icanthackit
17-Feb-2011, 15:53
Hey everybody. I've posted just a little bit here and replied to some posts, but I just saw this intro section and figured I'd post.
I'm 26, nearly out of college, and I have a second major in photography but my degree will be in music. I started somewhere around 2004 when I used my summer's first paycheck to buy a Canon Rebel GII 35mm camera and shot quite a few rolls of color negative generic Kodak film. Next, I got into 35mm slides with a non-major class and used a large supply of Fuji Velvia 100 and 50, might have been 100F, I'm not sure how it works now that I think about it. I got into a darkroom/fundamental class and used up a large brick of Tmax100 over the time of the class. It was a ton of fun and I always enjoyed working in the darkroom for hours on end with NPR on the radio, one of only two stations the radio would pick up in that room. Then yay! I got into medium format for my intermediate darkroom class and we began printing on fiber paper. After that I tried to get enrolled into a 4x5 class but there weren't enough spots in the class (not enough cameras).
So I ended up getting a Canon 20D in there somewhere and did a little shooting for my school's daily newspaper. It was a ton of fun, but I got turned off by a pro who came to talk too us and was a little too "in your face" for me. I took a darkroom class and did alright, but then ended up transferring to another university where the only classes offered were a very basic darkroom class, and then a ton of digital classes having less to do with art and making good images, and more about selling yourself and running a business.
Finally I got around to working on darkroom stuff where I am now since I have access to the school's darkroom, even though it's not as stocked as my previous university's. I came across a Tower Press Camera in the second darkroom, which had mostly been turned into storage, and got my hands on it to take it out and shoot with it once I got film. I stocked back up on my own chemistry and developed the film, eventually stitching together two scans of the negative to at least view the images on my computer. I had bought a Beseler 45MCRX from somebody nearby, but I didn't really feel like I had a good place to use it. (Turns out recently, my bathroom actually makes a decent darkroom)
A few weeks ago I got a Cambo SCX from KEH.com and I still have yet to get it outside due to the weather, but I'm really looking forward to it and all it's bulkiness. Hey, I needed to work out more anyways, right? Oh, my lens is a Fujinon 90mm f/8. Hopefully I don't need to shoot inside at all, because that sucker is dim. I've got some film holders from the school's old press camera, but I'll eventually need to get some of my own...but I don't want to pay the new prices for them, and I feel the used prices at the larger used stores are still too high for my likes. Any suggestions?
So that's where I am right now. I've got 10 sheets of Fuji Acros left, and then I'll get into my Tmax 100 and see how that goes. I feel I'll want to buy a longer lens to separate elements from a scene like I really like to do, but for now, I'll use my wide angle Fuji.
-Andrew
I'm 26, nearly out of college, and I have a second major in photography but my degree will be in music. I started somewhere around 2004 when I used my summer's first paycheck to buy a Canon Rebel GII 35mm camera and shot quite a few rolls of color negative generic Kodak film. Next, I got into 35mm slides with a non-major class and used a large supply of Fuji Velvia 100 and 50, might have been 100F, I'm not sure how it works now that I think about it. I got into a darkroom/fundamental class and used up a large brick of Tmax100 over the time of the class. It was a ton of fun and I always enjoyed working in the darkroom for hours on end with NPR on the radio, one of only two stations the radio would pick up in that room. Then yay! I got into medium format for my intermediate darkroom class and we began printing on fiber paper. After that I tried to get enrolled into a 4x5 class but there weren't enough spots in the class (not enough cameras).
So I ended up getting a Canon 20D in there somewhere and did a little shooting for my school's daily newspaper. It was a ton of fun, but I got turned off by a pro who came to talk too us and was a little too "in your face" for me. I took a darkroom class and did alright, but then ended up transferring to another university where the only classes offered were a very basic darkroom class, and then a ton of digital classes having less to do with art and making good images, and more about selling yourself and running a business.
Finally I got around to working on darkroom stuff where I am now since I have access to the school's darkroom, even though it's not as stocked as my previous university's. I came across a Tower Press Camera in the second darkroom, which had mostly been turned into storage, and got my hands on it to take it out and shoot with it once I got film. I stocked back up on my own chemistry and developed the film, eventually stitching together two scans of the negative to at least view the images on my computer. I had bought a Beseler 45MCRX from somebody nearby, but I didn't really feel like I had a good place to use it. (Turns out recently, my bathroom actually makes a decent darkroom)
A few weeks ago I got a Cambo SCX from KEH.com and I still have yet to get it outside due to the weather, but I'm really looking forward to it and all it's bulkiness. Hey, I needed to work out more anyways, right? Oh, my lens is a Fujinon 90mm f/8. Hopefully I don't need to shoot inside at all, because that sucker is dim. I've got some film holders from the school's old press camera, but I'll eventually need to get some of my own...but I don't want to pay the new prices for them, and I feel the used prices at the larger used stores are still too high for my likes. Any suggestions?
So that's where I am right now. I've got 10 sheets of Fuji Acros left, and then I'll get into my Tmax 100 and see how that goes. I feel I'll want to buy a longer lens to separate elements from a scene like I really like to do, but for now, I'll use my wide angle Fuji.
-Andrew