Hello Large Format Photography!
My Name is Patrick, I'm a 20 year old architecture student from Toronto (studying in Cambridge, Ontario, under the University of Waterloo School of Architecture), and photography is a big hobby of mine. I don't quite know what you'd call my photography... though I do take a lot of inspiration from street photography.
I began shooting film about 2-3 years ago in high school because... well... frankly because I thought film cameras looked cooler than digital and that the ladies might dig it. But soon after, photography became a big part of my life... well, more like... integrated into my life... and I began taking film a little more seriously. If you were to ask me WHY I shoot film now, I'd tell you that photography to me is an experience, and the tools used to carry out the task can greatly impact the experience, I shoot film very differently than I shoot digital, and each camera sees it's own unique usage.
In the past year or so, film really took over. I went through many cameras just for the sake of trying them out and seeing what they have to offer... when I figured out how I liked to shoot 35mm... I went on to medium format. Medium Format opened a big door for me... I kept trying bigger and bigger formats, 645 to 6x6... to 6x7, then finally 6x9. I wanted to go bigger... and well... here we are!
I recently bought myself a Crown Graphic, around the same time I set up a darkroom in my washroom. After shooting a few frames with the Crown, I found it hard to go back to anything smaller than 4x5! It's a completely different experience... it's not as fast as 35mm, not as "well rounded" as medium format (big frames, sharp lenses, option of some very fast systems or slower, more intricate systems), but it had me shooting in a brand new, very refreshing way. I'd normally roam the streets with a 35mm or 120 rangefinder, scale focused, and taking quick snaps (except for the times I meet a stranger, more on that later). With the 4x5, I'm forced to operate a little slower, take my time with things, and really pick out what it is I want to photograph.
It sort of worked out great for me... a while back I decided to take on the 100 Strangers project, a project where you meet, photograph, and document at least a hundred people in your lifetime. I took it on because I admired the way street photographer Bruce Davidson would portray a demographic by getting to know them, and I wanted a way to portray the interesting people I saw on the streets in a similar fashion. Slowing down my process allowed me to focus more on the people and my surroundings... and the huge camera brought a lot of interesting people to me!
All in all, I absolutely love this camera. Here's what I've taken so farIf you'd like to see my 100 Strangers project, you can see it here and here
Thanks for your time
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and they're some of the coolest friends I have, and have helped me in my personal life, a well as my photographic life! And yes, clothes pins and a laundry line is how I dry my negtives 
Originally Posted by Tim Meisburger
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