New Member from Indiana

[JJ Donohue]

Hi all! My name is JJ Donohue. I've been away from LF for about 20 years but still have all the equipment centered around the Zone VI 4x5 field camera and 2 Schneider lenses. I also have all of the darkroom equipment centered around the Beseler 4x5 enlarger. My motivation for registering here is to determine whether I want to build a new darkroom and get involved once again, or sell off my equipment. When I was in my groove, I was using Kodak Tri-X and T-Max films and archivally printing B&W prints on fiber-based Seagull, Ilfobrom and Afga Portriga.

I plan to hang out for a month or so and re-familiarize myself with what's going on and see what happens. I'd be interested in knowing where the craft has gone in the past 20 years and what films and papers are still available.

I'll probably just lurk and read the background material and all the interesting threads I can find. In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to opine. It won't be long before I start asking questions. I'm looking forward to getting to know as many members as I can.

[Brian C. Miller]

Hi, JJ! Pick it up where you left off, and rock on! Give your lenses a CLA, and get ready to let the light shine on the film.

Agfa Portriga isn't availabe, but check Freestyle for what's available. They are a good mail order retailer, and have many satisfied customers.

Tri-X and T-Max are still here and are good to go for 4x5. If you were using 8x10, then TMax 400 is a special order item now. If you really want to go a really cheap route, then you can buy x-ray film in 8x10 and cut it down to 4x5.

Remember to have some fun!

[Heespharm]

What part of Indiana... Old gold and black or cream and crimson.... I'm a Houston transplant from lafayette

[JJ Donohue]

What part of Indiana... Old gold and black or cream and crimson.... I'm a Houston transplant from lafayette

Winona Lake...North-Central part of the state about midway between Fort Wayne and South Bend.

Go Irish!

[MIke Sherck]

Winona Lake...North-Central part of the state about midway between Fort Wayne and South Bend.

Go Irish!

Well, heck and darn, JJ: we're practically neighbors! I'm in Elkhart now and lived outside of Warsaw when first married, 32 years ago. There are a few LF photographers around here. This is also the birthplace of the Midwest Large Format Asylum; we have a website: http://www.midwestlargeformat.com/ Feel free to register for the forums; everything is free, there aren't any obligations. The Asylum organizes (if you can call it that!) outings on the third weekend of the month and anyone is welcome to join us and see what's up. We mostly photograph, pass recent prints around to show what we're doing, eat, etc. Low-key, no drama. Welcome!

Mike

[JJ Donohue]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Mike...what a wonderful coincidence. I just might try to attend your next meeting...if only to see if I still understand the language. Seriously, I love looking at prints from LF negs. Thanks for the invitation!

[cdholden]

What part of Indiana... Old gold and black or cream and crimson.... I'm a Houston transplant from lafayette

It true! No one ever goes TO Lafayette, but lots of people are FROM there.
I find myself in the greater Lafayette/Dayton Metro Area a few times a year for family visits. Not much there suits my style of photography though. I rarely have free time for it, even if I did. My time there usually involves cramming a lot of social commitments into a weekend.
I have seen some architectural shots I would like to take, but I never have the time away to go get them while I'm in town. For now, the composition remains in my head instead of on film.

[Heespharm]

It true! No one ever goes TO Lafayette, but lots of people are FROM there.
I find myself in the greater Lafayette/Dayton Metro Area a few times a year for family visits. Not much there suits my style of photography though. I rarely have free time for it, even if I did. My time there usually involves cramming a lot of social commitments into a weekend.
I have seen some architectural shots I would like to take, but I never have the time away to go get them while I'm in town. For now, the composition remains in my head instead of on film.

So not true... They say that Lafayette is cursed... Those who leave it will long to return to it... It's weird, I was born in Miami, and spent my professional career in Houston but all I wanna do is go back to Lafayette....



Oh and I hate notre dame!... But not as much as butler

[MIke Sherck]

Thanks for the warm welcome!

Mike...what a wonderful coincidence. I just might try to attend your next meeting...if only to see if I still understand the language. Seriously, I love looking at prints from LF negs. Thanks for the invitation!

There's a section on the group's forums which discusses upcoming outings. I believe that in May the planned outing will be in the Chicago vicinity; we have a lot of members in the Chicago area. I don't think planning for the June outing has really started yet but with gas prices the way they are, I suspect we might go back to an earlier structure where there may be two or three outings on the third weekend, in different geographical areas. We're also always looking for new places to go, so if you know of anywhere you'd like to invite the group to, please read the forum postings on outings and then post to see if anyone's interested.

May and June are usually odd months; John Powers hosts a get-together of not-necessarily-large-format film geeks over in Bath, Ohio in the spring (this coming weekend, in fact,) and Bill Schwab does pretty much the same sort of thing with his Photo Stock gatherings way up in Michigan at the end of June. Both of these events tend to siphon folks away from the Asylum's monthly outings and are mostly coordinated on the APUG.ORG forums (for film fans.)

If you happen to be in the area, feel free to send me a message. Perhaps we can get together for a little photography.

Mike

[Vick Vickery]

Welcome to group therapy and back to LF! Used to have a lot of relatives in Indiana, but not so many any more...the cold musta got 'em!