Why does the US seem to produce LF photographers?

[Terence Spross]

2 points:

Nobody has mentioned Africa: Recently, I was talking to a Pro (on a non-pro vacation) returning from Africa and that was one of his formost comments was the amount of photographers taking portaits and using LF and contact printing. I'm not sure how widespread it is, but from the usual non-tourist area traveling he did, he visited a few villiages were this was the norm. Difficulty and expense in obtaining Polaroid materials caused one of them to switch and at least one village didn't have any electricity which kind of precludes digital.

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Some American high schools are still teaching B&W conventional photo techniques. My daughters high school (the school is only 5 years old) has a built in darkroom. Another area school surplused its MF cameras a few years ago, but in addition to 35mm is using a LF 4x5 camera a part of the instruction. The (new) instructor did this since there was a budget cut stalling digital equipment and the LF camera had its dust blown off from years ago and is sort of replacing MF in the instruction and the students can't wait to get their turn at it. It used to be the older intructor taught MF, but merely pointed to the LF camera and said that is LF - hands off. Now about 35 students can't wait their turn at using or even borrowing the LF camera. Thats 35 students who know what LF is in just one school.

[Duane Polcou]

Everybody's chasing Ansel.

[Eduardo Aigner]

Perhaps the Americans are not giving necessary attention to the remaining portions of the world.

[David G. Gagnon]

Well, once again what was intended to be a funny has hurt someone's feelings. Sorry about that.

It just seems that there are thousands of Koronas, Universals, Eastmans,Kodaks, Senecas, Deardorffs, Graflex, Agfa-Anscos out there. I wonder if possibly the US did make the most in comparison to any one other country? Just a thought.

DG

[Emre Yildirim]

medform-norm - That's correct, we are actually first generation (my mother's side is Bulgarian). The move would've been impossible if both of my parents didn't have PhDs. That said, even being upper-middle class immigrants in Germany (both of my parents had good paying jobs) I still don't think I would've had the same kind of opportunities that I have here.

[Emrehan Zeybekoglu]

While I agree with many of the statements above, let me indicate that this probably has to do with the availability of equipment in the first place. The US is a place where photo equipment is relatively more affordable than it is in Europe. Taxes are obviously much lower in the States, and there is a lot of material circulating in the second-hand market as well. As long as you're part of the middle class, you can afford such toys.

Secondly, the US has the most advanced capitalist society where consumerism and consequently advertisement and various other forms of demand for image-making are the greatest.

Third, there are many non-American LF photographers whose names do not pop up in the Anglophone media simply because of lack of familiarity. For example, Bülent Ozgören, Kamil Firat, Shinzo Maeda, or Haruto Maeda and many others some of whom are already pointed out above are excellent LF photographers.

I think one other characteristic that Americans have is that they like to announce what they do or who they are. This clearly is not the case with everyone else in the world. Aggressive marketing is typically American, I think - even in the case of personal artistic activity.

Some of the greatest photographers of the late 19th century-early 20th century lived in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire at the time. Those people were renowned throughout Europe and the Middle East. Istanbul was quite a center of attraction until WWI, and we also know that there were even cameras being made in Istanbul. However, the tradition did not continue because of the deteriorating economic conditions and the political turmoil. It is a pity that many Western history books fail to give credit to those who did marvellous work at the time.

An African photographer may be an excellent artist but unless he has the powers to advertise himself or finds the means to put out a book, noone in the West will ever hear of his name. The economic conditions, or more blatantly, the market reality dictates where you stand in the world.

Another point could be made about the language factor. In today's world, over 70% of all scholarly publications are put out in English. If you are not part of the English-speaking world, you are not heard globally. Many academics the world over raise important points, develop respectable theories in various fields; however, unless they publish in English or unless they are cited by English-speaking colleagues, they don't get to be known in the Anglosaxon world. There is probably a parallelism with LF photography here.

Also, I know that there are photographers who use LF cameras without making a big deal out of this. It is just the way they do their work. So, there are several economic and cultural factors one should consider in order to answer the original question. However, it would be interesting to conduct a serious research into this.

Have I shed any light on the question?

E. Zeybekoglu

[Jon_6364]

I think some people are conflating two different things here: the seeming preponderance of Americans among the world's more famous LF photographers, and the popularity of LF in the US.

As for the second question, does anyone have comparative data about the sales of LF film (or cameras) in different countries? I certainly saw a lot of LF equipment being sold (and used!) when I lived in Japan.

Re the first question, it's easy to think the US dominates everything -- witness NBC's appalling Olympic coverage.

[Alex Hawley]

If there is anything to this idea, I think two of Jorge’s points are most germane:

“In the US since childhood people are encouraged to develop interests outside their school work, it does not matter if this is science, art, sports, etc. Schools always have organized activities outside their curriculum.”

Photography has been offered as an elective course in US High Schools for many, many years. There’s no pretense made the course being solely for vocational training. Rather, it is offered as something that brings enjoyment as well as the potential for a vocational career. I think though that one would be hard pressed to find many high schools that have view cameras available for student use. Maybe an old Graflex or two, but not much beyond that. Still, some basic training and stimulation for the interest is offered across the entire population.

“-mind set, since childhood Americans are told that anything is possible if they apply themselves. This turns into a positive attitude where people try to find ways to do things, instead of finding ways not to do things.”

It has always seemed to me that many of the European societies concentrate on some perceived “proper” way of doing something. Along with this is an inhibition against doing something outside one’s “proper” role in the society. Large Format remains the domain of the seriously interested photographer. So therefore, appears that many societies do not see it as being a valid pursuit without the “proper” training and education.

As for me, I don’t give a Flyin’ F about all the above social BS nor pursuits of St. Ansel. I just wanted to make the best photographs I could on a very limited budget and with very basic technology. Large Format provides me the means of doing that to the best of my ability and in fact, has improved my ability far more that any super-wham-a-dyne full-auto 35mm machine gun ever did. Never took any educational classes in it either.

[Kirk Gittings]

Sorry, but it comes from the landscape and is about the landscape.

By mid-twentieth century the US had fostered two important and unique art movements that had defined an identifiable US aesthetic to the rest of the world. These movements were the first that flourished on native soil rather than copying Europe. These two movements were Abstract Expressionism in painting and the LF aesthetic of the F64 group. Each of these movements were based in and dominated by interpretations of the American landscape. Each of these movements descend from the topographic painting and photographic surveys of the previous century documenting the American West. We still live in that landscape and hold dear (if unconsciously) the predilictions of our forerunners.

LF is not just a technique here. It is a statement, a way of being, a part of the national artistic identity.

[Alex Hawley]

I think that's also a big factor Kirk. I didn't go there because some have thought its based on Ansel-wannabees, but its really not. Its about the land and all its wonderment and all that goes with it.

This brings up another paradox on the subject that has been baffling me. Why don't we see more work coming from Russia these days? Their land is just as fascinating as ours is and even more expansive. They have all the technology, training, talent, and photo tradition we have. Their artistic traditions are just as great as anyone elses. But not a whole lot of visibility here in the US. What a fascinating place it would be to explore with LF or ULF. Where are the Russians?