The Large Format Group

New image: Alley encounter

2012-01-10T19:24:00.002-08:00

"Alley encounter"

Photo credits: Raina Carter, Helen Jones, Brent Smith

Well it has been a long while but we have finally made a new image. Raina suggested trying to use one of the many alleyways in our area of Portland. So we went with a shadowy mysterious style, that is what alleyways were made for, right? We think the lighting came out lovely especially the ominous looking shadow on the fence. Who is about to enter this long alley, and what will happen next?

Halloween Lenscratch Post

2011-10-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

Check out our creepy contribution to the Halloween Lenscratch post. Find it here, along with many other spooky and fun pics. To see our spirit series in its entirety go here.

In-Sight Annual Exhibition and Silent Auction

2011-10-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

All funds raised from this auction will directly benefit the programs of The In-Sight Photography Project. In-Sight’s mission is to provide a creative outlet through the visual art of photography for the youth of Windham County, Vermont regardless of their ability to pay suggested class fees. It is always an amazing event and if you are in Vermont I highly suggest heading over to VCP, if not check it out online: insight-photography.org. Look for prints by the large format group, Through the music owners Sarah Rice and Josh Steele, Mike Cardiello, and Helen Jones.

LENSCRATCH SUMMER POST

2011-07-04T11:09:00.000-07:00

Check out our pic from last Fourth on LENSCRATCH'S summer post!

F-stop Magazine

2011-06-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

The Large Format Group has a few pictures in the newest issue of F-stop Magazine an online art photography Magazine! Take a look at fstopmagazine.com/groupexhibit.

After Mean Creek / Before the Fall

2011-01-09T17:36:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to scanning the last image we made with my camera before it tumbled of a cliff. My friend, Raina and I were talking yesterday about how interesting and ironic it is that the last photo we made was this very ominous one -- where I look as if I may be dead. We had just seen a movie called Mean Creek, which was set in Oregon and involved the accidental killing of a bully. When we set out to make a picture, with this on our minds, as well as the very typical Oregon weather we ended up this image. When we tried to take another -- slightly too near a cliff -- the camera fell to its untimely demise in the river bellow. So sad.

"In the fog"

Photo credits: Josh Begley, Raina Carter, Adam Coddington, Helen Jones, Brent Smith

Shows this month

2011-01-07T13:25:00.000-08:00

The large Format group has work in a couple of Group Shows this month! First and foremost the Through the Music Gallery is turning 4! I can hardly believe it. We have a few prints in their Annual Group Show to celebrate their Birthday. The Gallery located on the corner of Main st. and Elliot St. in Brattleboro Vermont in back of Turn it Up! Just go through the music and up the stairs. If you cant tell already I am a huge fan of this place, if you live in the area I highly recommend going there.Also one of our prints has been selected to be a part of the The Arrangement at the Vermont Photo Space Gallery. A group show jurried by Paula Tognarelli and opening 1/11/11. For more info check out VPS's website, there is also an exhibition catalog to browse through online.

Check out or first print (and a ton of other great art) at the In-Sight Photo auction!

2010-10-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

insight-photography.org

What to print?

2010-09-01T21:33:00.000-07:00

The Large Format Group is hoping to donate a print to the annual silent action to benefit the In-Sight Photography Project. However, time is running out, we need help! Which image should we use? We are all excited to see one of our pictures as a real print, and about where it will be going… The In-Sight Photography Project teaches photography to youth ages 11-18 regardless of their ability to pay. It is a wonderful program and the action, held in October, always looks amazing. To find out more about the event or - even donating a print - please visit In-Sight's website and sure cast your vote with us for which of our pictures you would like to see there.

Bigfoot

2010-08-31T16:30:00.000-07:00

One more picture from the Alsea. This cabin was really quirky and intriguing so we wanted to make sure to get it in a photo. I like how everyone is interacting in this shot, especially the dog, Hunter, who is looking straight at the camera during the whole exposure. The lighting was really nice too. If you look closely I am sure you can guess why we call it 'bigfoot'.

"Bigfoot"

Photo credits: Raina Carter, Sage Hilbush, Elias Himberger, Hunter, Helen Jones

Ukes by the Alsea

2010-08-31T15:05:00.000-07:00

Here are our first few photo's taken on the west coast. I (Helen) have recently moved to Portland Oregon. I am hoping to start a Large Format Group here, and hoping the original LFG will keep going in Vermont. I think it could be a really cool exchange, and it will be interesting to see how the styles of the two groups evolve. These pictures were taken at a really awesome cabin next to the Alsea River (thanks Lindsay) in Oregon. It was so pretty we just wanted to sing out and play ukes.

"Ukes by the Alsea I and II"
Photo credits: Raina Carter, Helen Jones, Brent Smith

Look up!

2010-08-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

A while back my roomate Ashley and I were trying to make a quick trip to the supermarket when we became distracted by the amazing lighting and sky. Half way to the store we turned around and went on a search for the perfect patch of sky. This is the result.

"Look up!"

Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Helen Jones

Esty Picture

2010-08-29T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the first of the new photos I will be posting. It's also, the one of the last of the photos I took with the LFG in Vermont before moving to Portland. It was taken at the old Esty organ buildings in Brattleboro Vermont. We were inspired by old photographs of factory workers, plus the buildings are just so cool.

"Coffee break"

Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Raina Carter, Barbara George, Helen Jones

Success!

2010-08-28T17:39:00.000-07:00

Our most recent batch of film has been processed and scanned! There are a couple photos that made the long journey west with me, plus a few taken here in the Portland area! I am working on getting them all up within the next few days.

Some summer attempts (Part II)

2010-06-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite ideas from this summer was the 'bikers/banners' plot. This was a truly ambitious plan to take a photo of a group of bikers with encouraging banners flying behind their bikes. It was inspired by a Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher project called "Learning to Love You More". The project involved a website where art assignments were posted, the resulting work was compiled on the site and in a book of the same name. I highly recommend checking them out. Here I will post a couple examples of the assignment that inspired us: Assignment #63 Make an encouraging banner.

R:Wheat Wurtzburger and Anna Kerlin, Orlando, Florida USA L: Claire and Tim, Winchester, ENGLAND

R: Ashley Valverde, Kansas City, Missouri USA L: Ashley, Washington, D.C. USA

The four by fives did not come out, however we did get some cool shots with digital cameras and had a lot of fun. Abby posted a couple of pics of the event on her blog (abbybanks.blogspot.com) find them here: Abby Banks: the gang's all here.

"Nice Try"

Photo credits: Abby Banks, Raina Carter, Kia Ladd-Griffin, Aiden O'Donell, Helen Jones, Sarah Rice, Josh Steele

Thanks, especially to the riders... Kia Ladd-Griffin, Aiden O'Donell, and Josh Steele.

Some summer attempts (Part I)

2010-06-23T22:47:00.000-07:00

It seems that the summer has flown past. We had some grand ideas of pictures to take this summer, some which worked out and some which didn't. We had a great time with the process even when they didn't work out. I thought we would share some of our attempts with you today!

When making this picture our inspirations were as diverse as: old paintings of planters and farmers, growing interest in urban farming, and our generations – serious - love of looking everything up on the internet. Somehow, the light was amazing as we were setting up, but did not come out so well in the negative. In addition, we had many little details set up that did not come thorough, such as a copy of ‘gardening for dummies’ lying around. Ah well, here is the picture all the same.

"Beta Gardening"
Photo credits: Abby Banks, Ashley Carey, Henry Dunn, Helen Jones

And here are some examples of the types of paintings we were referencing.

L: Jean Francois Millet, Potato Planters R: VanGogh, Farmers Planting Potatoes 1884

Canoe expedition

2010-06-16T19:25:00.001-07:00

Last week we rented canoes and set out to take pictures with then. This was difficult as it was very windy and our subjects were being blown around quite a bit. Nonetheless we did get some neat looking shots and here they are...

"No more cell phones series"

Photo credits: Eva Becker, Ashley Carey, Henry Dunn, Helen Jones, Ruston Mitchell, Josh Steele, Sara Rice

Another Still Life

2010-06-07T21:24:00.000-07:00

"After lemonade series"

photo credits: Ashley Carey, Henry Dunn, Helen Jones

We took another stab at a still life the other day. We used window light this time and came up with nice results! I am pleased with the odd angle of the glass in the front -- it looks like its floating or something and I love the little strawberry in the corner of the bottom one. We had the dead flowers and butterfly as a centerpiece on our kitchen table for a couple of weeks, I'm glad they made it into the pictures too. We looked at old still life paintings as inspiration (for examples see my earlier still life post). The twisted lemon peel and skull motifs were taken from these paintings. On a more contemporary note, the images are very reminiscent of Laura Letinsky's work. Especially the slightly skewed angles, she works with large format cameras and often uses interesting angles to give her images of everyday objects on table-tops a more interesting and dynamic feel.

Lara Letinski, L: Untitled, #54, R: Untitled, #23, Hardly More Than Ever series, 1999

Creepy basement shot

2010-05-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

"Compact florescent in a coal mine"
photo credits: Ashley Carey, Ezra Distler, Henry Dunn, Helen Jones, Sara Rice

Wanted: four by five camera

2010-05-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

We are a fun loving photography group in search of a lonely four by five camera wanting to be used again. Our group is splitting into east coast and west coast divisions and we now need a second camera! A field camera would be preferred, anything would be good, but it must be cheap, the cheaper the better! We are used to a little duct tape with our cameras. If you have a camera like this hiding in your attic or closet gathering dust please contact us at:
helen@helenjonesphotography.com.

Stuff we've been doing and and stuff we've been hiding

2010-05-12T05:41:00.000-07:00

Just so you know - we haven't abandoned our project. We had a very sad experience with a box of film being stolen. So we have slowed our picture taking a bit. Also, we like things to be just so. But today we thought we might show you a few pictures that hadn't made it onto the web yet, some we plan on retaking, some were taken on the side at other shots - stuff like that. They haven't been corrected fully either, so you will get to see the process a bit here.

