how old are we?

[joe a kras]

Hello to all, After reading the last post it occured to me that most of the respondants we re appoximately my age (I too and staring down the 50 year mark!) and I was wond ering what the average age of large format shooter is? It occurred to me that I don't think I've seen very many young people using this format, actually I don't see too many people shooting large format at all.

[John Kasaian]

I got my viagra and my minoxodil mixed up and now I can't get my hair to stay down! If I were enlarging paper they'd have to advertise me as having been stored in a cool New York basement!

[John Elstad]

33. I'm new to LF, but hope to stare down my 50-year mark through a ground glass (reversed and upside-down, of course).

[Eric_2840]

34 years old and I've been shooting large format for about 10 years. I shoot anything from 35mm to 5x7. I became interested in large format when I first noticed that my grandparents pictures kicked butt on todays smaller format pictures, at least my smaller format pictures.

Size does matter!

[Andres Suurkuusk]

I'm 36. Shoot 4x5 and 6x6 for couple of years.

[janez pelko]

34 old and 3 years using LF.

[domenicco]

I am 40 now , been shooting lf for about 12 years and tired of hearing people saying " whow , is that an oldfashioned camera? or "shooting a movie?" or doing anything to distract you from taking the picture. The solution? Look intensely focused, it works most of the times. For the rest of the times, i'll be " politely rude".

[Patrick Ingram]

I win! 22, and new to LF (and loving it, except for my troubles finding accurate developing times for Delta 100 on a Jobo)

[Brian C. Miller]

I'm 36. I've been mucking about with large format for a couple of years, but now that I've finally fixed up the camera I can get serious! :-) I started photography with a point-n-shoot and then bought a Pentax 6x7. Now I have formats from half-frame to 8x10, and I like them all.

[paul owen]

37 - but sometimes feeling 50!! Especially after lugging my gear up hill and down dale!

[Nigel Sutton]

I am 40 and from the UK. Have been shooting 35mm for 25 years, MF (6x9) for 18 months and LF (4x5) for 3 months. I have never seen anybody else out in the big outdoors with LF kit and only a handful with MF. I belong to a camera club but only know one person from the club who has ventured beyond 35mm to MF (6x7). Everyone is going digital now. But as Joe Cornish said once of LF "Its a great antidote to the digital revolution". Oh dear, better stick to the point rather than open that debate.

[paul owen]

Hi Nigel - I'm from the UK and I've also never seen anyone else with LF kit, come to think of it, I rarely see anyone with anything but 35mm. Are we a dying breed (in the UK)??

[Paul Schilliger]

I'm 47 (sigh) and on vitamin pills too. Started LF ten years ago. Long live the Forum!

[Bill Jefferson]

I'm 52, shooting 4x5, 8x10 started with Polaroid when i was 19, 32 yrs here, and still shooting

[Lars Åke Vinberg]

I'm 40, have been using LF sporadically since 1997.

[Massimo Squillace]

I know the answer to this question, and nobody can prove me wrong! I'm 45 and st arted using a 6x9 view camera a little over a year ago after 20+ years of 35mm s hooting.

[violin]

38, still a baby to 4x5, 8 months.

[Riaan Lombard]

Patrick, is it just me or does our boat look a little empty? Are there really so few young people out there dedicated at slugging around LF?! I'm 25, using 4x5 and then 5x7 for the last few years. And when I think of it now, I am very likely the only person in SA currently doing 5x7.

[Chad Jarvis]

35, 8x10 and 5x7. 3 years.

[David R Munson]

Count me in as one of the young ones. I'm but a scant 20 years of age. I've been doing photography for 7 years, have been shooting large format for 4 years, and 8x10 for 2 of those years. I'm as hooked on LF as one can be, I think, and have every intention to keep shooting the sheet film with zeal until I expire. There don't seem to be a lot of people in my generation shooting large format, but the ones that are that I know are more than a little enthusiastic about it.

[Bob Salomon]

61 and started shooting LF with 810 in Denver in 1963.

