LFinfo deteriorating??

[Gary L. Quay]

Thanks for the tips on how to take the lounge out of my normal view. I did that.

Now... is anyone taking photos?

Yes. I was on Hawthorne BLVD on Monday photographing a rain-soaked Badgad Theater at 2:00AM with my 8x10 Eastman Kodak while standing under the awning of Powell's Books Home and Garden. I took one shot only, and developed it in Pyrocat-HD.

LFinfo, by the way, is still the best resource around. There is quite the backlog of info here. I use the search function before I post questions, so I don't have to post that often. Usually, I don't even have to answer questions, because someone has already said what I wanted to say. The lull in postings is likely due to the sites's success in providing answers.

As for the lounge: I visited it for about a week, and lost interest.

[cjbroadbent]

.....LFinfo, by the way, is still the best resource around. There is quite the backlog of info here. I use the search function before I post questions, so I don't have to post that often. Usually, I don't even have to answer questions, because someone has already said what I wanted to say. The lull in postings is likely due to the sites's success in providing answers......

I second that.

[john borrelli]

I actually think the forum has picked up in the last several months.

I love all the Post your(photographs) threads that forum members keep posting to. Great stuff.

On a personal note, I can recall starting a new job many years ago. It was one of those jobs on the first day gives you a very bad feeling. I soon met a new colleague who was a fellow photographer. We talked about photography at work or over the phone, after work hours. It kept me going(until I got fired!).

We are not in touch anymore but this forum has become just as informational and important to me(luckily my work situation is better!).

Ofcourse, this is from a guy who started a Lounge thread on Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Littman cameras!!

[Steve Hamley]

Merg,

I sort of believed the opposite - LF is booming. Compared to the old Greenspun forum which was really a handful of people, the current LFinfo and APUG forums represent a huge increase in interest over 6 or so years.

The "For Sale" ads may be increasing as a result of eBay and PayPal policies and IMO is good for the forum and the community. But those prices also reflect a tremendous increase in demand. Read an old issue of "View Camera" and check the prices of lenses 5-6 years ago.

There may be periodic downturns based on people's other life activities (personally my job really gets in the way of my photography and hiking activities), but in general the number of new names showing up seems to reflect an increasing interest. Not to mention the emergence of the Chinese community and manufacturers.

Cheers,

Steve

[sailbad]

I'm just a new member but have to say that I've been doing film for 5 years while allmost everyone else was going digital.......not a crowd follower I guess.
I've had a darkroom for this time as well and have no plans on going digital. The prints just sparkle and now that I'm using a 4x5 view camera, well you know the rest, I'm hooked. I also have 4 120 cameras and one of them is a Moskva and produces 6x9 negs and the cam cost 50$ so it's affordable. Many wet darkroom folks are emptying their closets and gear is out there at good/steal prices. Some of my friends are also exploring film with my 120's and tasting ground glass for the first time. Oddly my rangefinder/folder Moskva is the one most frequently borrowed even with it's weird little viewfinder ? I think that B&W large format has taught me alot and the prints are so crisp that others are following me. But they don't have a darkroom so I'm also making their prints and teaching the darkroom Mojo to them at the same time. Black & white done to high standards will allways be in demand and have it's own following & market.

[Andrew O'Neill]

I think that B&W large format has taught me alot and the prints are so crisp that others are following me. But they don't have a darkroom so I'm also making their prints and teaching the darkroom Mojo to them at the same time.

Good for you, man! Keep spreading the Mojo!

[jonsmith]

I don't know because I have been away from the forum for quite a while. I'm still active in LF by my own standards, but am getting selective about it. Last year I only exposed eight negs, and I think printed six of them. This year I've exposed a few more, but it's still the middle of the season. I've decided to knock off in late spring and summer because out here it gets hazy in those months, and the light takes on a harsh quality. I am never quite happy with shots I took in those months.

I go exploring with a Mamiya TLR and go back later to shots I want in LF. I'm being selective not because of film cost, but because of the time and energy wasted taking and processing extra shots and shots I didn't really like anyway. Some trips out I decided I wasn't happy with the scene or the light and packed the camera up and drove home without taking a shot. In the old days I would expose everything I had with me and sort it out later.

So in a way I'm less active, but in a way, not. I'm certainly still interested, and taking better photographs, than before, even with less time devoted to it.

[dazedgonebye]

The most annoying part is all the noobs asking questions about what lens for this or what camera for that!
Oh wait...that was me.

Sorry.

[Dan Fromm]

Um, dazed, if places like this aren't for educating others and sharing hard to find information, what are they for?

[Brandon Draper]

Um, dazed, if places like this aren't for educating others and sharing hard to find information, what are they for?

So true. If LF photography isn't passed on, film will be no longer made.

Then life as we know it will end