Jack Latham: How the United States got Big!

When I lived in Canada, I used to go to my wife's lectures in Anthropology, African and American History at the University of Toronto. They were far more engaging than the lectures I'd been given in the UK, and they gave me a grounding in history that I still remember to this day. It was like doing another degree course (I did all the reading as well).

Some of the things that stuck with me from American history were the expansion of the United States of America. We didn't learn about that in British school - we learned about the pyramids, the First World War, the Empire and how bad the Nazis were. It's still the same now.

But going to these lectures I suddenly learnt that the United States had started off so relatively small, that 200 years ago it was a place that was part of the people who had lived there for the previous millenia, that the whole of the USA was formed on lies and deceit and arbitrary power grabs that are mind-boggling in their venality. So it wasn't too different from the British Empire then (or any empire or expansion of power).

     all photographs Jack Latham

The idea that struck me most was the Louisiana Purchase. This was when the United States doubled in size by buying a bunch of land from the French. Not that the French had ever done anything with this land or even occupied any part of it for any length of time,or even 'owned' it in any sense of the word. It was wholey imaginary ownership based wholely in the mind and the statement of ownership. But if you stick a pen to a map, draw a line across it and give the space a name, it somehow looks real. And then you have something you can sell, as long as you can find someone who believes in your maps. That's how colonialism works.

So in 1803 on behalf of the United States, Thomas Jefferson bought a massive chunk of land from Napoleon Bonaparte for $15 million. Trouble was nobody knew anything about this land other than the people who lived there already. And they were Native Americans so didn't count.

So an expedition had to be mounted to 'discover the land' to find routes from the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean, to map the mountains, to survey the lands, to see what was fit for farming and navigation and eventual exploitation.

The people who made this expedition were Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. From 1804 to 1806, they walked across territory uncharted by Europeans, from Missouri to Oregon. It was an epic expedition, one that established an US presence on the Pacific coast and helped aid the eventual expansion of the country to what it is today.

The Lewis and Clark expedition is the foundation for Jack Latham's book, A Pink Flamingo. It's a nicely laid book of large-format images that follows the route taken by Lewis and Clark over 200 years ago.

And in a strange way, it echoes the original intent of the expedition, with quiet images of roadways and houses showing how the route is navigated now, how the route has been settled. And is still being settled, because there's a sense of austerity in there, the idea that what we have now is no kind of end game.

What were the results of the Lewis and Clark expedition. A Pink Flamingo doesn't give any answers to that question. I like that.  It's still too soon to tell, it's still being settled, it's still empty, and it's still for sale, but now to a different kind of buyer.

Buy the book here.

Mark Hilton's Home Made 20 x 16 camera

I saw this on Source Magazine's website  (Congratulations Briony Oates) and was blown away and intimidated at the same time by Mark Hilton's home made camera - Miroslav Tlichy it is not.

I can think of a million different reasons why I don't build my own 20x16 camera, but I am still hugely jealous of somebody who has done so - and knows how to use it so beautifully.

Here's how he did it.

This is what Mark Hilton says about his work (and the 20x16 is the work)

I designed and built a 20x16" ultra-large-format camera that exposes onto direct positive black and white paper. It came about through a determination to find a far more involved way of creating photographs, inspired by the craftsmanship of early photography. It is also an exploration of trying to create a unique object, each photograph produced is individual and un-reproducable.

The photographs themselves are inspired by early romanticism, exploring the inner thoughts of an individual rather than trying to create a direct representation of the outer.

On the Cheap

I don't really like reading about the technicalities of photography and printing. So often it appears to be anobfuscatory exercise in how complex, expensive and unattainable photography is, using equipment that is above and beyond anybody but the most practised professional.

This kind of writing closes doors. It can make us feel inadequate in the face of larger pockets than our own. It stops us doing things. It is elitist and, in a strange way, intimidatory with its high-budget and technical bravado.

So it was nice to see a couple of projects that appeal to the low budget end of our community - the ideas are still intimidating, if only because the people who are doing them do them so well. First up is this make-your-own cheap large format camera
, courtesy of Mrs Deane. The idea here is that you can make large format prints for a few quid - and the making becomes part of the art. I love it. I want to do it. See the results here.

Next up is Little Brown Mushroom's handtipped album, Conductors of the Moving World. Low tech is the order of the day and the book looks fascinating - it comes in an edition of 500, which is a lot of handtipping. 

Camera Envy: Oh yes!

I was never that mad keen on Chris McCaw's Sunburn pictures - they seemed to follow a well trodden path of extreme burning-out of the negative by the sun, or something else that is bright. But now that I see the cameras he has been using, my opinion has changed somewhat. Is camera envy a good reason to change one's mind? No, not really. I know that process is terribly important, relevant and pertinent, but I can't help feel that it is a rationalisation for something else. Still, McCaw's beast is impressive.

This is from the Photo-Eye Blog, where McCaw is interviewed by Anne Kelly and talks about his work.




Building my own camera was a really liberating process as a photographer. Sometimes you get into that rut of having big dreams of owning high-end camera gear. The reality is that if you use your imagination and a practical sense of what you want to accomplish, you can do most anything. I feel confident that I can pretty much make any camera I need (I'm currently up to 30x40" mounted on a garden wagon). I also just made one on the base of a wheelchair to hold a 125 lb aerial camera lens! 


The wheelchair camera (my friends call it 'the sad robot') was just built last month. So far it is only an 8x10" camera, but it has a 600mm f/3.5 lens that projects an image about 16x20". I was told the lens came off a U2 spy plane -- it is a beast. I use a car jack to raise and lower the lens. I even needed to get a handicap ramp to get it into the van!