Why LF doesn't seem to be working for me

Since September I've managed to expose only 6 sheets of LF film. Work is killing things. Constant 10 to 12 hour days leave me so tired and with so little time for photography. What little time i do have on weekends I just find it impractical to shoot LF. I lack motivation to deal with the hassle of the format. Trying to shoot LF often stresses me out whereas I get a big buzz shooting my slrs (film and digital). Shooting lf is time consuming and expensive. I lack inspiration for projects or themes that I feel merit the use of LF. Last week i had a week climbing Scottish hills, a welcome break from work stress. A beautiful landscape but not one easily photographed in lf unless there with the express purpose of photography. I was there to climb and hike. No way could I have hauled lf kit all week in Highland winter conditions. Thank goodness for big pockets in goretex jackets and a canon digi p&s. I wonder what the point of having 150 sheets of 5x7 in the fridge is if I never get round to shooting it. As for printing? It's been months since I've been in the darkroom. I haven't even scanned the few sheets of LF that i have shot this year.

Perhaps when I retire i'll have the time and patience for large format. Right now I feel about ready to sell my LF film to someone who'll shoot something worthwhile with it. Cameras and lenses i'll keep as one day I might get to really use them properly. In the meantime I'm just not feeling LF.

For all the forum members here shooting great stuff inLF. I don't know how you manage it. Credit to you.

The film processing and scanning got the best of me so I went and bought a digital back. I still keep a 4x5" field around and b&w film in the freezer, but I dread all the film required workflow after the shoot. I can understand and sympathize. We all have our comfort zones.

Best,
Darr

I understand the feeling. After a week of work stress and recognizing that my 4x5 does not
really dovetail with my addiction to climbing steep hills on days off, I solved that problem
by switching to 8X10. Makes a better workout.

I find large format photography takes up less time than digital. Sifting through 100s of photos on a computer (that I've already spent best part of 8 hours during the day in front of) and then spending time editing them to make some reasonable sense of the image as opposed to shooting three or four sheets, developing them in the bathroom and scanning them in. It takes far less time in my opinion and mostly keeps me away from the damn screen.

Certainly there isn't the immediacy of sticking a digital P&S in your pocket and heading out but then I'm not sure, for me, if that's much of an advantage.

If you do decide to sell up your film and have anything in the way of 4x5 film, give me a shout! 4x5 down here isn't cheap and a little difficult to get hold of!

Feeling your pain here. Of course, what you should do is what you enjoy. That should be what it's all about, if photography is just a passtime.
If I can't...or don't feel like hauling the 5X7 or 8X10 gear, I take a TLR or 35mm.
I just don't "enjoy" shooting digital anymore. Probably because I use it professionally (semi-professionally...thanks economy).
I don't shoot a lot of large format, but I go through a box or two of film a year. When I finally get my standard down for film/dev combination and move away from neg scanning back into darkroom printing, I'll do more.

Just do what you like. No guilt - no condemnation.

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Originally Posted by Drew Wiley

I understand the feeling. After a week of work stress and recognizing that my 4x5 does not
really dovetail with my addiction to climbing steep hills on days off, I solved that problem
by switching to 8X10. Makes a better workout.

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Funny and succinct :)

Using a LF camera should be relaxing, stress relief, if it isnt for you then sell it and find something that is. You might enjoy FP100C if you have a 4x5 back, I find it very inspiring to use.

Actually I switch it up quite a bit. I like a good knee workout and the cardio of steep hills
with a heavy pack. It's essential training for serious backpacking, esp at my age. I average only a shot a week with the 8X10, and only a few of those will ever get printed. Sometimes I carry the big camera without ever taking a shot. But if I want to move quicker on easier ground for that kind of exercise, esp if my wife wants to tag along, I just tote a Nikon. It's also sorta cleanses the palate esthetically, so to speak, and actually complements my large format composition ability. But I'd rather have one good keeper 8x10neg than a hundred small ones, even if it might be several years or more before I get a chance to print it. I don't think too many of us can afford to machine-gun LF film anyway.

Lol! I should wear my photo backpack during my morning pull ups routine to keep up with Drew!

