Why do you like Large Format photography? (Philosophy Talk Time)

[bspeed]

Its the challenge of photo-craftsmanship. the movements do encourage one to think differently about the composition.

[shadow images]

The slow pace in an all to fast paced world.

[Renato Tonelli]

It forces you to think about what you are photographing and why. It's more contemplative (for me).

[Oren Grad]

I like big negatives because they let me make big contact prints. Composing and focusing on the big ground glass is a blast. So is playing with funky old cameras in odd formats.

All that other stuff doesn't connect with me at all. Working with a camera that's more logistically taxing doesn't make me any more contemplative or help me see any better or make me feel any more invested in craftsmanship. Using a tripod-based camera that needs to be set up and broken down necessarily slows me down, but I'd just as soon it didn't.

[Jim Galli]

It is the latent possibilities that keep me going. With a digi slr there is only one possibility. Perfectly exposed sharp pictures. That's 15 minutes of fun (and fabulous for showing you pictures of lenses and cameras I've decided to sell in order to buy other lenses and cameras ) After that I'm bored. But LF and ULF are a bottomless pit of things to explore. Antique soft focus lenses and the brute force tonality of an 8X10 contact print are a combination that seem endless. After several years I can honestly say I've only just barely scratched the surface. And, apparently, I'm just wired to enjoy looking at the world upside down.

[kmack]

I've been shooting LF for over 60 years, (and except for a few nice Polaroids), have yet to make a significant image with it.
I don't know why I get such enjoyment -- maybe it's just the challange.

Well unlike wilhelm, I have not been shooting LF for 60 years, I simply love the craft involved.

There is an illusion of control you get with LF, but no matter how well you prepare, no matter how consistent you think you are, there are always surprises.

[Bruce Watson]

Question: What is it about Large Format photography that makes you do it? It's not convenient or fast or inexpensive or discrete or any number of things...yet you keep going back....

The only camera I own is a 5x4. I don't keep coming back. It's the only way I have of making photographs.

I use a 5x4 camera because it gives me the tools that let me do what I want. There is much to be said for the control of decoupling the film plane and the lens plane. The bigger film gives me the buttery smooth tonality I want, and the low level of enlargement I want to make the big prints that I want. The control and the film size are a large part of why I work this way.

The biggest part of why I photograph with a view camera is that it encourages me to think about what I'm trying to do *before* I try to do it. I can't walk a scene with the camera stuck to my face "framing with my feet" using a view camera. I have to walk the scene *without* the camera first and decide where the proper perspective is, for what I want to capture, all before I setup on it. This, I think, is an extraordinarily good thing. This can lead to art.

As Dorothea Lange said:"The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera."

Didn't happen with 35mm for me. Did happen with a view camera. Which is why the only camera I own now is a view camera.

[photographs42]

My first reaction to 4x5 was “WOW! I can see with both eyes what I’m trying to photograph.” With other formats I felt like I was “Peeking” through a peephole with one eye. With large format I can actually look at the image.

About 15 years ago I was looking at my proof prints and started thinking that with many of them, I should have known that I wasn’t going to do anything with them. Thereafter, when I have everything ready, before I put the film holder in, I take one last look and ask myself “If this image is as good as I think it might be, am I going to print it?” Very often the answer is “Well, it’s the best thing I’ve seen all day but it really isn’t all that good.” And I don’t make the negative, even though I might have just spent 30 minutes to an hour working it out. The amazing thing I found is that I enjoy the experience almost as much as when I make the negative. I never had that experience with smaller formats.

Jerome

[Daniel_Buck]

To me, the process of shooting large format is relaxing. I've spent less money on large format than I have 35mm digital, so it's not more expensive (for me anyway). And I never really bracket my exposures (but then again I'm shooting only B&W). I've only just started shooting large format, about 1 1/2 years ago.

[Brian Ellis]

I originally became involved with LF photography because of the better quality prints, the ability to use movements to control the plane of focus and the shape of objects, and because of the ability to develop each image indivicually. Those reasons have pretty much disappeared as digital evolves and improves. But I continue with large format (though to a far less extent than formerly) because I've come to enjoy the whole process of making photographs that way, particularly viewing and composing on the ground glass. Also when I make a good photograph I have the personal satisfaction of knowing that I made the photograph myself, I didn't just fire off 10 versions of the same photograph and then pick the best one later.