photographers are crazy

I decided I needed to get back to shooting my plate cameras.  I got out my Kodak Recomar 18 and patched a pinhole I had overlooked.  Then, I got up early and headed out to the riverside bosque with some HP5 in the camera.  I thought I was well prepared for the low 30s temperature with a vest and winter jacket, but I didn't think about gloves.  By the time I had hiked to a place where I wanted to make some pictures my hands were so stiff from the cold that I couldn't wind the film or set the shutter.  I stuffed my hands in my pockets to restore some manual function and managed to adjust the camera, but the light was so dim under the trees that I had to set the aperture nearly wide open.

I headed home to thaw out, and then took a walk around Old Town when the temperature had gotten up into the comfortable 50s.  The Rada roll film back for the Recomar gets in the way of using the flip up wire-frame view finder on the camera, so I am experimenting with a little open frame viewfinder which I salvaged from an old folder and taped to the top of the Rada.  I got better results from the afternoon outing, but still am clearly in need of some more practice with the plate cameras.