I certainly enjoy shooting 35mm above all. For me a keeper is a keeper whatever the format. Below are the 2 keepers I've made in 2012. Neither on LF. Neopan 400 on my F6 and color shot from dslr.

I just don't think that at heart I'm really a very effective LFer. Small format's where i get my kicks.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7193/6...77c65b7c8b.jpg Fre Syria Demo by Riverman___, on Flickr


http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6...3ebf4b0348.jpg Thames Dawn by Riverman___, on Flickr

I have similar feelings and frustrations sometimes but I'm determined to keep going as I enjoy the process and the end results.
The one thing that changed my mind was that LF is a different way of shooting - stating the bleedin' obvious I know.
LF, for me, isn't about walking around and finding a shot the same as I can with DSLR or MF it's about going out with the LF camera to shoot something - having a purpose and planning for it.
I find I work better if I do a walk (taking DSLR or MF) and then head back at a later date to use the LF on a particular subject and then I maybe only expose 6 sheets, if that.
I think I was brought up on scatter-gun shooting on a digital and started out with LF applying that approach.
YMMV
cheers, Tony

I was feeling that way for a while. I think the winter is particularly hard for LF. My job kills (overnight nurse) and I end up waking up pretty late and not having light/weather to do what I want. But then...I took a couple of shots recently that ended up being pretty awesome. So...I'm back in the game. I need to work on my skills.

One thing to keep in mind: shooting and processing are two different things. Like...if I'm doing one or the other, everythings cool. Shoot a bunch of film, that's cool. Want to see it, so process it. That's cool too. As long as I'm doing something.

Must say that looking through ground glass is pretty therapeutic. I hear everything you are saying though...

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7200/6...eb09243e_z.jpg
Cairngorms by Riverman___, on Flickr

That's a keeper, dude.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Riverman

Constant 10 to 12 hour days leave me so tired and with so little time for photography.

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There's your problem. If you are employed, only work the hours you are paid for. If you are self employed then you need to have a word with your boss!


Steve.

Cheers paul. when i made that shot i knew it would have been great in LF. But the shot was taken first thing. The morning after walking 8 miles the previous day to get to the little hut bottom centre. Getting to that location with an LF camera would have been tough. I get real joy capturing unanticipated scenes. I find the deliberate nature of LF hard to handle. Anyway. Keep an eye on the classifieds for some film sales! The proceeds will probably buy me some last ektachrome. I can hike easy with that stuff and my nikon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Steve Smith

There's your problem. If you are employed, only work the hours you are paid for. If you are self employed then you need to have a word with your boss!


Steve.

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As an employee I wish I could justwork my contracthours but (groan) thenature of my work won't let me get away with that. If I tried itI'd be out of a job quickly.

Your life will be less stressful when you remove all aspects which get in the way of your photography. If there is not enough time to do the odd bit of LF work then it perhaps speaks of a deeper problem.

Be ruthless :)

Your situation is certainly not unusual. Life is complicated these days more than in the past, and people are often engaged more broadly than they once were. Those of us in that sort of situation need a manifesto: It's about quality, not quantity.

I gave up large format in the late 70's--actually gave up photography altogether--I was just burned out on it from too much wedding work and other extra-curricular photography-for-money-and-not-for-me. I started playing music again, finished a grad-school degree, built a career--responsibilities of another sort that I did not ignore. I picked it up again in the middle 80's, and sort-of poked along at a modest pace. I moved, found a muse in my new city, built a darkroom, and started working at it more consistently. But "consistent" is the word, not "prolific". A good day for me was two exposures--that's always been about my limit with large-format. But I had such days every week for a period of years, much of it with big cameras as had been the case in the 70's. (Very little of my serious work has made it online--most of what I have online is fun stuff from the last 15 years with weird and cheap cameras as discussion fodder for other photography forums.)

But then life changed again--I moved to a new city, entered the private sector, started traveling constantly, and set it aside once more. I built another darkroom, but never really had the time to do much work in it. I switched to medium-format as an alternative, despite that the equipment I could afford was always second-rate (I like short lenses and they didn't mix well with the usual budget options in medium format in those days). I worked at medium format for a decade, trying hard to get real quality with low-priced stuff.

