PDA

View Full Version : LF Conference Thoughts



Dean Cookson
25-Apr-2004, 20:03
I just got home from the LF conference this weekend and, as requested, here are some thoughts:

Overall it was a great time. There are some phenomenal photographers out there. Getting to see their work and hear their thoughts was wondeful. In particular: Kerry Thalmann's and Quang-Tuan Luong's talk on backpacking with LF gear was great. I have no idea how Quang-Tuan manages to carry a 70+ pack around, it must be close to half his body weight. =-O; Dick Arentz's, Brad Hinkel's and Jan Pietrzak's presentation on alternative processes was also outstanding. Brad is doing some very cool things with ink-jet negatives, Jan gave a very informative overview of a variety of processes and Dick's Pt/Pd prints are just beautiful; Gordon Hutchings gave 7 or 8 of us a tour of the new Cooke Optics convertible lens. I WANT ONE, I WANT IT NOW, GIMMIE, GIMMIE, GIMME!

There were also a few glitches in the weekend (given that this was only the second time they've had this conference, it's hard to imagine that it would be problem free). Some of the sessions had way too many people interested in going for the size of the space allocated. People got shut out of the digital darkroom session on the first morning and there were usually people left standing in the sessions I attended. There also seemed to be the occasional disconnect between what the speakers were presenting and what the session was titled. For example, the Presenting your work to Galleries, Museums and Publications session didn't have anything to say about Galleries or Museums, but did have quite a bit to say on the history of Arizona Highways magazine... Generally the problems that did occur were minor and barely detracted from the enjoyment of the weekend. I'm sure that they'll all be worked out by the next one.

The best part of all, of course, was the trade show. That's where Jim from Midwest Photo hooked me up with a beautiful Canham woodfield and a Nikkor 400/9 to facilitate my jump from 4x5 to 8x10. Now I just need to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with these bloody, big negatives. :-)

Again, great to meet those of I was lucky enough to run into and hope to meet some more of you at the next one.

Tim Curry
26-Apr-2004, 09:41
The conference was wonderful. There were many vendors of all stripes and a good selection of speakers and shooters. Nice to see a community in one place and not spread all over the states (and world for that matter). Fortunately, Bin Laden's thugs didn't get wind of this high powered meeting, or we might have lost Aggie and some lesser visionaries.

What I found refreshing was the nanter about digital vs. traditional printing. It was nice to hear the exchange of two passionate, articulate proponents standing toe to toe and trading broadsides in true naval fashion. It was almost as fun as reading the exchanges here about Aggie, but certainly not as dangerous or colorful. The outcome was, at this point, a draw.

"To Crop Or Not To Crop, that is the question" was another of those lower keyed exchanges, although the proponents of both schools have the common sense not to directly confront about the subject. Suffice it to say, I found merit in both opinions (now, where the hell did I leave my cropping slide). One very interesting and promising FACT that should be of interest to all here, was the best news I heard in three days. Tina, the Ilford rep, stated that last year was the first up-tick in B&W sales in many years. This is great news folks. Perhaps those few dedicated shooters and print sharers, who have stubbornly held on to film, have withstood the digital onslaught and are still alive and kicking. In fact, it looks like the "Big Boys" may have finally taken notice and gotten the idea that there is still a market place for film.

Kodak and Fuji's release of several more transparency films, which Kerry Thalman wrote about in View Camera, is a good omen. J&C is still having growing pains, but birth is a painful process and labor pains are truly painful.

Just a quick note of thanks to Steve Simmonds for his faith, staff, vision and planning. For those who think him just a shameless self-promoter, I say "Fooey On You." I am proud to have shaken hands with him and thanked him for a wonderful time. (Copy from my APUG post)

Darin Cozine
26-Apr-2004, 11:08
Dean, some of the seminars had switched rooms.. that may have been part of the confusion.

I was very disappointed that I did not get into the landscape seminar, but I had arrived at the conference about 10 minutes late.

It was tough making the decisions on which seminar to go to, since they were being held simultaneously. But the ones that I did make it too were great. I got lots of ideas and advice. One thing that made the seminars a great way to learn is that you could ask questions about the details which may have been left out in a book.

The trade show was also informative. Being able to see many products and publications first hand was great.

