June 2024 - Rolls 180-181
As my friends and family well know, summer camp has been an important part of my yearly routine since I graduated from high school. Since 2016 I have worked at Laurel Lake Camp almost every summer, filling a variety of roles including counselor, photographer, and finally the boy's village director in 2022, a leadership position I enjoyed very much. During the last few years I haven't been able to make it out for the whole summer, so I have instead found time to be there for a weekend or a week, getting the chance to help out the staff and enjoy some time in nature, where I feel spiritually nourished and refreshed. For various reasons I am not going out there this summer at all; although I am always going to love camp, and Laurel Lake especially, I think that the moment when I belonged there is in the past, and it is best for me to move on and find other places and experiences that help me find the Transcendent. Of course I'm not saying that I'm never going to visit again, but I have other priorities this summer, so I'm alright with putting camp on the back burner. Part of the reason I feel fine with that decision is that last year, as I continued to pursue What My Left Hand is Doing, I took several strong photos at Laurel Lake; these form a nice conclusion to my body of work there, drawing on my knowledge of the landscape and what I've tried before to good effect. Let's talk about them!
During 2019, in the height of my film explosion when I could shoot three rolls of 35mm in an afternoon without a problem, I took many, many photos in the woods at Laurel Lake. Most of them will never see the light of day again, though, because most of them were pretty bad. I struggled with focus and composition in this environment, but one reoccurring issue I had was with metering, as there could be harsh patches of sunlight next to deep shadows in any given frame. When I next went back to camp in 2022, I decided to try using black and white film to capture these forest scenes; not only would this take away the risk of wonky color due to under- or overexposure, but it would also potentially make blown highlights or pitch-black shadows fit into a stronger aesthetic vision. I did have some success with that, and so I've consistently shot some black and white every summer I've been back since then. This photo demonstrates the advantages I gain by shooting black and white in the woods—even though it's not a contrasty morning, the forest quickly falls away into silhouette, and the monochrome shades emphasize the forms in front of that darkness, both the lighter grass in the foreground and the ring of leaves in the center of the frame. That ring is the most compelling part of the image to me; without color, my imagination sees it as a halo of birds swirling about, or maybe a giant mouth in the midst of opening or closing. There's a surreal feeling to the scene, something many folks who have spent time in the woods (me included) can testify to experiencing every now and then in places like this. Although the prevailing feeling I get when I'm in nature is peace, I think it's fun to represent the vaguely creepy side of the forest sometimes, so I'm happy I took this photo in the way I did.
Untitled (Laurel Lake), 2024.
If my first shot that week was showing off the seedy underbelly of Laurel Lake (lol), this next photo is its polar opposite, demonstrating how beautiful an afternoon at camp can be. Although I do enjoy shooting black and white occasionally, I will always return to color when the opportunity presents itself, and this afternoon was the perfect moment to utilize my main medium, with a gorgeous blue sky hanging above green and yellow fields that stretch away to the horizon. I have seen this view many times, as this horse pasture borders the main road leading up to the lodge, but this day the clouds caught my eye, particularly the way that a central grouping seems to be rising up from a distant tree in the background. Right underneath that tree, barely visible, are the Laurel Lake crosses, which I have photographed many times before. Usually I make them the main subject of my composition, but here I appreciate how they are merely one small piece of a larger whole, swallowed up by the overwhelming force of natural beauty. It is easy to see why this place was picked for an Adventist camp—the glory of nature lends itself to a spiritual interpretation, and I couldn't help but be lifted by Transcendence (what some would call God) as I stood transfixed in that moment. This is one of my favorite photos I've made at Laurel Lake, and if my week had simply consisted of this one afternoon it would have been worth it!
Horse Pasture & Crosses—Laurel Lake Camp, Rossiter, Pennsylvania.
Of course, the joy of life is that it goes on from one day to the next, presenting us with even more chances to be uplifted, and so I found myself the next morning walking past this hill to get to the go-kart track, in an effort to find more things to photograph and finish the roll. I did indeed find more strong subjects for my lens, among them the machinery for pulling sledders up the hill (something I utilized as a kid here during the winter), a beautiful scene at the edge of the forest, and the painted tires that form a piece of the track itself. Of note in these shots is the total absence of people; while some of my camp photos feel complete without kids running around or staff being present, all of these images show man-made objects in a state of disuse, underlining the lack of humans here. They feel to me like the calm before the storm, because I know that in a few short weeks the dust will be flying on the track, and people will be traversing the sledding hill daily. For now, though, all lies in the stillness of expectation and waiting, and I am glad I was able to preserve that feeling in these photos!
Sledding Hill—Laurel Lake Camp, Rossiter, Pennsylvania.
Near Rossiter, Pennsylvania.
Go-Kart Track—Laurel Lake Camp, Rossiter, Pennsylvania.
My final shot takes me back to that same hill and horse pasture that kicked off this roll. This time I am on the east side of the hill, looking up once more at the trees and crosses from a different perspective. Two trees stand at the center of this composition, one of them newly visible due to the direction of the photo, while the three crosses are spread out along the left side just underneath the forest that outlines the whole scene from the background. Two horses make an appearance as well, balancing out the crosses by their positioning on the right side of the frame. I initially didn't know how to feel about this photo, but I'm now very glad I took it, as the different elements of camp combine to make a pleasing representation of Laurel Lake overall: horses, for the summer activities done here; rolling hills, for the landscape that envelops the campers; and of course the crosses, for the spirituality that binds belief and experience into one unified whole. Even now, a year later, I can look at this shot and feel myself right back in that moment, or in any of the myriad others I encountered during all those summers there. While these photos from that trip will undoubtedly not be my last from Laurel Lake, they accomplish my purpose of capturing the emotions I felt at those times, and I can't ask anything more of my photography or of my awareness!
Laurel Lake Camp, Rossiter, Pennsylvania.