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.