After the conference I was able to drive around and expose some 4x5s. Monterey is really a beautiful area. I saw some of you out there as well. Unfortunately 2 of my shutters went bad during shooting. My rapax shutter died, but I was able to get it back to life Saturday night. (I brought all my tools with me). The Seikosha that my 90mm SA is in jammed, so I moved the elements into a copal press shutter and guestimated the aperture scale. I hope some of the film turns out. I cant wait till they are developed.

Kerry L. Thalmann
26-Apr-2004, 11:44
I also had a great time at the conference. One of the wonderful things about an event like this is the chance to meet and socialize with so many people who share a common passion. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had a family commitment on Sunday morning that I simply could not and would not miss. Therefore, I had to fly back Saturday evening. Although the trip was short, it was definitely worthwhile. I enjoyed chatting with several old friends, and making some new ones as well.

The one universal constant that really stood out was the enthusiasm for large format photography. It didn't matter if it was someone with decades of experience like Clyde Butcher or Gordon Hutchings (who started shooting large format when I was still wearing pajamas with feet), or a beginner looking to buy their first large format camera, the enthusism was obvious and contageous.

I would also like to thank all those who attended my presentations. While I enjoy the intimate nature and personal interactions of presenting to a smaller group, it is very rewarding to ocasionally look out over a room packed front to back and side to side with people who share the same interest and passion. The size of the crowd for the landscape photography seminar was simply amazing.

To all those I had a chance to meet in person, it was a pleasure. To those I didn't get to speak with one-on-one, I appreciate your attendance and hope to get a chance to meet you at a future conference.

Kerry

Roy Harrington
26-Apr-2004, 12:02
I certainly enjoyed myself. Yes, many if not most of the seminars were filled to capacity. There were several last minute moving around to accommodate the crowds. But it just goes to show the wonderful interest and enthusiam for large format.

It was great to run into old friends and make new ones. I met quite a few people whose name and work were well known but had never connected a face to. I had some great conversations with Clyde -- what a nice, friendly guy. I even got a "not too shabby" from him when he saw some of my images.

Roy Harrington www.harrington.com

QT Luong
26-Apr-2004, 17:48
I also enjoyed meeting and talking with a variety of people.

It was interesting to me to see, as a sign of changing times, how much digital was present at the conference. I think almost at any time, there was a talk involving digital in one of the rooms, even with titles such as "landscape photography" and "alternative processes". Yet, in the LF world, almost nobody uses digital capture.

I got a chance to hold in my hands a large number of prints by Michael Smith. After reading so much about them in this forum, I was very curious, especially since viewing his images on the web never did anything for me. I found the prints to be fascinating. For me, the images are about information density, complex structural 2D relationships that are often subtle because they depend on very fine tonal nuances, or small texture elements. There was also a sense of the more you looked at the prints and moved your eyes around, the more you would see, something emphasized by the panoramic format. All this requires and extremely fine level of detail, and a great tonal scale. I cannot judge whether other methods of working would achieve that or not, but for sure, Michael Smith's method did it.



Regarding the filled-up rooms, it might be useful in the future to ask to participants at the time of registration which sessions they plan to attend to get an idea of the sitting needs. This might not even eliminate the problems: this approach was used at NANPA, however for some sessions you still had to stand.

Darin Cozine
26-Apr-2004, 19:14
Interestingly enough, very few attended the studio techniques seminar. I found it was very informative and, more importantly, very inspirational.

Gregory Owens
26-Apr-2004, 21:04
I really enjoyed the conference, it was a great opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones. They’re where of course some glitches but that is to be expected at an event of this magnitude. Some of the rooms were over crowded and had standing room only, I hope this gets ironed out before the next conference. Steve did a wonderful job and I hope he continues with more conferences in the future. From my observations it appears quite a few 8x10 cameras found new homes. Unfortunately mine was not one of them (my wife went with me!). Oh well, what do I need a second 8x10 for anyway? We had a beautiful morning Friday, at Pt. Lobos, tripods and large format cameras as far as the eye could see. As for the seminars most were pretty good, some were not quite as advertised, such as the "Presenting your Work to Galleries" seminar. It was still enjoyable and useful information was gained from it. While all of the presenters did a good job, Michael Smith and Gordon Hutchings were particularly interesting. When Gordon gets going his enthusiasm is tremendous and his seminars were some of the best. There were only six or seven of us in his seminar on the new Cooke triple convertible lens as most were attending the Future of Large Format Film seminar, so we went outside and played with the lens on his 8x10 Deardorff. Now if I can only talk my wife into letting me get one.

steve simmons
27-Apr-2004, 06:34
Thanks for the comments. We are always open to constructive criticism and we learned many things.

