another newbie delurks

[katie cooke]

Hi. I've been lurking and reading for a couple of months, but only just signed up.

I've been using large format for almost two years now with pinhole cameras but have only just started using lenses with LF film this last week.

I know that flowers, and close up flowers in particular, are a hellacious cliché, but they are less likely to grumble about sitting still for ages or threaten to wander off to the pub when you're still messing about learning new techniques than my prefered victim, er, muse. That said, any feedback and advice would be welcome because this feels like a steep learning curve. These, from my first few days of playing, are made with a 101mm wollensak raptar, in a Toyo 45CF, on FP4+, and are neg scans because I've not made it to the darkroom yet (though with minimal photoshopping, except for adding duotones.)

some of my pinhole stuff is here: http://slowlight.net

cheers,
katie (in Edinburgh)

[Walter Calahan]

You transend the cliché. Beautiful.

[Ron Marshall]

Beautiful shots! Welcome to the forum Katie.

[Colin Graham]

Lovely, thanks for posting them.

[Sylvester Graham]

Edinburgh? I was JUST there. Wonderful city, although I came for the countryside.

[Rory_5244]

wow!

[Frank Petronio]

pretty amazing newbie

[Ralph Barker]

Welcome to the de-lurked side of the LF Forum, Katie.

Lovely flower photos, BTW.

[Michael Jones]

Wow; newbie only in the sense she just signed up. Wonderful images!

Mike

[katie cooke]

thanks for the kind welcome, chaps!

I think I've had a monster dose of beginner's luck so far in this first week with my new toy. Now I just have to hope that luck sticks. Having been almost purely pinhole for two years (except for some medium format lensed portraits with an old rollei) I'm still reeling in shock with the incredible fine detail that's possible.

And, if all goes well, I'll have a 210mm lens showing up in the post in a week or so, so I can use this camera on people without having to be right up in their nose. Again, flowers don't get jumpy and self-conscious when you do that, so they seem like a perfect thing to practice with.