Then, I happened to wander into a little country gallery owned by a photographer/artist. He had one print on display that struck a resonant chord with me. It had image qualities in a decent-size print that I had just not been able to attain with my budget-conscious medium-format stuff or with my digital stuff. I came face to face--again--with my own mediocrity and quality compromise, and realized that if I was ever going to be satisfied even with doing a little work, I would just have to step it up. The digital stuff I'd been doing was fine for small prints, but it no longer did it for me in terms of feeding my desire.

So, I've pulled the big camera back out. And, wonder of wonders, the stuff I could not afford before now sells for pennies on the dollar, and I have the stuff I only dreamed about 20 years ago, both in medium format and in large format.

But my problem is like yours--I'm back in the public sector, and I take my work very seriously and derive immense satisfaction from doing it. My commute time is monstrous, but that's made tolerable by the fact that over half the time I'm on travel anyway (75K air miles last year--all domestic). Given other responsibilities that I will not ignore, I just have to be content with doing a little at a time.

I've learned stuff over the years, though. One thing I learned is that I can derive enjoyment from doing large-format photography even without doing it. It sounds silly, of course. But I learned it during a period in the very early 80's when I was racing cars on weekends. Track time was precious, so I had to learn how to drive without driving. I would think through what I did and rehearse it in my mind at times when I needed a break from something else. It's like a reading a book--it provides a way to go somewhere without going there. Same with music: I catch myself drumming scale patterns with my fingers on the steering wheel of the car. So, I spend a lot more time thinking about serious photography than doing it, and when I do get out there with the camera, I find that my technique is still as good as it ever was (no further comment). Plus, I get a lot of mental relaxation from even just pretending I'm out there with the camera. Some would call this a fantasy world, but I think most artistic expression derives from fantasy of one sort or another.

I still play music, and I still work hard and travel all the time. I have very little time for play, and I play at a lot of different things, so I may only end up with a handful of serious photographs each year.

That leads back to my manifesto: Expression for me is not about quantity, but rather about quality. (My quality model is rather modest compared to many here, but that's one reason I hang out here--it sharpens my standards.) All my photographs are going to end up in a dumpster someday anyway, so I don't mind if I only make three or four prints a year. Or every two years. That's enough to keep me in the game. It also keeps me from wasting my rare time making images I'm not committed to from a quality perspective.

So, I own a small chest freezer and keep my film there. I no longer really worry about expiration dates and I just use it when I can and don't worry about it. When I have odd moments, often at night when making photographs isn't possible, I pull out the camera and practice with it. I learned that from music, too: Practice is as satisfying as performance. If it's not, no musician would ever spend the hours required playing scales and exercises just for the minutes in performance.

One caveat, though: I can perhaps get away with "mental rehearsal", because there was a time in my life when I devoted hours every day to building a basic technique. That's true for me for both photography and music.

Rick "thinking it's easy to justify giving up" Denney

There's no right answer here. For some people, sticking it out might lead to the best outcome, but for others it won't. You might think a bit about the following, though: If you enjoy using your smaller cameras so much, why do you feel that need to use LF? Another way of saying that is what do you feel is lacking with your use of smaller cameras that makes you, at least a little bit, want to use a larger camera?

I find the little time I have in the field for photography is more enjoyable with the 8x10. Any outing with the 8x10 takes considerably more planning and i find even the anticipation enjoyable. The restrictions of wieght, bulk, and not having every doodad at the touch of a button (like a digi) or along in the bag (like a 35slr or mf camera) is liberating---which I know sounds wierd. Louping 6 or 12 big negatives to find gold is for me more enjoyable than going through 36 or 72 "shots' on an itty bitty screen or contact sheets. There is also a physical, very personal element I find difficult to define---under a dark cloth is akin to getting inside the camera and looking out and composing is a very unique experience. Physically touching the paper and agitating as it journeys through the chemicals transmits a certain human energy to the finished product and pulling a print out of the fix must be the same feeling a painter gets stepping back from a finished painting. Kind of like giving birth.
Of course YMMV

I really don't have the opportunity to shoot very often..so when I do..it might as well be a circus

8x10 and 5x7 and maybe some 4x5 thrown in for kicks...lights..props..models..travel..

the whole 9 yards

I have been contemplating moving from 4X5 to some format of roll film. On any given day I can be lusting after a new camera in the 645 to 6X12 range. As I don't print any larger than 16X20 I have a lot of latitude in choices. It does seem that the longer I am out of work the smaller the format I think I can afford. Lately I have been bouncing and and forth between a Mamiya RB67 and a Bronica ERTS 645

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Originally Posted by Riverman

I lack motivation to deal with the hassle of the format. Trying to shoot LF often stresses me out...

