TAKE A TRIP

Photographer and Replichrome fanatic, Ryan Longnecker , was chosen to document this year’s Field Trip , a summit for photographers and creatives to connect and create. Ryan brought his documentary style and insider’s point of view to create a series of images that leave us dying to visit Field Trip next year.

What was your approach to shooting Field Trip? What were some of the biggest challenges?

I wanted to immerse myself in the camper’s perspective and try to get a cross section of the scale of what’s offered. I also wanted to connect with the attendees well enough that I didn’t feel like an annoyance, but instead, a friend and fellow creative. Some of the biggest challenges were trying to capture people and the location when light was the best - there was just so much happening that in those windows of time for good light I was still scooting around in my golf cart trying to capture some of the 20 classes/1on1’s/live shoots/craft-making happening at any moment. It was also tough to really follow any of the campers around to get them sharing those "escape" moments where they were able to get portraits of each other. My boundaries were drawn by the schedule so I wasn’t able to peel away as often as I might have if I were just attending.

What surprised you about photographing at Field Trip?

I was surprised at how relaxed the personalities were of some of my creative heroes. I stepped back and watched them share meals with people who are just beginning in the industry - or, who maybe have hit a creative wall - and just talked life with them, heard their stories, had a late night bowl of cereal, and danced with them (like really hard party dancing).

Explain your approach to processing the images. What were you going for? How did you achieve that?

All of the color images were processed with Replichrome Fuji 800Z Noritzu+ and all of the BW images were processed with either Kodak Plus-X 125++ (for the cleaner and night look) or Tri-X++ (for daytime and moody looks). I was going for a look that felt tactile and classic, like old family travel photos but that definitely captured the colors, scale, and moments of the event. I think I get that by always having an itchy shutter finger and my head on a swivel for people laughing, throwing chalk on themselves, jumping in the ocean, or whatever unscheduled fun might be happening. I tend towards having a less faded look so the technical side of it is always dropping the shadows/black slider and since I shoot warm sometimes the greens are too present and I adjust the camera calibration shadows to be slightly more magenta. I also will occasionally relax the grain and add lens corrections. But that’s pretty much it.