Living in Small Spaces - Making Love to My 4x5

I can't remember when I got my 4x5 camera, but I was young, excited, had graduated from SVA and even prior to that had studied all the great French photographers' works wanting to be like them. My father was a photographer so I started taking photographs as a child. Like most young photographers of the 60's and 70's, my favorite was Henri Cartier Bresson. I carried my 35mm to bed.  But when I got my 4x5, my life became a secret.  I hid behind the black curtain, and even when I didn't use it, I marveled at the image on the screen before me. Touching the negative, gently putting it into the film holder, turning it around for the second shot, all this was heaven. Bresson's decisive moment was my bible. I learned to watch and wait whether I was shooting portraiture or landscapes. I learned to watch and wait in life.