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For LF you don't need to be a team player, but you do need a good attitude. If you think that LF is a hassle, and it stresses you out, then perhaps LF isn't for you. No shame in that, it is what it is. LF ain't for everyone, else LFers wouldn't be such an incredibly small minority in photography. So sell it all and don't look back. Life is too short for self imposed hassles and stresses.

Edward - why not just pick up a good roll film back for your 4x5? It will be less costly and
way lighter wt than a big clunky dedicated MF SLR system, but the same film cost. Image
quality will probably be way better too since you can still use view camera movements.
SLR's are nice for quick shots and stormy conditions, but are otherwise pretty disappointing once you get to the printing stage, at least to me.

Hey Drew, I have a 6X7 roll film back for my 4X5. The problem is that my 4X5 is a CC400. I think I could carry a RB67 and every lens Mamiya ever made for it and it would still be a drop in weight and size. I am currently limited to about 100 paces from the parking lot/side of the road.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Riverman

Trying to shoot LF often stresses me out whereas I get a big buzz shooting my slrs (film and digital). Shooting lf is time consuming and expensive. I lack inspiration for projects or themes that I feel merit the use of LF.

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I started in LF because MF wasn't giving me the focusing I wanted. What camera? Pentax 6x7. How much does it weigh? The same as a Graflex Super Graphic. How fast do I shoot with it? About the same speed as a Super Graphic. What's the main difference between the Pentax and the Graflex? The convenience of roll film and an SLR.

I've never really been into 35mm. I went from a 35mm point & shoot to medium format. Why? Because the point & shoot definitely couldn't give me what I wanted to do: I wanted to shoot by moonlight. I bought a Pentax because I couldn't afford a Rollei or Hasselblad.

As for projects, there are no projects worthy of film. None. Or every project is worthy of film. Whichever. So don't worry about it. This stuff doesn't have a long shelf life, so don't expect anybody to see what you've done in a few hundred years. You'd have to use glass or pottery or sculpture for that.

Recently I set about using up the "expired" roll film in the bottom of my fridge. I went out with my Holga and rode around on my bicycle photographing alleys and stuff viewable from alleys. Most of the images contain the alley, positioned to stretch it into the horizon. Looking at a series of them, it really produces sort of a Zen effect. Now, I wouldn't have those images if I hadn't decided to shoot up the film, right? So there you go.

You have received a lot of very good opinions here, OP.

However, I find what Rick has said has particular resonance. It is commonplace for us photographers to run dry at some stage during our lives and lose our sense of direction...but sometimes all it takes is a serendipitous moment of inspiration from someone else's work to re-awaken our love for photography. In Rick's case he happened across a print so superb that it re-awoke what attracted him to the medium in the first place.

I too have had a layoff where I became burnt out and placed my cameras down for 10 years without pressing a shutterbutton - only to have my interest re-kindled by an invitation to take part in a lo-fi shoot for a day.This was enough to make photography fun for me again and I got my mojo back, so to speak.

Keep the faith. Go to visit exhibitions. Look at high quality photo work from other photographers. It doesn't make difference whether its LF, medium or lo-fi stuff. Be patient...but don't make any rash decisions to sell off gear that you might live to regret. I sold off my lf gear (Sinar F2 and a bunch of lenses and I'm still regretting it as I now have to build up again).

Yeah, keep the faith.

OK Brian ... Let's compare. I do have a Pentax 6x7 and 300mm lens, which about right for a
shot I'd really like to take from the summit of an 11000 ft peak this Spring (actually, not
hypothetically). Then for that big cannon barrel I'd need my Ries tripod, preferably the same one I use for the 8X10. Add another P67 lens or two... Now compare that to a Nikkor
300M on my Ebony 4X5, a couple other dinkey view lenses, a graphite tripod, and a Horseman 6X9 back ... I'd end up not only with a far lighter pack, but also much crisper
negative, plus the option of view movements. The P67 would have an advantage only in
bad wind. And with the Ebony I still retain the option of shooting full 4X5 film as well.