Yes, some of the rooms were full but we usually had two sessions scheduled for every topic. The digital darkroom session on Firday was full but we had a second session schedued on Saturday. Some of the people who were not able to get in on Friday showed up late and that was part of the problem.

There are a couple of criticisms I would like to respond to.

The sessions were just ad pitches. I would like to know which ones. The session on selecting equipment used a Horseman as an example in talking about camera movements but I came in several times and did not feel it was a Horseman sales pitch. Some brand of camera always has to be used in a session such as this.

The sound was bad in the seminars. This is new and not something we were told, as far as I know, during the weekend.

There was nothing for beginners. This is probably a valid criticism. We did have a session on selecting equipment but we did not have one on camera movements and metering techniques. We will do this next time.

There were many requests to do this conference again next year. OK, where? We are looking for suggestions.

steve simmons

George Hart
27-Apr-2004, 06:45
Steve, if you want suggestions as to where to hold this next year, would you consider a European venue?

Tim Curry
27-Apr-2004, 07:06
Steve,

As to the "where should the next one be located" question? I think it would be best if it was in a location which is an airline hub, or at a city with a major airline connections. I know this would preclude a place like Monterey (and I certaintly understand and agree with your choice of venue), but it would be a bit easier for some folks to attend if a rental car wasn't a necessity from another city.

I was fortunate enough to get a flight to LAX, and then catch a puddle jumper into Monterey. This was due to my wife's relentless use of the internet. Had she not been so persistent, I wouldn't have know of this option.

I like the idea of a beginner's seminar, for those of us who are not as well versed in the use of a view camera as others. I think the sound question stems from the fact that some of us are getting a little older and have lost a bit of hearing. In a packed room, with some speakers not projecting their voices well, it was at times more difficult to hear. I was able to follow most speakers quite well, although I have lost a lot of hearing from running machinery. I did hear a couple of participants growling about not hearing, but it seems to me they were perhaps in the same boat I'm in with hearing loss.

I don't know of a solution for the room size issue. First come first served would work, but I know it would be difficult to have assigned seating or a cut-off point for room size. This one could use some more brain-storming from attendees for a solution. Anyone have an idea for the room size problem and a solution? The only thing I could think of would be an advanced sign-up for seminars, but this would be difficult for planning and some people would probably be wanting to change talks along the way.

Again, thanks for a great conference. I did enjoy seeing Paul get the recognition for a lifetime of LF work during the opening night talk. It was a very nice gesture and I'm sure he will cherish the award.

steve simmons
27-Apr-2004, 11:36
Possible locations for next year

Baltimore Wash DC Chicago Springfield, MA

any thoughts

also a bigger lunch break and shift the trade show houws later to allow more attendance after the seminars

steve simmons

Dean Cookson
27-Apr-2004, 12:30
All four of those locations sound like they could be good. I'll put in my vote for Springfield, just because I'll be living in the Boston area by then...

I'd also love to see more opportunities to shoot with other photographers. It might be as simple as Steve and crew providing some sort of bulletin board area for folks to self organize...

QT Luong
27-Apr-2004, 12:41
Definitively agree on extending breaks and trade show hours, as I felt I had to choose between seminars (that often went overtime, nothing wrong with that) and checking the trade show. I thought that having Michael Smith and Clyde Butcher readily available at the show was great, maybe more photographers should be invited ?

Bruce Barlow
27-Apr-2004, 14:11
I had a ball. Thanks, Steve and staff, for all the hard work.

Lots of folks came to see my Paper/Developer Shoot-Out prints, and the scary thing was that most (almost ALL) of the folks whose work I have seen and really respect chose Forte Elegance with Fine Art VersaPrint II as their favorite in a blind test using over 400 prints! The sharp eyes have a consensus, it would seem!

But besides that, it was a just lot of fun. Yeah, room sizes were sometimes a problem, but how does one anticipate that? Does not earn an official "complaint" from me. Many nice people, and fun to just chat with other photographers. It gets lonely here in the wilds of New Hampshire.

