This is from BJP-the UK's PDN ---------------------------------------------- COMMENT - Photography in its purest form ----------------------------------------------

Large Format photography is a paradox. Everybody knows that camera sales are low, yet film sales are up; the medium is thought to be locked in the past, yet is often chosen by those in the avant-garde arena of fashion photography; it is said to be the epitome of technical work, yet fine art photographers love it. How can all these things possibly be true at the same time?

The answer is that large format is the most versatile photographic medium. It has been used to photograph expeditions to Antarctica, hard news on the streets of New York and the marriage of many a Mr & Mrs Joe Public. It is not so much any inherent failing as photographers' eagerness to find easier-to-use technologies that has caused the medium not to be so widely used today.

The fact is that for many purposes large format is still the best choice - but people dismiss it because it is less convenient. Things would not be so bad if this compromise were recognised: but it is not. People persuade themselves that it is possible to get just as good results using medium format, 35mm or even digital.

One claim in favour of the last alternative is the wide brightness range that can be accommodated by high-end scanning or multi-shot backs, which can exceed the capabilities of colour transparency film. What digital cannot exceed, however, is the tonal range that can be recorded using in-camera b&w separations. The latter route is long-winded, but it is considerably cheaper than any digital capture system.

Its disadvantage is that separations have no 'sex appeal', whereas digital systems bristle with knobs and settings that can be played with right through the night if anybody is so inclined.

And this is the heart of the matter: large format cameras are simply too plain and simple. Adding verniers might appeal to the already converted, but it does nothing to advance the appreciation of the medium as a whole. For that matter, BJP suggests that nothing can - or indeed should - be done to 'tart-up' large format, which is, after all, the last bastion for those who really care about photography in its purest form.