Well, Drew, I have one serious tripod, a Bogen 3036. So all my cameras have the same quick release plate. So no transport difference there. (I have a large Benbo, but I need to get a nut and wrench to replace the stripped handle.)

Pentax 6x7 with 300mm Takumar, vs Super Graphic and Schneider "classic" 360mm f/5.5 Tele-Xenar plus film holders.

Which is more of a brick? ;)

Or how about Cambo 8x10 studio camera (18 pounds?) and Fujinon 360mm f/6.3 plus film holders?

It ain't heavy, it's my camera!

Thats the beauty of being human.. We're all different...

I work 12hr days 5 to 6 days a week, I have a 3 month old daughter at home, however Every sunday I wake up at 3am, drive to a pretty coastline or a nice country side and spend from say 4:15 through to 8 am shooting my LF.. As other people mentioned, the use of roll film holders makes it easy (nigh on trivial) to shoot an LF camera. and I find that 4hrs a week is more than enough shooting time for me both capture the images I want to capture, and de-stress myself to a point where working the long hours doesn't affect me... I use my LF as a stress reliever, under the dark cloth is the one place I can have silence, switch my mind off, and just be in the moment with the image on the GG...

I have 10~12 exposed rolls of E6 in my fridge at the moment, These will all be processed in the coming few weeks... Then on weeknights, if I get time, I will inspect my slides, maybe only 5 or 6 slides a night, and select the ones to be scanned. I might scan a couple a night, and again, if I get time, process them on the computer within a month or so... The turnaround from shooting to printing can be 3 months, That doesn't concern me... I find with DSLRs I shoot 10x the amount of shots, I tend to process more of them even if they are flawed, and will be more stressed an hectic trying to wade through 400 images, where with slides I might only deal with 10~30 images...

Immediacy breeds mediocracy in my opinion. I am FAR more selective of my images when I see the slides months after I shot them, because the time makes you forget the hardship involved with capturing the image...

I drive 1.5 hrs to a location, hike all the LF gear 1.5kms up a beach to get to a bluff/rocky out crop (in pitch black night) set everything up, all the work involved in shooting the LF format.. then I go all the way back home.. If I had the images straight away, I would find something in them to love, because I am still mentally attached to the whole process of creating the image. Once you separate from that, you find that the images you call 'keepers' are of far higher quality because you are judging them purely on their merits and flaws, with no psychological attachment...

I went through a stretch of a dozen years when I couldn't budget time for much of any photography. When I did get out, I was so rusty that LF was a big hassle. Then, one day, I wanted to make a stitched panoramic view of a scene near my home. Only LF would do the job properly. So, I dug my 4x5 out, loaded the holders, and made the shots. Since that day, I've steadily used my LF gear more each year. I recently had my Hasselblad repaired, and I'm using that more as well. I'm a casual shooter by the standards of many here, but I do get out and use my LF gear, and I enjoy it. It is not a camera format for speedy use or instant reaction to changing light or subject matter. It's a tool for more contemplative work, and that suits me. I'll keep the gear and use it until I can't lift it any more.

Peter Gomena

Brian ... when I turned fifty I treated myself to a little Ebony folder, though I still prefer the
Norma for weekend use, that is, when I'm not shooting 8X10. Then when I turned 60 I bought a bigger carbon fiber tripod suitable for 8X10, tested it, and set it aside till I'm over
70. Same with the roll-film holder. I might use it on a hundred mile steep hike this summer,
just so I have enough room left in the pack for two weeks of food, but otherwise invested
in it for the eventualities of true geezerhood. I like the P67 for road trip potshots, bad
weather, faster operation my wife tags along, or just for the change of pace once in awhile. It's all fun. But I sure hate all the extra spotting that comes with small film!