[Linas Kudzma]

43, shooting 4x5 about 6 years, 8x10 about 3 years, 8x20 1 year. What's next?

[Colin Carron]

I am now 51. Started with a Foth Derby when about 10 then 35mm when the family came along. I started collecting old cameras when about 35. This led to LF once I tried using the big old cameras and realised that 90 year old gear can knock spots off modern 35mm. So old is not all bad. Keep taking the tablets.

[davidbickerdike]

34, and just started LF with second hand Wista VX, after 15 years with 35mm and MF. I'm in UK too, btw.

[Arne Croell]

44 and I started with LF (4x5, 8x10)11 years ago; some of my equipment is as older than I am...

[Kevin M Bourque]

I'm 43, which is not only a prime number, but quite young for a Galapagos tortoise.

[Rob Pietri]

I havn't decided.

[Ed Burlew]

I am in Toronto area. I am 48, I have been doing large format from age 19 in university, I have been shooting 35 and medium format since age 12. I got to 8x10 last year. I was a pro doing fashion in Toronto for about 5 years in the early eighties. I got tired of competing against the reyerson grads who slept in their studios and the ad amanagres who would sign off on he polariods and then sill pay slowly or had their partner complain. So I decided that I would become a professional amatuer, That menas I refuse to do photography for money. I don't get into juried competetions either because then I end up truing to shhot to please the judges. I had to get a really good job to afford this but it has frred up the way I thimk and has allowed me to explore the fun of being creative.

[David A. Goldfarb]

36. First stepped into a darkroom around age 9 and have been doing photography ever since. Tried LF a few times in the past, but I've only been doing it seriously for around 3-4 years.

[Doug Paramore]

I'm 64 and have been shooting LF, along with other formats, for 45 years, both as professional and amatuer. I current shoot 98 percent of work with LF. I spilled Viagra on my tripod and cannot get the legs to collapse for transport. It's good to see we have a lot of members in the 30-40 year-old-range, and even a few dedicated members in their 20s. Seems one takes to LF after they get a little older and more experienced and really know what quality means.

[jnantz]

hi joe - i'm 36, been shooting 4x5 since i was 24, 5x7 since i was 30 .. and using a camera since i was 6 :)

[Jeffrey Goggin]

I've just turned 43 and while I own a 4x5 Galvin, I shoot most often with a Toyo 23G and rollfilm. I started using view cameras a little over 5 years ago and lately, have started feeling an urge to move up to 8x10...

[joe freeman]

Great question Joe, I'm 21, from saratoga springs, NY, shooting 8x10, souping azo in pyro. I'm proud to say that 3 years ago my first camera was a tech III.

[R. McDonald]

Joe,

43 here, started with medium format when I was 13(when I look at Old negs, I think I was more skilled at 13 or at least had better Artistic View, what ever the hell that is) now I'm back into LF for the last 6-7years and enjoying it the last 3-4. As for the "50 year mark" that you mentioned, well I remember when I thought that was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY OLD! Now, I even know a few people that "OLD". As for young people not being involved...... well I think all of us "OLD" people need to keep trying to change that every chance we get. They say "OLD People have a lot to offer" well so do our young people.

[Dave Mueller]

12 stuck in a 36 year old body. Serious 35mm about 3 years, 4x5 about 3 months. Pittsburgh, PA www.pghphoto.org

[Chris Long]

22, started shooting 4x5 in school when I was 19. Missed a year when I got out of school and lost access to all the cameras. Just recently got back into it by purchasing a old Crown Graphic. Never realized how much I enjoy the process of shooting large format untill I didn't do it for a while and then came back to it. Its great.

[Barry Trabitz]

I will be 69 in October. Using LF since I attended Ansel Adams workshop in 80 with a 35mm slr. I bought my 4x5 on returning home.

[Ben Calwell]

I just turned 52, and I've been shooting large format since 1982. My interest in photography started with a Pentax Spotmatic in 1968. With age, I've noticed that my equipment is starting to feel heavier to me, especially the old Bogen 3051 and C-1 8x10. I'm glad I've got a light weight wooden Wista 4x5 to fall back on (not literally). I also have a Linhof 5x7, which I'm starting to use, too.

