Good question. Yeah, yeah… I know: I said I was building a big 20×24 camera but I have written nothing about it in the last 4 months. Was I just a tease? Was I showing off before actually delivering the goods?
In a word: yes. I got to a place where “Things Got Complicated” and I wasn’t sure what the next smart step was. Solving the building challenges started to feel like work. So I did what sane people do when faced with challenges: I walked away… I’m sure it is an affront to some notion of puritanical work ethic dictating that one doggedly apply oneself to a problem until finally overcoming it. Cue in the inspirational music celebrating triumph over adversity, drink the cool-aid, master your id, pay your taxes.
Except we’re talking about Relentless Play, not Relentless Work. It’s about engaging in what feels good rather than bowing to some flawed abstract concept of what should be.

I am still very determined to see the project through; I just don’t feel it right now. I need to let it sit for a while and let the correct path forward bubble up into my consciousness on its own, specially since it will end up costing a a fair amount of time and money to make. Basically, my problem is I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I bought some 80/20 extrusion to serve as a base and some linear bearing carriages for the lens mount and the film back to slide on but they are pretty heavy and I need to figure out a way to keep them steady. Also, I need to figure out what we are going to do about bellows. Whatever it is, it needs to be built well enough to not bleed a bunch of light in the camera and onto the plate.
Some people like to have a project fully planned out before they go into action. Me, I typically like to figure it out as I go along. In fact, once I’ve done something and have a clear idea on how to go from A to Z, I’m not really that interested anymore.
Anyway, I have a lot of other similarly on hold projects and I picked a few back up in the meantime so it’s not like I’m giving up.