Count me in and call it even?

[h2oman]

November 2006: Deciding to get serious about photography, bought my first DSLR

January 2008: Having enjoyed the large format work of Dabvid Muench and Jack Dykinga, decided one month before my 50th birthday to give large format a try. Purchased used 4x5 and 150 lens. Still thinking I wanted to be like them, also purchased a 90 mm.

March 2009: After sending transparency film off for a year, developed film for the first time in my life. Left color transparency film for B&W - that's all I've done since. Use the 240 as often as the 90 now.

So I figure I've transitioned the other way from Jack in about the same time period. He may have bit the dust, but here I am! Of course I don't bring many status points to the LF community... :D

When people asked I used to explain the LF choice as a way to get finer detail, but now I realize that's not it at all (at least for me). My new explanation is that it's like hunting with a bow or black powder rifle (an easy anology for folks around here!) - it makes no sense if all you are trying to do is put food on the table. The only way it really makes sense is if you look at the overall experience, and somehow the LF experience is special for me. :)

[jp498]

I like that analogy!

[Erik Larsen]

I hear ya with regards to the analogy plus chicks dig it:)

[Greg Blank]

To us you are more valued than King Jack :) Keep buying and processing film lots of it!

[Mark Stahlke]

I hear ya with regards to the analogy plus chicks dig it:)

What? Chicks dig good analogies?
I'll have to work on that.

[Jack Dahlgren]

Some like analogy, others don't.

[Harley Goldman]

Very good analogy!

[Toyon]

I hear ya with regards to the analogy plus chicks dig it:)

Maybe that's why there are so many women photographers.

[Drew Wiley]

I wouldn't call it a black powder rifle at all, unless you want it to be one (there are
still people doing tintypes). In my case it's more like a 50-cal recoiless sniper rifle. You
only need to get off one good shot.

[Robert Hughes]

But of course, it doesn't matter so much what you've got; bow, rifle or atom bomb. It just matters who fires first.

I dunno if chicks are so crazy for .50 caliber sniper rifles. :p

[J Ney]

From someone that also uses LF photography as an opportunity to scout for hunting season (both bow & rifle), I just love this analogy!

That being said, I mostly like bow-hunting b/c there is rarely anyone else around and the "hunting pressure" is at a minimum. During archery season, I always have my bow in the truck and if there is any "sign," then the camera usually gets traded in for my Parker Hornet.

[JRFrench]

Some like analogy, others don't.

*snort*

[Drew Wiley]

Maybe someone could build a rig analogous to an over-under shotgun or a twin-lens
reflex camera; in other words, on top a graflex with peep sight, mounted to a gun
barrel below. That way you could shoot game both with film and buckshot at the
same time. You would need some kind of little selector switch however for the excact timing. Maybe dual cable releases, just so you could choose whether to photograph the wildlife dead or alive. That would really impress the women, just as
long as you clean the game and they only have to cook it.

[Robert Hughes]

Of course, the Rolleiflex TLR camera was invented by Reinhold Heidecke based on his experiences in the trenches of WW1 - he thought of a "periscope camera" he could put on a long pole and operate from the relative safety of his trench, out of the line of enemy fire.

I wonder if you could fit one on a deer's antler?

[domaz]

I wouldn't call it a black powder rifle at all, unless you want it to be one (there are
still people doing tintypes). In my case it's more like a 50-cal recoiless sniper rifle. You
only need to get off one good shot.

Also LF can be kind of like a shotgun. If you take a shot and didn't get the composition you want, cropping isn't a problem. Unless you are a purist and shooting for contact printing but that's for people who are perfect. I'm not.

[djmoonlight]

I like analogy, Very nice.