[Jim Galli]

49?! Large format since '94. 4X5, 5X7, 8X10, 11X14. Looking for a 5X12 and after yesterday's post, a cirkut. Gotta try 'em all. AZO in Pyro?? Love this forum.

[Ethan Bickford]

22. Started shooting when I was 16. I shot a few sheets of 4x5 a few years ago in high school. But the large format bug didn't really get me until this year. I'm a photography major at Massachusetts College of Art in Boston. Took a view camera class this spring and just fell for it, bought a Canham 4x5 on student loans and I've been shooting 5- 20 sheets a week since mid January. Haven't even looked at my 35 lately. Loving it!

[Dave Schneidr]

44 in a few weeks. Bought my first real camera, a Canon FTb, when I was a freshman in high school with money earned hauling hay bales in the summer. Started in large format about 3 years ago.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

I'm 35, have been using 5x7 on and off since my second year of college in 1986. After taking a six year hiatus (grad school and other forms of angst) I am again staring at ground glass. I 'discovered' this forum only six months ago, but really enjoy it.

[Per Volquartz]

39 in spirit! 55 according to the calendar!

Started LF 38 years ago (apparently at the mental age of 1).

[Matthew Runde]

<a name="1">22</a> - I've been interested in photography for about eight years. I've studied LF on and off for a few years, and I began using an LF camera several months ago. I think that I may have a mid- life crisis when I turn 25 (a quarter of a century). I may need to save up for some big glass.

[David G Hall]

I am 37. Started serious photography with a 35mm Ricoh as an exchange student in Spain at 14. Then a Nikon, then a Pentax 67, then a toyo starter 4x5 in 1989. Then a Canham 5x7 in 1997, pyro in 1999 and an 8x10 this year. My day job is in radio so spending free moments focusing and "moving" a big camera is a welcome balance.

[jianghai]

Ha! I guess I'm the youngest here...

I am 16, and I just started LF with a horseman LE (used) and an Angulon 90/6.8

although I am new to this page, the archives have helped me immensely. I hope to participate and learn more from all you experienced people out there.

[Daniel Flather]

Hi,

Just purchased my first 4x5 three weeks a go and i'm hooked!!! Look at those chromes!! :) And I'm 27 years olds.

I don't see too many people shooting large format at all.

Or selling the film!

[Bob Haight]

I am 50 and brand new to LF. I have shot 35 since my Kodak Brownie days and MF for several years.

[Matt Long]

In dog years, I would be dead! Hi everybody -- I am 37 years young! I got my real start in photography when I received a Canon 35mm from my parents on my 16th birthday. Prior to that, I had either borrowed my sister's 35mm or used my trusty Kodak Pocket Instamatic, complete with flip flash ;-) !

In college, I was 2 1/2 years into a Mechanical Engineering degree when I started taking photo courses in Film & Television Production. I received my BS in F&TV (photography option) with the thinking that if it looked as though I was doomed to flipping burgers, I could always go back and finish up engineering. It's been 14 years since and I haven't looked back. I consider myself fortunate that I am able to do what I love for a living.

I started in LF and MF about 16 years ago. I sold my first LF camera (Omega 45D) and worked mostly with MF until I acquired a 4x5 technical field (Wista SP) about eight years ago. My absence from LF photography only rekindled my love for the large format process. Today, most of my shooting is done with 4x5 (although my Mamiya 7II is kind of fun too!). Additionally, with the help of some fellow LF forum members, I am well on my way in the restoration of an 8x10 Korona. When people stop and ask me what kind of camera I am using, I simply smile and say that it's a "new old camera." (Their response is usually, "Boy, I bet it takes good pictures!")

Sorry for the long-winded answer to a simple question -- I hope that none of you have fallen asleep face-down on the keyboard. Good light to all!

