First Shoots

Here is my rig in action. I have it set up in front of a totem pole at Lookout Park in Haines, Alaska.

My first attempt at shooting one of these poles was hampered by the poor weather. Snow was building up on the totem faster than I could shoot it. I would not be able to stitch the photographs together properly. The snow would not merge correctly.

It is Go Time

It is officially go time as far as this project is concerned. I am currently in Juneau, Alaska awaiting a ferry to Haines to make the production of this project happen. The temperature here is in the high 20's. It is mostly cloudy and there are occasional snow flurries. The amount of shootable daylight is approximately 4 hours, if the overcast is not too thick.

I have ran into a problem where the equipment that I mailed up is not all here in Juneau. I specifically mailed it north to Juneau because my sister could get me updates on when gear arrived. My father lives in Haines but was going to be in Juneau when the boxes were expected to land. Fortunately my parka and short painter pole made it here. Unfortunately I am short most of my clothes and my long underwear. I guess I will see what is in my Haines cache and then go shopping from there.

Test Photographs

Before I hopped on a plane to fly North to Alaska, I wanted to test my rig out on a large piece of vertical art, that was similar to a totem pole. I fortunately was able to find an actual totem pole in front of a trading post here in Santa Fe, NM.

I set out to shoot, process then project my images to see where problems may lie. My first test went well, my second test went horrible, my third went well and I had my shooting method dialed in by the forth pole. Through my testing I learned that consistency is the key.

My comical first attempt involved me using my camera's self timer and raising and hoisting the camera. The camera would flop back and forth as I raised and lowered the camera. I have since added a radio release to my camera. The radio release is now my new favorite photo accessory of all time.

Every step yielded another variable I needed to work out of my photographic process. The list grew long. I needed to keep the camera parallel to the pole. I needed to turn all automatic aspects of my camera. In the example to the left there are a couple glaring examples of my camera doing too much to try and help me. There is a little bit of exposure issue an my stitching program didn't seem to like it.

Testing of Equipment

I have recently been testing new equipment for this project. One of the goals is to create as high resolution images of the art as I can. I want to do this by essentially using my camera as a giant scanner. I plan to do this by mounting my camera on a pole in order to keep it parallel to the 16’ totems.

I have recently been playing around with technique while still in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I have found a totem pole that roughly matches the dimensions of the ones that I want to work with in Alaska. The one down here is a little more along the lines of roadside kitsch rather than a culturally traditional piece of art. It is working fine as a test piece though.

Perhaps the biggest challenge of this project is hoisting my camera up on the pole. The shorter 4-foot to 9-foot pole is actually very fun to use. Mounting my heavy DSLR onto the 8-foot to 23-foot pole is very frightening.

Pictured is the version 1.0 camera mount. It was cobbled together from several pieces of plastic I found while wondering the isles of Home Depot. I could see a couple of points where the DIY rig would fail and ended up finding a purpose built paint pole to camera adapter. God bless milled aluminum.

About the Digital Totem Project

Thank you for taking time to learn more about my project. The project is tentatively called Digital Totem. This project was started early in Fall of 2010. This project entails photographing totem poles in my home town of Haines, Alaska and tying them together with audio interviews of the artists who that carved them. The totem poles photographs will projected as part of an installed art piece.

I wanted to bring this unique forms of art to life. Many of the poles that I am looking to photograph appear to have been there for centuries, though they have been standing for less than 40 years. I will use the photographs of the art to illicit interviews based on the work.

The totem poles I am working with have been carved by Alaska Indian Arts, an art school in Haines, Alaska. This was an organization that my father was active in then and continues to carve for. I want to learn more about my father’s early art.