Next time, Springfield, MA. Close to Hartford airport (SWA fares and good schedules), lots to photograph in New England, good conference facilites available, and easy access from Interstate 91. Oh, and close to me, too!

Kerry L. Thalmann
27-Apr-2004, 15:58
Hey Steve,

As far as future locations go, you'll never please everyone all the time. I like the idea of alternating East and West locations. I personally prefer the West, (closer to home) but to make it fair and accessible to as many people as possible, I think moving the conference around the country makes the most sense.

As a nature photographer, I'd prefer someplace with great scenery, but that's my own personal bias. No matter where the conference is held, I'll attend (schedule permitting). As long as the attendance doesn't get to be more than about 300, anyplace with a decent size college/university or a major hotel/convention center would work as a hosting site. Any place reasonably accessible by commercial airlines would make it easy for folks to attend.

Specifically, either Asheville or Gatlinburg (but not during the crowded Summer tourist season - May would be nice) would be great. If you ever want to hold a conference in Portland, I could help arrange things (May would be great for weather and photo opportunities). I don't really care for Las Vegas (just not my style), but it has the advantage of cheap airfares and plenty of hosting facilities. It's also within a days drive of locations like Zion and the Grand Canyon. I attended the NANPA connevtion there a few years back and combined the conference with a photo trip to Southern, UT. Worked out great. I'd do that agin in a heart beat.

Other possible cities that are well served by commercial airlines: Chicago, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, St. Louis, Washington DC, Phoenix, etc.

Kerry

tim o'brien
27-Apr-2004, 16:06
Next year, Albequerque. Big airport, lots to shoot, close to Santa Fe, great food.

Had fun talking to the people from MidWest, from Bostick and Sullivan (Esp. Ms. Bostick), The View Camera Store (boy do I have a lot to do now), and that strange little booth with all the modified R.B. cameras. It was nice visiting the Calumet booth (thank you for the film), seeing all the light weight field cameras all over the place and while not meeting Michael or Paula, the guy at their booth was a gas to talk to (have a great trip to Iceland). Next year, I'll find the time (money) to take some of the sessions.

tim in local san jose

Kirk Gittings
27-Apr-2004, 16:36
Steve Simmons is the MAN!

I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and with the Atkins diet I don't get sliced bread anymore. Seriously it is the best opportunity that I have to spend some time with my peers and that is sweet. It is also the best opportunity I know of to preview the odd equipment that we need and use. For instance I needed to order a very specifically designed bellows similar to the wide angle on the Walkers but longer and I needed to order it from Bromwell and low-and-behold they are sharing the same booth and Walker just drew up the specks and handed it over to Bromwell! Whoa! This was almost cosmic. Also I was able to see and subsequently purchase (at a really sweet price 25% below mailorder!) a Lowepro bag that I had only seen pictures of.

The highlights for me were: hanging with my friends and former students that I see all to rarely, networking with companies that I have had relationships with, the award to the legend Jack Boucher (it feels so good to acknowledge these guys while they are alive and can appreciate it), seeing some student work that really impressed me, being able to pimp off the very dedicated hard work of Bruce Barlow (that was great Bruce!) and getting a good survey of the ways that people are integrating digital into traditional large format.

I still think it should stay a bi-annual event. My life is so busy that the entervening two years flew by and I was stoked to do it again. Do it anywhere in the continental US in two years and I will be there!

Dave Henry
27-Apr-2004, 17:33
Hi Steve,

I'd suggest Sacramento, CA. It has a central location in the state, airport, plenty of lower cost facilities to choose from, numerous colleges and Arnold! Also, we're only 3 hours from Yosemite, 5 hours from Bishop (Eastern Sierra) and an hour and a half from the coast. And, since weather can be a concern with many other locations, we had temperatures in the low 80s last weekend.

I (and maybe even a couple other photogs here at The Bee) will offer to help your staff coordinate. Just give the word.

Prior to working for the paper, I spent 8 years as a rep. with a couple camera companies and all the conventions I attended or presented for had distinct show and training sessions with a couple hours overlaping in the middle of the day. Mostly the show ran in the first half of the day with the training sessions in the afternoon and evenings. This gave the reps plenty of time to attend/ present and attendees enough time to do both.

