So I have been sitting on this for a few days. If you're involved in the various photo groups in central Florida, no doubt you will know who Abby Ferguson is. Outside of being an accomplished photographer, she is a news editor for DPReview, has a MFA from Kansas State University, and who is also a teacher at Daytona State College. Most importantly, she hangs out with us when we go on photo walks.
A few days ago I found myself visiting her down in Daytona College. When they started the saying “A fool and his money are soon parted”, they were thinking of me. I made my way down there because after buying my large format camera I was lacking a few things. First was a tripod that could actually handle it. The ballhead I was using would tip over if I moved the tripod with the camera on it, oftentimes crushing my fingers. Abby, being in the position she is sometimes gets stuff to review. She mentioned a while ago that she had a brand new video tripod that should handle the large format camera. I had some time off so I figured I could drive down there, see if it would work for me, and also do a photoshoot for my project.
Abby being the amazing person she is was actually able to get us a studio to meet up in there. This was my first time shooting the large format in a studio environment and let me tell you this is where the camera shines. Sadly though while the tripod she brought did actually work, it wouldn’t really work for me. I already had an idea of what I wanted for a tripod head and it wouldn’t work with this set up.
Ignoring that, the trip was still worth it. It is always good to talk to someone who not only has the same passion as you, but is educated on the topic is amazing. I asked her if there were any projects she was working on. First she said she really misses conceptual fine art. I know when it comes to art everything is subjective to one degree or another. So I had to ask, what is conceptual fine art photography? I have asked others about fine art before and honestly I have been given answers that were so convoluted that I don’t think they actually knew and were just throwing big words at me to make it sound grand. So I will actually quote Abby here “It's that there's meaning in the photograph beyond just what you see. It doesn't exist for documentary purposes. It's not just a pretty photo for the sake of being a pretty photo. There's meaning behind it. There's significance between the different elements in the shot.” Its simple, it makes sense, and from what I can tell it's correct. That is the mark of someone who knows their craft.
One project she did mention which I will be excited for is a double exposure series she is doing with someone she went to school with. They are still working on the details so I don’t want to spoil it but it really does seem pretty amazing.