Through the Ground Glass: An Ode to the Large Format Photographer

If you’re in the mood to pine for your own large format camera, the great outdoors, landscape photography, and the darkroom, this beautifully shot ode to the large format photographer is right up your alley.

It’s called Through the Ground Glass, and though it does feature a bit of language (consider yourself warned), it’s a visually engaging ode to what some might call a lost art.

Through the Ground Glass was directed and produced by filmmakers Nick Bolton and Taylor Hawkins, and features large format photographer Joseph Allen Freeman explaining his relationship with large format photography while he climbs to some of his favorite vistas.

“The difficulty [of large format photography] somehow makes me feel in it more,” explains Freeman as the video shows him setting up his camera inside of a cave. “I move the camera around, paying attention to shapes and forms, until it feels right. The line is like a melody and a texture is like tone and music… so once it’s tuned then that’s how you know that you’re ready to make an exposure.”

To see a selection of Freeman’s work, check out the portfolio on his website.