I am for annual events but alternating the region. This provides attendees the flexibility to plan on attending only local venues or far away sites (sort of reminds me of the old IPOSA days).

Anyway, just my .02 worth.

Jon Shiu
27-Apr-2004, 17:58
I thought the conference was quite inspirational and it revived my desire to do creative large format photography. The Weston visit was the highlight of the trip for me - it's a good feeling to see the passion and love for photography continuing on through generations with Kim and Gina. Gordon Hutchings was also inspiring in his philosophy and experience. As for location, Santa Fe, New Mexico sounds great (happened to have breakfast and lunch with Ms. Bostick). So thanks to Steve and his great staff for a wonderful experience.

J.L. Kennedy
28-Apr-2004, 00:49
The overlapping sessions were frustrating when I wanted to go to both concurrently but I don't know any solution to that. Just the day before I had gone to a trade show in my regular profession (property management) and had the exact same problem, so its a universal problem. One approach that might work would be to have only one large lecture room and have all the speakers talk in succession throughout the day. I noticed that the really good speakers tended to talk about their philosophy as much as the topic they were slated to talk about, and that most of them boiled their talk down to about 20 minutes although some went a little more and some struggled to fill their time. Under my scenario, here’s how Saturday would have looked (I don't know how to make this appear in a column using html, sorry!):

8:25 Richard Maack on history of Arizona Highways 8:30 Ron Wisner on selecting equipment 9:00 Steve Johnson on landscape photography and digital capture 9:30 Kerry Thalman on landscape photography 10:00 Gordon Hutchings on landscape photography 10:30 Steve Inglima on equipment 11:00 Kerry Thalman on backpacking 11:30 QT Luong on backpacking 12:00 Lunch 1:00 Clyde Butcher on mammoth cameras 1:20 Michael Smith on mammoth cameras 1:40 Tracy Storer on mammoth cameras 2:00 Michael Collette on digital scanning technology 2:15 Kerry Thalman on Color film choices 2:45 John Reuter on polaroid materials 3:00 Jack Boucher on Architectural photography 3:20 Kirk Gittings on architectural photography 3:40 Sharmon Goff on color film choices 4:00 Ron Wisner on polaroid materials 4:20 Mark Citret on Architectural photography 4:40 Dick Arentz on mammoth cameras 5:00 George DeWolfe on digital darkroom 5:30 Brad Hinkel on digital darkroom 6:00 Charles Cramer on digital darkroom

The order used above is not necessarily logical, I am just trying to show that everyone would fit this way. This would also solve the space problem because there would only have to be one big lecture room. I don't think it would be a problem to have people constantly coming and going, or presenters following closely one after another. If a particular attendee wanted to hear every single presenter it would be possible, but more than likely, this would allow ample breaks and trade show time for the average attendee.

Saturday night was kind of dead time, and I would like to see it used as a time in which attendees who wanted to could bring in prints, set them out, and everyone could circulate around for a few hours looking at each other's work, trading, questioning, or whatever.

Anyway, I hope none of these suggestions detracts from how great the conference was. I really enjoyed it and appreciate Steve's work in putting it together.

robby parkman
30-Apr-2004, 15:04
just to echo the chorus to thank steve for oranizing a GREAT meeting. as a beginner it was inspiring at both the philosphical as well as the practical level. there are always problems with room size at any simulanious seession meeting. i especially wad impressed by Bruce's developer/paper shootout. i ordered new paper and developer monday morning. at present i would vote for every year. just being able to see and handle the gear is worth it.

Kirk Gittings
2-May-2004, 11:18
Minor criticisms noted, I'd have to say in retrospect that it was an honor to present at the conference and as before I am really energized by the contacts, new tech. ideas etc. For those who missed it, you should really get to the next one wherever it is, because it is really worth the expense.

Paul Metcalf
12-May-2004, 12:12
A great weekend, indeed. I was at another conference in Monterey the following week (Part of my job that actually pays me something. I know, tough duty) and all I could think about was the LF conference!

My favorite quote: "It's not about the subject, it's about the space." (thanks Michael)

Anyway, looks to me like the most significant news from this conference is that "more than $200,000 of merchandise found its way into the hands of new users during the two days of the trade show." (from the View Camera website). That's amazing!