[George Nedleman]

Am I the only O.F. here? I'm 71 but only a "mini" LF photographer with a Horseman 980. The pack with tripod weighs in at over #25 which gets very old after a few miles. I'm sure my 28 marathons have helped me drag the "stone" around. Just got back from the Greek Islands where, because I've become enamored with my 2450 and 1280 Scanner/printer, I took more color than B&W.

[J. P. Mose]

I'm 44. I first became interested in photography in 1971. My first camera (other than a Polaroid Swinger) was a Crown Graphic. After a year of taking this seriously and having several pictures appear in my local town newspaper (Port Washington, NY), my dear father generously bought me a Beseler 45MCRX enlarger and a new Nikon F-2 with three lenses. My first love always remained with large format (and later medium too). I received a college degree in photography but ended up getting a BS and MBA in business. My career went in this direction. I've worked at Lockheed Martin for 21 years and currently work in international business. I moved from NY to LA to Atlanta and now Fort Worth. I had a long absence from photography...I should have never gone to school for it and kept it as a hobby. I guess I got burned out on the subject. Between 1980 and 1997, I did buy a Hasselblad, hoping to respark my interest. Finally in 1997, something clicked (no pun intended). I now own a Linhof and a few Graflex products, along with collecting early Hasselblads. Unfortunately, I don't have that first Crown Graphic as I traded it for a Super Speed Graphic in 1974. I'm grateful that I got my start with large format as I made several mistakes and had to learn the hard way. The Nikon seemed like a cinch after a year of 4 X 5! I guess one would say I'm an advanced amateur who loves to read about photography as much as shoot! I collect literature and have extensively studied the 40's through 60's period (This is why I pipe in on questions about Graflex and Linhof equipment). Over the past eight months, I have been building a darkroom. I'm also a big fan of Leica and just traded up to the new M7. I travel to Europe with my job a few times a year...this has become my favorite time to shoot.

I admire all of you for your contributions and I have looked at several photos and websites! Kerry's shots of Oregon still make my jaw drop! I think websites like this has been a tremendous help for me...my interest in photography is as stong as it was in the 1970's (too bad I don't have as much free time as I did then!!!)

Joe...I think your question was a great idea, as I've enjoyed reading about the others.

All the best,

J. P. Mose

[Christopher Condit]

50. Interested in photography off and on since high school. After 25 years of sitting in front of a computer all day, I have become anti-tech in my hobbies. Thus most of my photography is either LF, pinhole, or both.

The digital revolution got me spooked, fearing that LF would die out before I had fully experienced it, so I am in a LF feeding frenzy. Do it now, while you still can.

CXC

[dennis Lee]

I am currently 38, started LF 4 years ago, not addicted but just can't quit. And I enjoy coming to this forum everyday.

[Scott Soper]

40 years old, here in Indianapolis. And I feel younger at 40 than I did at 25!

I've been shooting and printing 35mm since I was 20. I had a girlfriend in college who was good in the darkroom, and introduced me to B&W. Girlfriend?s long gone, but I still love photography! Another girlfriend got me into playing music at church with her - I'd do anything for a pretty face back then! Again, girlfriend's long gone, but I still do church music today (professionally). Go figure!

I've shot MF since I was 23, and I'm still breaking in my 4x5 which I purchased last June. Or perhaps it's breaking ME in?

Thank you to all who contribute to this wonderful forum!!!

[Frederick Leif]

55, newly retired to devote time to photography.

Early recollections of my parent's darkroom, I helped 'soup' their prints, (left hand in the developer, right hand in the stop and fix - don't rub your eyes!).

Did my own developing/printing at 10 or 11. First 'job' was candids and groups for my Jr. High Yearbook - 1963. 35mm Miranda D, tri-x and D-76.

First MF, a Mamiyaflex C-3 in 1966.

First Calumet CC-402 4x5 in 1968. With 210 Symmar (convertible). As I recall, all for about $300.

Now: 35, MF, 4x5 and 8x10. Current favorite combination: FP-4 and PMK

Some things just get better and better!

[Pete Chipman]

30...Jeeze, you finally made me realize that I'm old, thanks!

