Why LF doesn't seem to be working for me

[Drew Wiley]

Brian ... when I turned fifty I treated myself to a little Ebony folder, though I still prefer the
Norma for weekend use, that is, when I'm not shooting 8X10. Then when I turned 60 I bought a bigger carbon fiber tripod suitable for 8X10, tested it, and set it aside till I'm over
70. Same with the roll-film holder. I might use it on a hundred mile steep hike this summer,
just so I have enough room left in the pack for two weeks of food, but otherwise invested
in it for the eventualities of true geezerhood. I like the P67 for road trip potshots, bad
weather, faster operation my wife tags along, or just for the change of pace once in awhile. It's all fun. But I sure hate all the extra spotting that comes with small film!

[hmvmanuk]

Interesting thoughts here. I'm a relative newbie to LF and I wanted to do it in order to slow down and really think about the pictures I was making. I'm finding though, at the moment, when I'm out with the LF kit, I'm still spending more time fiddling with the equipment than actually making pictures. I often find that the light that attracted me in the first place has changed by the time I get round to actually pressing the shutter release. Just recently I've had a setback that's caused me to lose confidence in that I managed to wrongly load my film holders resulting in the loss of 2 or 3 sheets. That's really expensive as I'm shooting colour transparency! I'm now fighting shy of attempting to load film holders again, although I know I'm just going to have to 'get back in the saddle' and give it another go. Meantime, I'm thinking I might put some film through my lovely Hasselblad for a while; I never have to worry about the equipment with that. I take Rick's point about practicing in spare moments, so maybe those trashed sheets will be useful.

On the issue of weight of the kit, I carry my kit in a medium-size rucksack. I can fit a 5x4 field camera, 3 or 4 lenses, film holders and other bits plus my Nikon DSLR in the rucksack and find it perfectly comfortable to carry for a day's photography. I just carry the tripod in my hand and it doubles as a walking stick on rough terrain.

I really want to keep the faith...

Gavin

[alexn]

Gavin, starting in LF is all about making the mistakes. So long as you learn your lesson, its no big deal in the scheme of things.. For I don't know how many times I've pulled the dark slide before I've closed the lens.... Would have to be at least 10 times (4 in one day) I was excited to be shooting LF did not take my time and follow my set procedure..

[ROL]

I wonder what the point of having 150 sheets of 5x7 in the fridge is if I never get round to shooting it.

To sell to other LF'ers, as it becomes hard to get.

As for printing? It's been months since I've been in the darkroom. I haven't even scanned the few sheets of LF that i have shot this year.

See, there's your problem. I don't see why anyone would knowingly pick up an LF camera without the ability to follow through and print there own work, commercial work aside (if it still exists in LF). Not talking about scanning hybrid work here, but darkroom oriented printing.

It's obvious to me that perhaps the real title for this thread should be,

"Do you have to shoot LF to be a real photographer, artist, or ...man?"

[sully75]

See, there's your problem. I don't see why anyone would knowingly pick up an LF camera without the ability to follow through and print there own work, commercial work aside (if it still exists in LF). Not talking about scanning hybrid work here, but darkroom oriented printing.

It's obvious to me that perhaps the real title for this thread should be,

"Do you have to shoot LF to be a real photographer, artist, or ...man?"

Erm...many people here don't print in the darkroom. Many many I think.

[cosmicexplosion]

what i funny thread


man, follow your heart,

i am great friends with tamara dean, and dean sewell, (were married), dean is one of the worlds top documentary photogs, and tamara is in a top gallery and makes more than my years wage in a show.

both dont know how to use a light meter.

both use digital

both are amazing artists

dean does alot to change the world on and off the record

tamara also raises kids

so follow your heart and get snap happy like a pirana if you want.

if its your style.

[hmvmanuk]

Gavin, starting in LF is all about making the mistakes. So long as you learn your lesson, its no big deal in the scheme of things.. For I don't know how many times I've pulled the dark slide before I've closed the lens.... Would have to be at least 10 times (4 in one day) I was excited to be shooting LF did not take my time and follow my set procedure..

Thanks, Alexn, for your encouragement. Actually, when I started in LF, I thought I'd make loads of mistakes and so decided I could afford to waste 10 sheets on complete failures before deciding whether this was going to be for me. In the event, I was lucky and got results pretty much from the start and didn't do all the things I thought I would, like removing the dark slide before closing the lens or forgetting to stop down etc. (I made myself a printed checklist to take out with me.) This has probably given me a false confidence so it feels worse now when I make a mistake! I suppose I must tell myself that I'm still about 6 - 7 sheets 'in credit' and move on. I must admit that for me the procedure I hate the most is the loading and unloading of film holders.