Interesting thoughts here. I'm a relative newbie to LF and I wanted to do it in order to slow down and really think about the pictures I was making. I'm finding though, at the moment, when I'm out with the LF kit, I'm still spending more time fiddling with the equipment than actually making pictures. I often find that the light that attracted me in the first place has changed by the time I get round to actually pressing the shutter release. Just recently I've had a setback that's caused me to lose confidence in that I managed to wrongly load my film holders resulting in the loss of 2 or 3 sheets. That's really expensive as I'm shooting colour transparency! I'm now fighting shy of attempting to load film holders again, although I know I'm just going to have to 'get back in the saddle' and give it another go. Meantime, I'm thinking I might put some film through my lovely Hasselblad for a while; I never have to worry about the equipment with that. I take Rick's point about practicing in spare moments, so maybe those trashed sheets will be useful.

On the issue of weight of the kit, I carry my kit in a medium-size rucksack. I can fit a 5x4 field camera, 3 or 4 lenses, film holders and other bits plus my Nikon DSLR in the rucksack and find it perfectly comfortable to carry for a day's photography. I just carry the tripod in my hand and it doubles as a walking stick on rough terrain.

I really want to keep the faith...

Gavin

Gavin, starting in LF is all about making the mistakes. So long as you learn your lesson, its no big deal in the scheme of things.. For I don't know how many times I've pulled the dark slide before I've closed the lens.... Would have to be at least 10 times (4 in one day) I was excited to be shooting LF did not take my time and follow my set procedure..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Riverman

I wonder what the point of having 150 sheets of 5x7 in the fridge is if I never get round to shooting it.

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To sell to other LF'ers, as it becomes hard to get.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Riverman

As for printing? It's been months since I've been in the darkroom. I haven't even scanned the few sheets of LF that i have shot this year.

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See, there's your problem. I don't see why anyone would knowingly pick up an LF camera without the ability to follow through and print there own work, commercial work aside (if it still exists in LF). Not talking about scanning hybrid work here, but darkroom oriented printing.

It's obvious to me that perhaps the real title for this thread should be,

"Do you have to shoot LF to be a real photographer, artist, or ...man?"

;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ROL

See, there's your problem. I don't see why anyone would knowingly pick up an LF camera without the ability to follow through and print there own work, commercial work aside (if it still exists in LF). Not talking about scanning hybrid work here, but darkroom oriented printing.

It's obvious to me that perhaps the real title for this thread should be,

"Do you have to shoot LF to be a real photographer, artist, or ...man?"

;)

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Erm...many people here don't print in the darkroom. Many many I think.

what i funny thread


man, follow your heart,

i am great friends with tamara dean, and dean sewell, (were married), dean is one of the worlds top documentary photogs, and tamara is in a top gallery and makes more than my years wage in a show.

both dont know how to use a light meter.

both use digital

both are amazing artists

dean does alot to change the world on and off the record

tamara also raises kids

so follow your heart and get snap happy like a pirana if you want.

if its your style.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by alexn

Gavin, starting in LF is all about making the mistakes. So long as you learn your lesson, its no big deal in the scheme of things.. For I don't know how many times I've pulled the dark slide before I've closed the lens.... Would have to be at least 10 times (4 in one day) I was excited to be shooting LF did not take my time and follow my set procedure..

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Thanks, Alexn, for your encouragement. Actually, when I started in LF, I thought I'd make loads of mistakes and so decided I could afford to waste 10 sheets on complete failures before deciding whether this was going to be for me. In the event, I was lucky and got results pretty much from the start and didn't do all the things I thought I would, like removing the dark slide before closing the lens or forgetting to stop down etc. (I made myself a printed checklist to take out with me.) This has probably given me a false confidence so it feels worse now when I make a mistake! I suppose I must tell myself that I'm still about 6 - 7 sheets 'in credit' and move on. I must admit that for me the procedure I hate the most is the loading and unloading of film holders.

Gavin

The thread has elicited some interesting replies. To be clear - my photographic mojo is certainly working. Just not in LF right now. LF has clicked for me in the past. In 2010 I made street portraits with my 4x5 in NE Washington DC. I shot Portra and printed them myself at Smithsonian's color darkroom. I'm pleased with and proud of that body of work. In 2011 I made a memorable trip to Death Valley with Michael Gordon whose expert local knowledge be in the right spots at sunrise to shoot some chromes with which I'm extremely pleased. But since returning to London last year I have much less leisure time than I did in the US and find it harder to commit to LF than I did over the past couple of years.

