questions in the following Q&A—a rewarding group of young people to spend a few hours with.

Swamp at White's Memorial

Litchfield, Connecticut

View from the Bridge

Bantam, Connecticut

A Landscape

Just off Route 6, Indiana

No drive-in theater. Just an agricultural landscape.

Waiting for the Sun

Plymouth, Indiana

The Tri-Way is a four-screen theater with lots of other amenities, including a very impressive miniature golf course. I hadn't known this, but some miniature golf places use pre-cast cookie-cutter materials. The Tri-Way's owner, who came out to meet me half an hour after the 7:30 sunrise (early Fall and Indiana time zones and DST issues make for some weird effects) told me he'd had the course at the drive-in all custom designed. As well as the marquee. More on that another time. There was heavy ground fog, and once I'd found the camera position I wanted for a 7x17 (quite similar to this digital shot) it was quite a wait for the fog to lift enough to see detail, and for the higher clouds the lifting fog was forming to clear away and allow some sunlight through. It got there eventually.

Norwalk, Ohio

I got to the Star View around three o'clock this afternoon, and swirling rainstorms were coming through. There isn't anything too unusual about the venue and I probably wouldn't have done any large format black and white even in normal conditions, but I loved what happened as the storm swept through and got some pretty nice digital capture material from it.

North Ridgeville, Ohio

I can't wait to see the 7x17 and 8x10 negatives of this. I've known about the AUT-O-RAMA drive-in for more than a decade. Before I began this project, having made one or two pictures of drive-in theaters that I thought were quite interesting, in 1999 I drove past, eastbound, on I-90, the Ohio Turnpike. I was astonished to see a huge movie screen with a brilliant picture projected on it, just off the roadway to the right. I learned a bit more about the theater by searching around on the internet. I think this was instrumental in my deciding that this was a Big Project I wanted to pursue, although it's taken me until now to get here.

The rain squalls were dying down when I got there and talked with the owner with whom I'd been in contact on internet and phone. We had a nice conversation about the place while I looked for possible camera positions. Then, just like last evening, the clouds began moving east and getting ready to clear sunlight to illuminate screen two, which is the one next to I-90, that I'd passed all those years ago. After I got the camera set up, we chatted for quite a while, looking to the western sky to see if the clouds would clear. When they did--partially, but enough--the next thing was to gamble how long to delay shooting (I wanted to have a bunch of large trucks coming along I-90 to show the road clearly) without losing the light. I went for a shot with three semi rigs in the field of view. I set up for another sheet and we waited and chatted again. The sun came out another time, and after a couple minutes, just as the light was starting to fade again, two triple-semis came down the pike heading east. My guess is they will streak through about half of their length in the picture during the 1/2 second at f/64 exposure.

A terrific close to the expedition. This was the last venue on my itinerary. There are cheap chain motels a quarter mile from the theater, other side of the highway, and that's where I'm camped now. The room at the 6 is tiny, but the place isn't ratty like others I've mentioned, and the WiFi works. I'll go back to the theater after sunrise to see what I can do with screen one, which will catch morning sunlight, then head back for Woodbury. I'll reload my 7x17 holders and hope for some landscape shots on the first part of my return, where I plan to continue on the old highway instead of the interstate, before hitting the superslab after I cross into PA and line out.

Another Set Up, This Afternoon

Coldwater, Michigan

The Capri Drive-in Theater. A very successful venue in southwestern MI. This afternoon there was a wonderful shot for the 7x17 which shows the vector orientation of the two screens by the way the sun is striking them. This view is facing pretty much north, looking into the changing season summer/fall sky with lake effect clouds drifting through.

Rainy Day at White Memorial

Litchfield, Connecticut

This is a perfect example of a picture that would be a dream to print in Pt/Pd but is almost impossible to get a convincing presentation from a scan. This is OK, for a web file, but lacks detail in the dark trees which would be rich and strong in a print, and lacks brilliance through the middle values. BTW, it looks better if you click the image for the full size (full size upload, a tiny fraction of the scan) file.

Posting here may be a little irregular for a while, as I'm leaving on a two week expedition based primarily on shooting Drive-in Theaters in the near midwest (Ohio and Michigan) though of course I'll also shoot anything else that offers the opportunity to make a picture. Since my last drive-in theater expedition, it looks like even the sort of motels I can afford to stay at now have WiFi so I'll be able to continue the blog, and I won't, this time, put up a set of advance posts. It'll be live, or it won't be there at all. It seems that McDonalds now has free WiFi at most locations, so even though I wouldn't be caught dead eating any food they sell, I might find myself buying a coffee to get access to the intertubes.

Meeker Swamp (Macricostas Preserve)

Washington, Connecticut

Part of Steep Rock Reservation, a great place for a little walk, or a rigorous hike up to the Waramaug Pinnacle (there are only a few places on the path where you really need to use your hands to ascend). Also to test film that's been in the freezer a long time. There's more base fog than fresh HP5-Plus would display, but the base film speed (determined by where you detect subject detail distinctly separated from the filmbase+fog density) is unchanged at 200, and my standard PMK pyro development gives rich but controlled highlight densities, perfect for contact printing in Pt/Pd, but also very accessible to the scanner. A nice reminder how easily film can handle dynamic range from the deeply shaded main body of the picture to the brilliantly lighted clouds. Very easy to print in platinum, and fairly simple to control from the scan where the weakness of digital scanning/capture/printing in holding close value separations way up on the tonal scale (the clouds) requires quite a bit of delicacy in PS.

On a personal note, along with the more famous anniversary today, Tina and I will be observing, with some dismay, the 40th anniversary of our wedding. We claim to have been twelve.

The Randall Drive-in Theater

Bethel, Vermont

Despite the somewhat distressed look of the screen, this smallest drive-in theater in Vermont is open on weekends, showing current double features. This picture was done early on a hazy August morning as the sun was just breaking through rising fog.

SPEED LIMIT 35

Morris, Connecticut

I can't stand doing flat-out film test shots. I simply must make attempted 'real pictures' when I'm testing. In this case I'm about to head out on an expedition to continue my American Drive-in Theater project, and I had to check the condition of some 7x17-inch film that's been in the freezer since 2002. So I only drove a little way, to a nearby place with a nice nature reserve (those shots soon) and tried to make actual pictures. I discovered I was a little rusty on my technique, which was a good thing because now I've practiced a lot and won't be rusty on the expedition. I also found I was rusty on scanning. A very different thing from working with Raw files digitally captured. If you make a good large format negative—expose and develop it properly—making a lovely platinum print from it is the easiest thing in the world. Once you know how. Scanning that negative to make a file for web posting or digital printing is, however, a whole different thing. Much more difficult if you're a bit out of practice.

In the Woods

Morris, Connecticut

Made this past Wednesday afternoon, with the 7x17" Korona. A storm front was coming in and the breeze was picking up, moving the lighter vegetation around while the tree trunks stayed still for the 30 second exposure. Luckily the camera stayed quite still as well. The Korona's a bit on the flimsy side for working in the wind.

You can click on the picture to get a better view, use your browser's back button to return.

WP is going on autopilot now through the weekend while I teach a workshop down in New York. Comments will be posted but I won't be online again until Sunday night.