Stone Mountain, North Carolina, is a fascinating granite dome. It is a popular destination for climbers, but I have only clambered around the base a bit. This was my first visit, and I had a 4x5 view camera on my trusty tripod. An interesting aspect of a view camera is that typically you are viewing your image upside down. For some reason, that causes you to see and consider the elements of your composition more, and also more clearly. It is a great way to really look at what you are seeing. The advantage of view cameras besides the movements is the big, detailed negatives. But big detailed negatives are made on big pieces of film. I used an 8x10 camera briefly, but when you realize that an entire 36-exposure cartridge of 35mm film can be contact-printed on one 8x10 sheet of paper, you will realize, as I soon did, why I could not afford to feed that format, and traded for the best of several 4x5’s I used during my decade or so of view camera work. It really is a different world - the “normal” focal-length lens for 8x10 is around 300mm, which on 35mm, the format to which most folks can reference such statistics, is a substantial telephoto, and even on 4x5 is a “portrait” length lens. To achieve extended depth of field, it is necessary to stop down to f32, or f45, even f64, the stop of Ansel Adams fame. Now you are talking exposures of at least several seconds. I suppose that the contemplative nature of working with the view cameras is what made that work appealing to me during a time when I was very, very busy playing a lot of music, so that when I had a chance to get out and away for a few hours, the silence and slow pace were truly refreshing.Take a look also at "Rock and Shadows - Stone Mountain".