Bonjour from New York City.

[JChrome]

Hello Friends -

Names JChrome. Started shooting 35mm film about 6 years ago. 3 years ago almost made a 100% switch to Medium Format film (Rangefinders, TLRs and SLRs). Starting my large format journey now and very excited about it. Just purchased a Chamonix 45F1 along with a Fuji 250mm F6.3. It's in the mail and on it's way.

I am also on Rangefinderforum.com and use it frequently. Some folks over there who saw me posting about large format told me to join up here and so here I am.

A little bit about my photography:
- I am an avid street and travel photographer. I post a lot of my work here: http://stillthrill.com/
- I started in the subways of NYC.
- The first plan is to do a series of photos in the same vane as below:



Looking forward to contributing where I can and soaking up the knowledge.

Best,
J

[Peter Lewin]

J: Welcome (Bienvenue?). I've already posted a response to your question in the image sharing thread, your comments and a visit to your stillthrill site reinforced my sense that the view camera will open a new approach for your photography. Simply put, a view camera (other than a Graphic or Linhof or other hand-held press camera) is not a "street photography" tool, it lends itself to a less dynamic approach. I suspect that is why many of us own cameras in a bunch of formats (in my case, both film and digital FF 35mm, film medium format and 4x5). We use whichever camera fits a particular subject/project best. But my first love is my 4x5, so I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with yours. I suspect that if you browse through the image sharing threads, you will get a sense of what subjects work best with a view camera, and by their absence, which do not. I'm already looking forward to the posting of your first view camera pictures.

[Greg Miller]

You might enjoy looking at the work of Greg Miller (no relation). All his work is 8x10, and, among others things, he does street portraits with the 8x10. His work is top notch, so worth the view, and should give you an idea of what is possible with LF.

[JChrome]

J: Welcome (Bienvenue?). I've already posted a response to your question in the image sharing thread, your comments and a visit to your stillthrill site reinforced my sense that the view camera will open a new approach for your photography. Simply put, a view camera (other than a Graphic or Linhof or other hand-held press camera) is not a "street photography" tool, it lends itself to a less dynamic approach. I suspect that is why many of us own cameras in a bunch of formats (in my case, both film and digital FF 35mm, film medium format and 4x5). We use whichever camera fits a particular subject/project best. But my first love is my 4x5, so I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with yours. I suspect that if you browse through the image sharing threads, you will get a sense of what subjects work best with a view camera, and by their absence, which do not. I'm already looking forward to the posting of your first view camera pictures.

Peter, what a nice response. Very much appreciated. I agree with you. I suspect working in 4x5 will slow me down even moreso than medium format has. I also resonate with the theme - "Use the best tool for the job". Why use a sledgehammer when a ball-peen works better? Maybe some guys get motivated to jump into the LF game because they just want to sling a sledgehammer and I can see that. What really motivates me to jump in is the movements, the drawing of the lenses and the slow pace of working... and ok fine... maybe to compensate for other inferiorities

Very excited to post work once I've made it.

[JChrome]

You might enjoy looking at the work of Greg Miller (no relation). All his work is 8x10, and, among others things, he does street portraits with the 8x10. His work is top notch, so worth the view, and should give you an idea of what is possible with LF.

Thanks so much Greg. I took at look and he really does have some fantastic work.

"His work is top notch, so worth the view, and should give you an idea of what is possible with LF."

His work makes me think anything is possible with LF! It almost looks like he's using a 35mm camera, he's so mobile.

[DrTang]

..cause using a sledgehammer is so much more fun