"Invisible kites"
Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Courtney Carey, Henry Dunn, Jason, Helen Jones, Sarah Rice

"Sitting mid-adventure"
Photo credits: Abby Banks, Henry Dunn, Helen Jones

"Tunnel, tire, boots, bones"
Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Helen Jones

Serenade

2010-04-15T19:06:00.000-07:00

"Serenade"

Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Helen Jones, Sarah Rice, Josh Steele

We just love ukuleles, and this stone staircase that leads from one yard to another, and the contrast between indoor and outdoor light. So we made a picture to show that love.

Playing catch with paper planes

2010-03-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

"It's just artists block"

Photo credits: Abby Banks, Ashley Carey, Ezra Distler, Helen Jones, Saturn Milner

This is our newest shot - taken from Abby's studio window on Main Street, downtown Brattleboro. Ashley was in the street below with a giant paper airplane, waving her hands in the air! She sure got some funny looks from passersby. Ah well, there is always fun to be had on rainy afternoons.

Morning shot

2010-03-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

"Good morning, goodbye"

Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Corey from Gill

This is an outtake from our camera obscura shoot. It's long exposure where a couch hopper got up and left while the picture was being taken, it looks kinda cool. We also really love the way the alarm clock glows. The yellow and green theme was inspired by the duo-colored sets and lighting in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's films like Amelie and Delicatessen.

Camera obscura picture

2010-03-18T10:01:00.001-07:00

"For Abelardo Morell and Hiroshi Sugimoto"

Photo Credits: Abby Banks, Ashley Carey, Henry Dunn, Matte Greaney, Helen Jones, Sara Rice

This photograph was taken after turning our living room into a camera obscura. I had been talking with my roommate one day about pinhole cameras and camera obscuras and how you could make a darkened room into a camera obscura pretty easily. She did not believe me. I showed her a book by the photographer Abelardo Morell who does just this in his pictures. She was still skeptical but excited at possibility so we decided to try it for ourselves and, of course, we had to take a picture of it. With the help of some friends, a bunch of cardboard, and four rolls of duct tape success was ours! We then sat in the room and watched a documentary film about Abelardo Morell (it is called Shadow of the House by Allie Humenuk, and I recommend checking it out) and took a picture of ourselves for the duration of the movie. We thought it was a nice way to pay homage to our biggest inspiration for this endeavor. The length of the exposure was also a nod to the photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto who takes beautiful pictures of movie theatres by taking an exposure for the entire length of the movie.
Here are some shots by the artists who influenced us:

Abelardo Morell

Brookline View in Brady's Room / Manhattan View Looking West in Empty Room

Hiroshi Sugimoto

Orinda Theater / Union City Drive-In

Spirit photos

2010-03-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

"Untitled spirit series"
Photo credits: Ashley Carey, Henry Dunn, Helen Jones

This series of pictures was inspired by spirit photography of the late 1800's. At that time people were trying to use photography as proof of supernatural happenings. People wanted to believe that photography was a document of what was in front of the camera unaltered by the creator. Even today, with the popularization of Photoshop, we tend to think of photos as fact. Photography is not always fact, and has never been. This contradiction comes to the forefront in spirit photography -- as well as in clearly staged pictures like our group makes. No ghosts made it to our seance though! Maybe we will try again another day. Here are some examples of spirit photography from the exhibit The Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult which showed at the Met a few years back. It was a really interesting show and I believe it was made into a book as well.

H. Mairet, Séance with Eusapia Palladino at the home of Camille Flammarion, France, 25 November 1898 / The Medium Eva C. with a Materialization on Her Head and a Luminous Apparition Between Her Hands, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing

A still life

2010-03-09T14:53:00.001-08:00

"Still life with dead daffodils"

Photo Credit: Helen Jones, Martha Jones

Recently I listened to a lecture by photographers Laura McPhee and Abelardo Morell about an exhibition called The Poetry of Everyday Life: Dutch Paintings in Boston Collections which showed at the MFA several years back. In it they talked about what they like about the paintings and how it could relate to their photographic work. I found it very interesting. I have always loved Vermeer and his sense of light, this made me want to look at more Dutch paintings for inspiration. Abe in particular talked about still lives, tabletop scenes, and what they can symbolize -- which is often excess and waste. Here my mom and I tried to make our own more modern and modest still life. Below are some of the types of paintings that we allude to.

Pieter Claesz "Still Life with Roemer, Tazza and Watch" /
Willem Claesz "Still-Life with Gilt Goblet"

Our first successful shoot!

2010-02-27T16:38:00.000-08:00

"Disposable dishes / Reuse recycle"

Photo Credits: Ashley Carey, Helen Jones

Hurray our first shoot! We were talking about reusing, recycling, and the tendency towards disposable products our culture is facing at the kitchen table the other day. I told a story about how my mother and grandmother use paper plates but say its "ok" because they reuse, and sometimes even rewash them. This image of my grandmother with a soapy sink full of tiny paper cake plates popped into my head and we decided to make a picture. I raided my mom's place for supplies and Ashley and I set up this shot. I have to say I really do like the way light hits plastic cups.