A Recent Article from View Camera - March/April 2001

Portrait Photographer of God’s Creations

by Michael Fatali

Early in my life I turned to the motherhood of nature for my personal and spiritual growth. This relationship with the natural world has been my lifeblood. I am drawn to places of mystery where I feel at peace with the power of the Earth’s spirit.

Over the past fifteen years, I have learned to use my photography as a voice for the gospel of nature. It is my goal and mission to communicate the mysterious connections we all share with this land and so I will continue to practice ways that bring us a little closer to the spirit of nature. These are the reasons why I have chosen to be a portrait photographer of God’s creations.

Selecting the right equipment is a big part of my photographic process. Even though I find the photographic tools and technique secondary to my creativity, they are essential and necessary for the end result to be successful and self expressive.

I work with an 8x10 Compact field camera customized by Dick Phillips and Sons of Midland Michigan. This is certainly one of the finest cameras made today. What I like most is the simplicity and rugged lightweight construction. This camera also has held up very well in extreme conditions and environments during many of my photographic expeditions throughout the Desert Southwest.

I must also admit, using this oversized and somewhat primitive camera design is a romantic and creative way to become more intimate with my subjects. The view camera forces me to slow down and approach my subject in a more methodical and sensitive manner instead of randomly exposing photographic images which is more likely to happen with smaller camera formats.

I use a wide range of modern design lenses from 110mm to 800mm. My latest film choices are somewhat narrow but I have had the most success with Fujichrome Velvia and Kodak Ektachrome VS. The most difficult issue relating to these positive films is their characteristic of extreme inherent contrasts. However, these films work wonderfully in soft even lighting, such as from deep canyons bathed in reflected light.

When visualizing a scene, I will first make my exposure evaluations with a dependable Pentax one-degree spot meter. This tool gives me the ability to read small areas of values in my scene ranging from shadows to highlights. I usually will stay within three stops of exposure from the brightest value. This serves as a visual aid to exploring the possible range of values and color tones within my compositions. For example, I can purposely select an exposure that will make a canyon wall that is reflecting an orange-like glow to either turn red with less exposure or yellow with more exposure. Either exposure becomes a matter of choice to the end result.

In making fine prints for my gallery, I have chosen to work exclusively with the natural light of nature when exposing my images. I tend not to use color filters or artificial lighting when in the field. I find it more pleasing to control the desired result in my darkroom.

Working with the large 8x10 film size also gives me the ability to capture and reveal every detail in the photographic print. I have been using the “classic” Ilfachrome materials formally known as Cibachrome for all my gallery prints. I have worked seriously with this printmaking process for over fifteen years. I own a Durst 10x10 enlarger with a color Proveli head and process with an old 26” width Hope.

Ilfochrome is my first printing choice in producing a handmade print, even though the challenges are great to perfect and creatively control the entire image range of contrast, density, and color. I use contrast masks for most of my images when printing. The recipe building of contrast masking is the most intricate part of this process for me to achieve a successful print. Depending on the exposure and development of the pan masking material by Kodak, I can control the image contrast and density either of a specific area or the entire negative. I often use filtration when exposing the masks to enhance the density of colors as another creative vehicle of darkroom technique.

I have seen nothing that can compare to a well-printed Ilfachrome for the beauty and enjoyment of viewing a color photographic image. I am also finding from many museums and private photography collectors around the world that this artistic form of printmaking, without using digital applications, is becoming more appreciated and desirable.

Journal excerpts Coyotes Buttes, 1987

Many hours have passed since the first morning kiss from our mother, the spirit of nature, with her breath carrying the light across this land embracing all it touches. Scrambling through a maze of towering stone pillars in one hundred degrees of blazing summer sun, I finally summited the saddle’s edge of the Vermilion Cliffs-Wilderness boundaries. I stood quietly for a brief moment while having the pleasure of being greeted with the awe of silence and the infinite spaces of time that surrounded me.

I began to scout for a possible safe route down and off the jagged cliff face. My back felt fatigued, and was resenting the oversized load with every aching muscle, yet my craving for adventure was compelling me to carryout the exploration through this territory of extremes. Seen only from afar, the colorful abstract formations appeared to stretch for miles to what would soon be the greatest treasure of my discovery.

At last! Windswept sculptures of stonestone twisted in every direction, with brushed rainbowed layers of silt echoing through this ancient land of breathing rock: reveling its innermost secrets one grain of sand at a time. Touch it and you are transported to a period that reawakens the heart and spirit of a way of life for the mysterious vanished tribes who once lived here, whose spirits seem to linger and remain within the soul of the place.

Perhaps this area of sacred land was a portal for deepening their awareness of connection with the Great Spirit. Or they may have had gatherings for ritual ceremonies of self-transformation to the other world, their globe of spirituality.