Pennsylvania

4x5 for 365 project (365/365) - THE END

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A cabin typical of those used by George Washington's Revolutionary Army Soldiers during their encampment on the grounds of what is now the Valley Forge National Historic Site in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

This image concludes my 4x5 for 365 daily project for 2014.  The project's goals were to force myself to shoot as much as possible in as many different settings and situations as possible with the 4x5 large format camera in order to learn the mechanics and the science behind this type of photography to the point where it becomes second nature.  I think the project has served those goals well.  Looking back over the project output I have no regrets though I do wish I could have included more portraiture in the mix of images.  2015 sets the stage for new challenges including the addition of a 5x7 camera to the mix and hopefully spending more time with some of the cameras that had to take a back seat to the 4x5 gear during 2014.  I want to thank those who took the time to favorite photos on flickr and like photos on Facebook and comment during the project.  The support of viewers has made it easier to continue in times of self doubt.  I also have to thank my Wife for her never ending support in not only this 365 project but in all my photographic endeavors, I really couldn't ask for a more loving and supportive woman to share my life with.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford FP4+ B&W film, shot at ISO 125.
Exposure was 1/15th second at F32.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 6 minutes and 50 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.
Cropped to desired size in post.

4x5 for 365 project (364/365)

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The side door at Defender's Gate in Valley Forge, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  Defender's Gate is a part of the Washington Memorial Chapel but it's located 1/4 mile away from the chapel.  When constructed in the Spring of 1911, Defender's Gate was to be a second complex of buildings at the chapel cemetery's entrance mirroring the architectural style of the chapel complex and dedicated to those who had defended the Union in various conflicts. The structure would consist of a porter's lodge and a waiting room linked by an arch honoring Abraham Lincoln. It was hoped that veterans of the Civil War, many of whom were still alive, would donate funds for the arch. The porter's lodge was quickly built, and on the fiftieth anniversary of Lincoln's first call for volunteers the first stone was laid for the Lincoln Arch.  The complex was never completed, and the lodge section looks rather strange today, facing sideways along Route 23 without its arch and adjoining building.  The column you see on the right was to support the arch that was never built.  One day left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford FP4+ B&W film, shot at ISO 125.
Exposure was 1/4 second at F22.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 6 minutes and 50 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (363/365)

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Located inside the outer courtyard of the Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, this bronze statue is called "Sacrifice and Devotion" and is also known as "Heckscher Memorial" and "Grieving Mothers".  It was created in 1914 by Bela Lyon Pratt as a commissioned by Stevens Heckscher to honor Henrietta Armitt Heckscher, who died during child birth in 1912. Weathering through the years and the wrath of pigeons have taken their toll on the statue but it is still a very moving piece of memorial art well worth seeing.  Two days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford FP4+ B&W film, shot at ISO 125.
Exposure was 1/2 second at F22.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 6 minutes and 50 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (362/365)

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A Revolutionary War era canon sits atop a hill near the Muhlenberg encampment at Valley Forge National Historic Site in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Three days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford FP4+ B&W film, shot at ISO 125.
Exposure was 1/30th second at F32.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 6 minutes and 50 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (359/365)

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A long exposure shot of the small creek that flows through the Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  Six days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Tiffen 0.8 ND filter on lens.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
4 seconds at F22.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (358/365)

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Built in 1771 by Ironmaster Mark Bird, this is the main house at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  Seven days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/4 second at F32.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (357/365)

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A fence guides visitors down a country path at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  Eight days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/4 second at F32.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (356/365)

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The furnace buildings at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  The completely overcast, flat light of the day helped eliminate nasty hard shadows but it also gave some odd glare on some of the windows.  Nine days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/4 second at F32.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (355/365)

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An old barrel and wagon wheel sit outside the blacksmith's shop at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  Ten days left in this year long project !

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/4 second at F22.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (352/365)

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A view of the rooftops of the furnace buildings from the hillside above at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
90mm F5.6 Schneider Super-Angulon lens in a Copal 0 shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/2 second at F45.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (351/365)

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The gate to a horse corral found at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  I've been waiting for a flat lighting day to re-shoot Hopewell for quite a while so I didn't have to deal with hard shadows.  Sunday provided lighting so flat and overcast that I had to drive to the location with my car lights on.  I find that old wood and metal detail comes out looking great in these overcast conditions and shooting with Ilford HP5+ at the full 400 ISO and processing it in Ilford DD-X to maintain the sharpness and minimize grain at 400 ISO worked out very well for the shots I had envisioned.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/4 second at F32.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (350/365)

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Barn door detail on the main barn at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson, Berks County Pennsylvania.  

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1/2 second at F22.
Developed in Ilford DD-X 1+4 dilution for 7 minutes and 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Beseler 8x10 print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (347/365)

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Moselem one-room Schoolhouse built around 1905 and closed in 1955. It sits across the street from the Zion Moselem Lutheran Church in Richmond Township, Berks County Pennsylvania. It's in great shape and features intricate gable detail on all four sides and the front porch area, something I've found on most of the historic one-room schools in the immediate area.  Day # 1 of this 365 project also featured this schoolhouse taken from a different angle and shot in B&W.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in Copal B shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/8th second at F32.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.
Cropped in post.

