
There is a very strong meditative element to making order out of the chaos inherent in nature. Painters have the ability to include whatever they wish in their scenes. Excluding non-essential and distracting elements to create a vibrant, meaningful and moving composition poses the real challenge for the photographer. This act is the heart and soul of photography and something I find extremely contemplative and gratifying.
I primarily shoot large format 4x5 film (sheets of color and B&W film 4 inches by 5 inches). Large format provides unsurpassed print detail and exquisite tonal qualities not achievable in smaller formats. The large format camera is fully manual. This manual process dictates a very measured pace, which I find very well suited to full immersion in the work. I recently added a professional digital camera to my equipment bag, but I use the 4x5 for the vast majority of my work.

Harley Goldman
Santa Barbara, CA