I'll not sell my cameras and lenses as I know there may be times ahead when I reach for LF again. But right now, i feel like I have come 'full circle' - realising (after a few years experimenting with 120 and LF) that my best work and the stuff I most enjoyed shooting, was all shot on 35mm. This is unsurprising. When I started photographyin 1998 the photographers whose work I most admired were all 35mm shooters. Don McCullin, Philip Jones Griffiths. Guys like that. For 9 years my photo kit consisted of a minolta slr and a 50 and 28. For most of that time I knew nothing and i mean nothing, of what I consider the 'scientific' side of photography. F stops? Under/over exposure? It was all a mystery to me. But I didn't care. My x700 had aperture priority, i was shooting b&w neg and above all, I believe that I had - and still have - a decent eye. I grabbed good shots and, while I scarcely understood the 'science' of exposing film, I certainly did get to grips with printing the stuff, enjoying my darkroom time almost as much as shooting. I remember being in the darkroom til 1 or 2am printing the negs from my travels in India in 99.

In 2007 I got into shooting 120 and, a year later, 4x5. I was attracted to larger formats for the amazing image quality and 'smoothness' of printed images. Working in these formats forced me to learn the 'scientific' stuff that had never interested me in the past. So now I have my f stops down. I understand exposure. I realise that LF requires tremendous discipline and planning. I suspect that's why it's not the format for me. I enjoy spontaneity - in life and in photography. So I keep coming back to 35mm, which is the most versatile format for me.

While shooting LF color, i also learned RA4 printing. Color darkroom work has really helped me working with color digital files and the color controls in applications like photoshop. Since picking up a dslr in January I've got rid of all my color roll film, though I keep a fridge full of b&w 35mm.

So that's been my photographic journey. Medium and large format have been and interesting and instructive detour for me these last few years. I scratched the itch and in doing so, learned where my heart - or eye, really is.

The thread has elicited some interesting replies. To be clear - my photographic mojo is certainly working. Just not in LF right now. LF has clicked for me in the past. In 2010 I made street portraits with my 4x5 in NE Washington DC. I shot Portra and printed them myself at Smithsonian's color darkroom. I'm pleased with and proud of that body of work. In 2011 I made a memorable trip to Death Valley with Michael Gordon whose expert local knowledge be in the right spots at sunrise to shoot some chromes with which I'm extremely pleased. But since returning to London last year I have much less leisure time than I did in the US and find it harder to commit to LF than I did over the past couple of years.

I'll not sell my cameras and lenses as I know there may be times ahead when I reach for LF again. But right now, i feel like I have come 'full circle' - realising (after a few years experimenting with 120 and LF) that my best work and the stuff I most enjoyed shooting, was all shot on 35mm. This is unsurprising. When I started photographyin 1998 the photographers whose work I most admired were all 35mm shooters. Don McCullin, Philip Jones Griffiths. Guys like that. For 9 years my photo kit consisted of a minolta slr and a 50 and 28. For most of that time I knew nothing and i mean nothing, of what I consider the 'scientific' side of photography. F stops? Under/over exposure? It was all a mystery to me. But I didn't care. My x700 had aperture priority, i was shooting b&w neg and above all, I believe that I had - and still have - a decent eye. I grabbed good shots and, while I scarcely understood the 'science' of exposing film, I certainly did get to grips with printing the stuff, enjoying my darkroom time almost as much as shooting. I remember being in the darkroom til 1 or 2am printing the negs from my travels in India in 99.

In 2007 I got into shooting 120 and, a year later, 4x5. I was attracted to larger formats for the amazing image quality and 'smoothness' of printed images. Working in these formats forced me to learn the 'scientific' stuff that had never interested me in the past. So now I have my f stops down. I understand exposure. I realise that LF requires tremendous discipline and planning. I suspect that's why it's not the format for me. I enjoy spontaneity - in life and in photography. So I keep coming back to 35mm, which is the most versatile format for me.

While shooting LF color, i also learned RA4 printing. Color darkroom work has really helped me working with color digital files and the color controls in applications like photoshop. Since picking up a dslr in January I've got rid of all my color roll film, though I keep a fridge full of b&w 35mm.

