Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
interesting thread, it has made me reflect on all of the photography and art instructors and influences I've had over the years. There have been so many, some formal in classes at two different colleges, some informal through social or professional contact. I feel pretty lucky. Of course I still learn something new almost every time I pick up a camera.
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
I never received any formal training in LF, or in photography, for that matter. My formal training was drawing, and printmaking... I had zero interest in photography back then! amazing how things can change!
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
No instruction in LF. Just starting out and have relied on a couple of books. Hoping to learn as much as I can from this forum.
Rob
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
Long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was an undergrad at Stanford, I took several photo classes. Not enough for a studio art major, and there were no undergraduate minors degrees back then. One of the classes was on large format photography, given by Joel Leivick. We could borrow either a monorail (Calumet or Cambo, can't remember) or a Calumet Woodfield, which is what I borrowed, along with a 150mm lens (probably a Caltar, not sure who really made it). I think that class was in 1987 or 1988, I'd have to dig up the negatives to see. I started up again in LF in 2001 when I bought a Tachihara, and have been self taught sine, but I did get a good basic understanding from that class long ago. I also took Photo 1, photo 2, and individual study twice (a.k.a. photo 3, but you could take it more than once).
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Merg Ross
This is a wonderful story of a fortunate teenager, but only a beginning. Those early lessons would be lost without your initiative and perseverance to put them in play. We have the results in your excellent portfolios.
In my experience, successful photographs involve hard work; there are no shortcuts.
I thought of copying and pasting some of your earlier posts into this thread - recollections of time spent with Brett and Edward Weston - but instead I would ask if you have anything else to share. You're not prone to boasting, but there must be a lot more "rich content" residing in your memory banks ! :o
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
I became enthralled with B&W photography much as John Sexton did at about the same time and age, watching a friend develop prints for the first time. Started with a Nikkormat FTn.
At the then Phila. College of Art (PCA) in '72, I became a photography major for two years, studying first under Ray Metzger. He was kind and generous man. We were introduced to 4x5 in the course of things, but I parted ways with PCA halfway through my junior year and never had any formal training after that. In retrospect, I think I have learned the most through self-study, which has been intense whenever I have had the time to make it so. I was a professional for more than three decades.
My problem early on was a math/science block -- I devoured the photo magazines except for articles that had numbers or formulas in them. Until I realized that I was simply not getting the results I wanted. I finally realized that I needed to understand depth-of-field, inverse square law, a bit of chemistry, etc. Since this was important to my identity, I was able to overleap the emotional block , and suddenly the numbers made sense (I'm not talking about trig, optical formulas, etc., just basics).
Studying masters of the other arts -- music, painting, drawing, etc. -- as well as photographers, and striving to attain the greatest quality I can in every way, compositionally and technically, has been my primary resource.
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
Got my BS in pro photo at RIT class of '69. And I got texts autographed by Les, c.b. Neblett, and B. Newhall.
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Ken Lee
I thought of copying and pasting some of your earlier posts into this thread - recollections of time spent with Brett and Edward Weston - but instead I would ask if you have anything else to share. You're not prone to boasting, but there must be a lot more "rich content" residing in your memory banks ! :o
Ken yes, lots in my "memory banks". However, pertaining to the immediate topic, my initial lesson was brief; approximately seven hours. For background, my father was a professional photographer, and here I quote from my book:
"I made my first photographs in 1951. For my tenth birthday, Grandmother gave me a mail-in box camera with a simple shutter. I produced photographs with a feeling of accomplishment, however most often with disappointing results. My penchant for close-ups was beyond the capability of the camera. The disappointment ended shortly after my twelfth birthday. My father, sensing my frustration, brought from his studio a wooden 4x5 camera with accessories. He set it up in the yard and instructed me to look at the ground glass --- before my eyes were twenty square-inches of luminous image! A five-minute lesson on using a light meter followed, and later that afternoon lessons on developing film and making a contact print. By evening, with prints drying, my life was forever transformed".
Those seven hours represent my initial training in photography. The following sixty years have been a continuation of the learning experience, mostly trial and error. I was lucky to land my first full-time job at the University of California photo lab at the age of nineteen. I had never used an enlarger, but with patient supervision became a skilled printer. On my first sports assignment I returned with eighteen sheets of blank film, having neglected to open the front shutter on a Speed Graphic. However, over the course of ten years I became skilled in the profession, and continued to learn. For some it's the classroom, for me it was the field; but indeed, I had teachers to whom I am beholden.
Merg
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
What? You don't remember teaching me, Ken? ;)
After I purchased my first 4x5 (a Cambo SC), I bought the Steve Simmons book which really helped me. Then I joined this forum. I learned a lot from your website, Ken, plus from a bunch of other members here.
I've never said it before but I guess now is as good a time as any. Thank you Ken and thanks to all the other members who have taught me something! :)
Re: How many of you were taught (in LF) ?
I bought my first book on photography over 65 years ago, Rudolf Kingslake's Lenses in Photography. What a revelation in comparison to the Encyclopedia Britannica's articles on the subject! Since then maybe 200 more books have joined the collection. With those masters (and more on LFPF) I can't claim to be self-taught. However, my many mistakes along the way have been educational, too.