Would you say that LF photography is . . .

[cyrus]

Exciting? Glamorous? Arousing? Exhilirating? Sensational?

Why not?

I was out with a group of LF photographers and it occurred to me that most were male, middle-aged, balding . . . Not that there's anything wrong with that but does it influence LF photography in a negative manner? Are we in danger of being fuudy-duddy penny loafers in a red patent leather stilettos world? Or am I going through an early middle age crisis?

[Andrew O'Neill]

Exciting? Glamorous? Arousing? Exhilirating? Sensational?

Nope...but it sure is FUN!

[Vaughn]

Well, when I started out with LF, I was still male, but I certainly was not middle-age, nor balding. I was 23, full beard and a ponytail...and just starting a 13 year career as a gov't seasonal employee, taking care of campgrounds, counting fish, then packing mules and building trails. Thirty years later I have long lost the ponytail as well as a good amount of hair on the top...but still have the beard.

LF is a big part of me. "Exciting? Glamorous? Arousing? Exhilirating? Sensational" are not terms I would normally attribute to myself on a day-to-day basis, so I tend not to attribute them to my photography either. If others find those attibutes in my photographs, all the more power to them.

When I am out wandering around with my 8x10, I am thinking of just the light...along with the myrid of little thoughts that constanty float around one's brain. I practice the art of seeing...and I need lots of practice!

Fun...definitely. Enjoyable...yes. And exciting in the respect that I feel a thrill and a sense of wonder of seeing the light and knowing that I don't have to get it on film to benefit from the experience, but it is nice when I can.

I took my boys on a bicycle ride yesterday to a most magical spot. Towering rocks rising from the sand, elk with huge racks grazing on the beach grasses, spruce and redwoods for the backdrop in one direction, the Pacific Ocean in the other. I'd like to take the 8x10 back there someday...but if I don't make it, that light will never leave me.

Vaughn

[Daniel_Buck]

I'm 23 years old, and just getting into LF shooting! I think the main reason I like it, is because it's so much different than any other type of shooting. The large negative aside, I really enjoy using the camera. My shooting with 35mm got slower and slower (read: methodical) so I tried medium format shooting, but didn't click as well as I would have hoped. My Uncle was gracious enough to lend me one of his spare 4x5 setups, and I think I have found what I was looking for! A camera setup that matches the methodical way of shooting that I have started doing in 35mm.

I'm a slight bit saddened though, because nobody I know does this type of shooting, so that usually means I'm out shooting on my own (which doesn't always bother me, sometimes I prefer it), but it's not like going out shooting 35mm with friends/coworkers together.

[Bill_1856]

Try, "Exhausting!"

[Pete Watkins]

Eccentric, perfectionist, control freaks is possibly the best way to describe many of us.
Eccentric, what other artform / past time requires one to use either an antiquated piece of equipment, or equipment based on antiquated designs where the user to wrap his head in a black cloth to use it?
Perfectionist, many L.F. users are. Why would anybody consider using 11x14 sheet film rated at 25 A.S.A. (or however it's designated nowdays)? You can't see grain on a 400 A.S.A. contact print (O.K. the eyes are getting old, but I can't see any grain). Control freaks, we just don't want to use the lenses designed by the camera manufacturers and a couple of independent companies do we? We want the means of using hundreds of different lenses from hundreds of manufacturers dating from the year dot. The good old "if that lens design was good enough for Julia Margaret Cameron/Matthew Bradey it's good enough for me" syndrome. Not to mention all those who use alternative printing methods because the image produced on paper from the likes of Ilford, Forte etc. is just not good enough, they feel that they don't have enough control unless they've sized the stuff themselves.
Just a few thoughts!
Pete.

[Greg Lockrey]

Or am I going through an early middle age crisis?

Yep.

[Capocheny]

Glamorous?... definitely NO. Especially after you've just packed your backpack full of gear around for the past several hours and are now hot, covered by perspiration, and dog-tired!

Masochistic?... ABSOLUTELY! Especially, when you play the role of a donkey/Sherpa and lug 50 to 60 pounds of equipment around on your poor aching back! And, your legs are screaming, "What the &%*&E did I ever do to you???"

Chick-magnet?... perhaps! Especially when they clamour around your equipment asking about the big screen on the back of the camera and exclaiming, "My, what a big lens you have!" [In the same vein as Little Red Riding Hood and the big, bad wolf. ]

Fun and Exhilarating?... YUP! Especially, when you get back a properly exposed and sharp negative (or, at least, when you get back a neg that you had visualized whilst looking through the groundglass! )

All in all... definitely worthwhile!

Cheers

[Per Madsen]

Large Format photography is photography's answer to "Slow Food".

[Walter Calahan]

Zen