So that's been my photographic journey. Medium and large format have been and interesting and instructive detour for me these last few years. I scratched the itch and in doing so, learned where my heart - or eye, really is.

I ended up putting a bid in on an ETRS on the auction site. We shall see if I get it.

Are you a Formatographer, or a photographer?

Get over the "format" part of your work, then you can get to the 'other' part, which is where the boomboom is.

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Originally Posted by marfa boomboom tx

Are you a Formatographer, or a photographer?
Get over the "format" part of your work, then you can get to the 'other' part, which is where the boomboom is.

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So true. The camera is a tool. Use the tools you enjoy working with.

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Originally Posted by welly

I find large format photography takes up less time than digital. Sifting through 100s of photos on a computer (that I've already spent best part of 8 hours during the day in front of) and then spending time editing them to make some reasonable sense of the image as opposed to shooting three or four sheets, developing them in the bathroom and scanning them in. It takes far less time in my opinion and mostly keeps me away from the damn screen.

Certainly there isn't the immediacy of sticking a digital P&S in your pocket and heading out but then I'm not sure, for me, if that's much of an advantage.

If you do decide to sell up your film and have anything in the way of 4x5 film, give me a shout! 4x5 down here isn't cheap and a little difficult to get hold of!

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"Digital" doesn't require that you make hundreds of photographs in an outing. That's your choice as to how you use your digital camera. If you don't want to spend hours in front of a computer editing hundreds of images then you need to learn to be selective in what you photograph. There's also nothing that requires you to edit everything you photograph. After a day of photography with a digital camera I might have 30-50 photographs. I go through them quickly and in about five minutes I've cut it down to maybe 10-15 photographs I think are worth working on.

As someone who once shot a lot of Kodachrome and now shoots some digital, you can treat them the same way. Set your camera for JPG and manual mode, and it is just like shooting slide film, except you do not need to wait for them to get back from Kodak. Check your exposure with the LCD, delete the bad ones as you go, and come home with the equivalent of a box of slides.

When my kids were small, LF got to be too much of a hassle and realized I was not taking any more pictures. Sold my gear and did not get back in for 20 years. Your life situation may change in the future and it may feel right again. Unless you need the money or the space, keep your gear - it is not like it is going to become obsolete.:-) Then the threshold for giving it a try again is low. I probably would have been shooting again sooner had I kept my gear.

LF is not for everyone. There's nothing wrong with using whatever camera best fits your vision, be it 12X20, 8X10, 4X5, MF, or digital SLR.

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Originally Posted by Riverman

Since September I've managed to expose only 6 sheets of LF film. Work is killing things. Constant 10 to 12 hour days leave me so tired and with so little time for photography. What little time i do have on weekends I just find it impractical to shoot LF. I lack motivation to deal with the hassle of the format. Trying to shoot LF often stresses me out whereas I get a big buzz shooting my slrs (film and digital). Shooting lf is time consuming and expensive. I lack inspiration for projects or themes that I feel merit the use of LF. Last week i had a week climbing Scottish hills, a welcome break from work stress. A beautiful landscape but not one easily photographed in lf unless there with the express purpose of photography. I was there to climb and hike. No way could I have hauled lf kit all week in Highland winter conditions. Thank goodness for big pockets in goretex jackets and a canon digi p&s. I wonder what the point of having 150 sheets of 5x7 in the fridge is if I never get round to shooting it. As for printing? It's been months since I've been in the darkroom. I haven't even scanned the few sheets of LF that i have shot this year.

Perhaps when I retire i'll have the time and patience for large format. Right now I feel about ready to sell my LF film to someone who'll shoot something worthwhile with it. Cameras and lenses i'll keep as one day I might get to really use them properly. In the meantime I'm just not feeling LF.

For all the forum members here shooting great stuff inLF. I don't know how you manage it. Credit to you.

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Man am I tired of all the negative kvetching about LF and 8x10 in particular. If you can't handle it why pollute this forum? What is the point of angst..... about digital, about it-is-to-heavy, i don't-have-time, it's-to expensive bla bla bla. If you're not into LF anymore go somewhere else..... and be happy.....