Women using Large Format

[Becky Lynn]

Hi,

Female photographer here. Nice to see other females with a passion for photography. Sandy, I also just got a LF camera. I have a Wista SP. If there is anyone in my area (Modesto, CA) that is into LF photography and would like to have a day of shooting, please feel free to email me.

[Becky Lynn]

Just now, as I am getting into LF photography, am becoming aware of the lack of females interested. How many of you are visual learners? I bet most of you are. (being that you are photographers) It makes it hard to find someone to teach you to use a 4x5 when you are female and don't want to give the "wrong idea" in asking someone to go out shooting with you!

[Darin Cozine]

Sandy, welcome to the forum.

Paula chamlee has alllready been mentioned, but here is the link to Paula and Michaels homepage:

www.michaelandpaula.com

They are very active in the LF community, and very helpful. I once inquired about the AZO paper they champion and they sent me a few proof snippets. (I still need to get back to them).

Another link you will find interesting:

www.masters-of-photography.com

Some of my all-time favorite photographers are Margaret Bourke-White and Imogen Cunningham.

If you feel out of touch with other female LF photographers, you might want to start a forum on ezboard or geocities to establish a community.

[Al W]

A woman, can't remember her name, wrote in a while back with a suggestion that worked for her. I use it too, and it really keeps the weirdo count down. Wear a hard hat and reflective vest when working in the city. Everyone will think you're a surveyor and leave you alone. A couple orange cones adds to the effect. She also used a tripod with wooden legs and wrapped them with reflective tape.

[Sandy Sorlien]

Hi Al,

That was me.

Nice to see this thread still active (sort of) after three years! I am back to report that yes, I'm still out safely shooting up the streets of American towns and cities with my Arca, and yes, most people think I'm a surveyor. My husband gave me the greatest present for Christmas 2003 -- collapsible orange traffic cones! They fit in my tripod bag.

Even in the Ashcroft era no one ever asks me not to shoot; police cruise by without stopping, unless I am blocking an entire lane, and even then they are nice about it. A curious patrolman in Fredericksburg, Texas even suggested a good town for me to shoot (Mason, TX) ; I went there, and he was absolutely right.

Happy Spring to all, Sandy

[tim atherton]

"My husband gave me the greatest present for Christmas 2003 -- collapsible orange traffic cones! They fit in my tripod bag."

Glad to hear he still has the romance... :-)

[Sharon S.]

Good to hear that other women are using LF. I took a class and fell in love with the camera, bought one and, yes, I lug the darn thing around by myself. Ah, the things you do for love!!!

:-)

[Bill_1856]

I just re-read the thread and was surprised to note that no one has mentioned two of the greatest photographers of all time (men OR women), both of whom used LF gear. Margaret Bourke-White, and Dorothea Lange.

[Calamity Jane]

Whal, it seems I overlooked this thread before :-(

Always glad ta find other women with similar interests - knowing one is not alone in being "strange" is somehow reassuring ;-)

I'm just getting into LF but go back 30 odd years in 35mm and 20 years in MF.

Living in rural and wilderness Canada most of my life and doing mostly wilderness and farm photography, I have not had to contend with 2-legged "problems" very often - more danger from getting lost in the bush, encountering a bear, or cresting a hill to find yourself face to face with the farmer's bull!

My favorites field camera has been a Pentax 645. I am 5' 9" and strong as an ox but 5 or 10 miles afoot thru rough country with the MF supplies can be brutal. (A couple of good shots of some seldom-seen vista go a long way toward easing aching muscles though.)

(Whar waz I goin with this? Oh yea!) I can see where the bulk and weight of a LF pack would really be too much for the average 5 foot-and-a-bit woman who doesn't come from a background of pitching hay and mucking out stalls.

I suspect there is also a "legacy" issue. Photography has been a "profession" a lot longer than it has been available to the "general public" and professions were dominated by men. Large Format is (in the vast majority of cases) a progression from small-frame to MF to LF and most people who survive long enough to make the progression have, I think, done a lot of darkroom time. Even when I started out (1969), there was "stigma" about sharing a darkroom with the opposite sex (other than a spouse) and very few young women could afford to equip their own darkroom. 'Course I had no "reputation" to protect in 1969, so it didn't matter to me ;-) If I hadn't had access to a darkroom (more or less) all along, I doubt that I would have retained my interest in photography. I really don't want to know all the techincal details of papers, devgelopers, films, 'n' so forth - what I am after is to end up with the picture from my mind's eye on film - but I gotta do the "techy stuff" to get there.

(My other obscession - building stuff - is just another manifestation of the same illness - turning an idea into a physical reality)

Just some thoughts.....

[Diane Maher]

I've gone through the ranks of 35 mm, MF and am shooting LF (Toyo 45AII and Agfa/Ansco 8x10). I don't have my own darkroom, so I am hoping to give some alt-processes a try this summer.

I understand about not knowing anyone locally who shoots LF. I only know of people who work at the photography stores who used to shoot LF.

I also sympathize with the comments made regarding safety. I like to take my LF stuff out into the field and have had these same feelings. I usually don't go far from the car - not in that great of shape anymore - but I love using the 8x10.