Big Camera at Big Ears

By David Luttrell

April 24^th, 2015

Shooting Big Ears with an Old School twist

The Big Ears Music Festival was in late March. Its been going on for a number of years in Knoxville brought to us by AC Entertainment’s Ashley Capps, the same force of nature that conjured up Bonnaroo back in 2002. Big Ears sort of kicks off the Festival Season in our fair city. Where once there was just a Dogwood Arts Festival there are now a plethora of festivals ranging from cuisine oriented BaconFest, BiscuitFest and Brewers Jam to Big Ears and Rhythm N Blooms. The citizens of this Scruffy City love festivals, from art to music to food. They have helped revitalize our downtown and I can only see more in the future.

There is a lot of press here to cover Big Ears and I do enjoy shooting the musicians at the various venues but this year I wanted to add a little twist to my coverage. I decided to drag my old 5x7 Agfa/Ansco field camera out, load some holders with B&W film and see if any of those long forgotten mental gymnastics of using a view camera would come back.

My intent was to shoot people on the street that were possibly here to enjoy the music or anyone that might be interesting and willing to spend a little longer in front of a camera than they might be used to. The camera itself attracted a fair amount of attention and interest and over a couple of days I photographed a couple of dozen willing individuals and groups.

Going for broke, I decided to shoot one sheet of film per opportunity, a decision in hindsight I question. But my success rate was 80%. Not bad after a 10 year absence with a view camera. I had help and encouragement from Knoxville Mercury’s Tricia Bateman as a subject and as an obtainer of subjects.