Gavin

[Riverman]

The thread has elicited some interesting replies. To be clear - my photographic mojo is certainly working. Just not in LF right now. LF has clicked for me in the past. In 2010 I made street portraits with my 4x5 in NE Washington DC. I shot Portra and printed them myself at Smithsonian's color darkroom. I'm pleased with and proud of that body of work. In 2011 I made a memorable trip to Death Valley with Michael Gordon whose expert local knowledge be in the right spots at sunrise to shoot some chromes with which I'm extremely pleased. But since returning to London last year I have much less leisure time than I did in the US and find it harder to commit to LF than I did over the past couple of years.

I'll not sell my cameras and lenses as I know there may be times ahead when I reach for LF again. But right now, i feel like I have come 'full circle' - realising (after a few years experimenting with 120 and LF) that my best work and the stuff I most enjoyed shooting, was all shot on 35mm. This is unsurprising. When I started photographyin 1998 the photographers whose work I most admired were all 35mm shooters. Don McCullin, Philip Jones Griffiths. Guys like that. For 9 years my photo kit consisted of a minolta slr and a 50 and 28. For most of that time I knew nothing and i mean nothing, of what I consider the 'scientific' side of photography. F stops? Under/over exposure? It was all a mystery to me. But I didn't care. My x700 had aperture priority, i was shooting b&w neg and above all, I believe that I had - and still have - a decent eye. I grabbed good shots and, while I scarcely understood the 'science' of exposing film, I certainly did get to grips with printing the stuff, enjoying my darkroom time almost as much as shooting. I remember being in the darkroom til 1 or 2am printing the negs from my travels in India in 99.

In 2007 I got into shooting 120 and, a year later, 4x5. I was attracted to larger formats for the amazing image quality and 'smoothness' of printed images. Working in these formats forced me to learn the 'scientific' stuff that had never interested me in the past. So now I have my f stops down. I understand exposure. I realise that LF requires tremendous discipline and planning. I suspect that's why it's not the format for me. I enjoy spontaneity - in life and in photography. So I keep coming back to 35mm, which is the most versatile format for me.

While shooting LF color, i also learned RA4 printing. Color darkroom work has really helped me working with color digital files and the color controls in applications like photoshop. Since picking up a dslr in January I've got rid of all my color roll film, though I keep a fridge full of b&w 35mm.

So that's been my photographic journey. Medium and large format have been and interesting and instructive detour for me these last few years. I scratched the itch and in doing so, learned where my heart - or eye, really is.

[Riverman]

The thread has elicited some interesting replies. To be clear - my photographic mojo is certainly working. Just not in LF right now. LF has clicked for me in the past. In 2010 I made street portraits with my 4x5 in NE Washington DC. I shot Portra and printed them myself at Smithsonian's color darkroom. I'm pleased with and proud of that body of work. In 2011 I made a memorable trip to Death Valley with Michael Gordon whose expert local knowledge be in the right spots at sunrise to shoot some chromes with which I'm extremely pleased. But since returning to London last year I have much less leisure time than I did in the US and find it harder to commit to LF than I did over the past couple of years.

I'll not sell my cameras and lenses as I know there may be times ahead when I reach for LF again. But right now, i feel like I have come 'full circle' - realising (after a few years experimenting with 120 and LF) that my best work and the stuff I most enjoyed shooting, was all shot on 35mm. This is unsurprising. When I started photographyin 1998 the photographers whose work I most admired were all 35mm shooters. Don McCullin, Philip Jones Griffiths. Guys like that. For 9 years my photo kit consisted of a minolta slr and a 50 and 28. For most of that time I knew nothing and i mean nothing, of what I consider the 'scientific' side of photography. F stops? Under/over exposure? It was all a mystery to me. But I didn't care. My x700 had aperture priority, i was shooting b&w neg and above all, I believe that I had - and still have - a decent eye. I grabbed good shots and, while I scarcely understood the 'science' of exposing film, I certainly did get to grips with printing the stuff, enjoying my darkroom time almost as much as shooting. I remember being in the darkroom til 1 or 2am printing the negs from my travels in India in 99.

In 2007 I got into shooting 120 and, a year later, 4x5. I was attracted to larger formats for the amazing image quality and 'smoothness' of printed images. Working in these formats forced me to learn the 'scientific' stuff that had never interested me in the past. So now I have my f stops down. I understand exposure. I realise that LF requires tremendous discipline and planning. I suspect that's why it's not the format for me. I enjoy spontaneity - in life and in photography. So I keep coming back to 35mm, which is the most versatile format for me.

While shooting LF color, i also learned RA4 printing. Color darkroom work has really helped me working with color digital files and the color controls in applications like photoshop. Since picking up a dslr in January I've got rid of all my color roll film, though I keep a fridge full of b&w 35mm.

So that's been my photographic journey. Medium and large format have been and interesting and instructive detour for me these last few years. I scratched the itch and in doing so, learned where my heart - or eye, really is.

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I ended up putting a bid in on an ETRS on the auction site. We shall see if I get it.