4x5 for 365 project (346/365)

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A gear and piston from a replica of the John Stevens "Steam Wagon" which he built in 1825. Stevens built the original Steam Wagon as a proof-of-concept and ran on on a small circle of track in Hoboken, New Jersey. He also chartered the first railroad in Pennsylvania in 1823, though it was never constructed.  Image shot at the Railroad Museum Of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.  

Technical details:
Busch Pressman Model D 4x5 large format press camera.
Graflex Optar 135mm F4.7 lens in a Graphex shutter.
Ilford HP5+ B&W film, shot at ISO 400.
1 second at F22.
Developed in Adox Rodinal 1:50 dilution for 7 minutes and 25 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using a Mod54 six sheet insert in an older screw top Paterson System Tank # 4 placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (344/365)

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An angel grave marker from 1946, found in Sacred Heart Cemetery, also known as Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Allentown, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.  

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
Fujinon-W 210mm F5.6 lens in Copal B shutter.
Wratten yellow # 8 filter on lens.
Kodak Ektascan BR/A single-sided X-Ray film shot at ISO 100.
1/15th second at F16.
Developed in Adox Rodinal 1:150 dilution for 6 minutes, 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.    
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (343/365)

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The Freyberger one-room schoolhouse was built by Jacob Stein for $300 in the 1830's, though some reports list its build date as circa 1870. It was originally called both the Center School and the Stein School. Classes ceased at the school in 1955 when school district consolidation took over in Pennsylvania. The school was moved to the Kutztown University campus on October 30th-31st 1991 and is now part of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Center which includes examples of a German Bank Barn, Farm House, Cabins and this one room brick schoolhouse.  The original location of the school was on Klinesville Road in Greenwich township about 3 1/2 miles from its present location. It was gifted to the college by Archie Follweiler Jr. of Kutztown. Kutztown University Alumnus and retired school teacher Dr. Ruth Freyberger paid for the move, renovations and maintenance of the schoolhouse as a tribute to her Sister Grace Arline Freyberger, also a Kutztown University graduate and a retired schoolteacher who attended a one-room schoolhouse in her youth. Present day school children sometimes take field trips to the school to learn about what it was like to be educated in one during the 1800s/early 1900s.

Technical details:
Calumet 45NX 4x5 large format monorail film camera.
Fujinon-W 210 F5.6 lens in a Copal B shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/15th second at F22.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (340/365)

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A look at the barn found at the historic Daniel Boone Homestead in Exeter, Berks County, Pennsylvania.

Technical details:
Busch Pressman Model D 4x5 large format press camera.
Graflex Optar 135mm F4.7 lens in a Graphex shutter.
Wratten yellow # 8 filter on lens.
Arista EDU Ultra 200 (re-branded Fomapan) B&W Film, shot at ISO 160.
1/8th second at F32.
Developed in Adox Rodinal 1:50 dilution for 7 minutes, 20 seconds @ 20 degrees Celsius using Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (339/365)

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Another Sunflower shot from back in August at the Please Wash Me Car Wash in Elverson, Chester County, Pennsylvania.  I went for a shallower depth of field on this one with the advantage of being able to then use a slightly higher shutter speed to try and counteract some of the swaying of the flowers in the wind.  

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/30th second at F16.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.

4x5 for 365 project (338/365)

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Neff's one-room schoolhouse on the outskirts of Kutztown.  It was built in the 1880s and used up until 1955 when the Kutztown School District consolidated their fifteen one-room schoolhouses into a larger school that could house all students.  It remained dormant until Bill and Doll Fox purchased the property in 1972 and spent several years renovating it as a second home.  Since then, they have also purchased another one-room schoolhouse, the Eagle Point school, on the other side of Kutztown.   The Fox's have decorated the interior of the Neff School with antiques and symbols commemorating life in Kutztown.   Mr. Fox is known for his intricate topiary gardens he curates outside both schoolhouses.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/8th second at F32.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.
Cropped to desired size in post.

4x5 for 365 project (337/365)

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Crane's Nest Inlet section of Promised Land State Park in Greentown, Pennsylvania.  When I stopped to shoot this area the first time in 2013 I was focusing the camera when I heard some grumbling and rustling off to my right.  Peaking my head out from under the focusing cloth I found a black bear was crossing the road between me and my car which was parked about two hundred feet south.   The bear looked at me in mid-stride and kept on going on his way to the other side of the forest.   It still ranks as one of the coolest things that has happened to me while photographing.  No bears were spotted on more recent trips to the state park.

Technical details:
Sakai Toyo 5x7" large format metal field camera with 4x5" film back.
150mm Caltar-S II F 5.6 lens in Copal BT shutter.
Circular polarizing filter on lens.  
Kodak Ektar 100 color negative film shot at ISO 100.
1/4th second at F45.
Developed using Unicolor C-41 color developing kit and Beseler 8x10 color print drum placed on Unicolor Uniroller 352 auto-reversing rotary base.   
4x5" negative scanned with Epson V600.