[Mat Nikon]

36 years old. In LF years, about 4 boxes of TMax 400. (Still a baby.) Without the internet (and Ebay), I would never have known about this large format stuff. I still feel like an idiot everytime I put my head under the horse blanket in a crowded place. Perhaps the feeling will go away when I'm pushing 50.

[Mike_2329]

50 and don't know if I've ever seen someone else using an LF outside of a studio. I hide out with my cameras in the country.

[chris jordan]

i'm 38 with a solid foundation of Seattle moss on the north side of my bones; just mixing up my ginko-biloba/viagra smoothie here (helps me remember what the f**k i was doing...). i'm fairly old in Velvia years-- recently calculated the cost of LF film i've consumed over the last 12 years and realized i could have paid cash for a really nice bay-view condo. yikes. instead, i've got 54 gigabytes of 0's and 1's sitting here on my hard drive (which i wouldn't trade for any condo in the world...).

~cj

[Nigel Turner]

40 I think! Been using large format since 1988. Originally from the UK but now resident in Las Vegas, USA. Use 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10.

www.nigelturnerphotography.com

Nigel Turner.

[dan nguyen]

lemme see......4x5=9 that's when I started to play with my dad's Rolleicord then 6x6=36..adding up those figures....arghhhh my math is wrong....ain't no good in math, better go back to the dark room.... :)

[Hugo J. Zhang]

41. 8x10 for 2 years after 1/2 of that time on 4x5.

[Erik Gould]

38-- started taking pics when i was 5 with a 126 instamatic. got hooked on 4x5 @ 19. Can't believe its been so long. Now I shoot 1/2 frame on up to 4x5, with a heavy dose of 6x9 these days. Joe, since you asked, I think it falls to you to add up all these numbers to get our average!

[Trevor Crone]

Joe, Don't you know its rude to ask a LF photographer their age. I'm 52 and already f orgetting what day it is, let alone what F-stops to use!

Cheers,

[heidis]

Just turned 39. Again.

OK, actually 41...

[floren de la rama]

I'm 27 and have been shooting 4x5 for 3 years. Don't have much time for it now because of med school. Instead, I photograph my classmates with a Mamiya C330 and get dirty looks. They think I'm working some evil mojo on them or something.

Cheerio

[frank ferreira]

76 years old in what seems to be the body of a 90 year old. started in l938 with a 39 cent univex and soup bowls for trays. in 39 got very used, leaky bellows graphlex. now have 6x9 4x5 and 11x14. still love it. frank ferreira

[David G Hall]

I am bored sitting here at work.

61 people so far. Assuming Joe Kras is 49, the average age is 39.66.

So far.

dgh

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

44, MF, 4x5, 8x10, 12x20....so far so good, we will see the next 44 years...:-))

[Alex Weiner]

57 and counting. Primarily MF 32 years. LF (4x5) 17 years on and off. Now (for last 2 years) primarily 8x10. Shooting less film but enjoying it more!

[Donald Brewster]

Age 44 here -- more MF and less 4x5 and 8x10 than I'd like these days.

[Eugene]

I'll raise the average age with my stats. Yesterday, I celebrated my 72nd birthday. Made my first print in a darkroom at age 16. Addicted to photography ever since. Started large format with a 4X5 Speed Graphic at age 18. Hand held large format photography. Very difficult for a little guy to haul that huge fiber box filled with film holders and flashbulbs. Soon, moved to a much more compact, lighter, and more practical Rollei TLR. A stint in the in the armed forces using a 35mm Exacta. Back to civilian life, and medium format and 35mm for the next 26 years. In 1982, purchased a Calumet 4X5, and it's been B&W large format negatives ever since. Much easier to print than 6X6 and 35mm negs. I leave the small format and digital imaging to my young, beautiful wife.

[jmcd]

I am 40. I got started in large format about seven years ago so that I could photograph furniture with a corrected perspective. Then I saw the fluid work of Jack Welpott. When I went outside, he was sitting there on a bench. I took an intensive with Jack, who showed me a way.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

I'm 40 years old and started shooting large format 13 years ago, shortly after moving to my adopted home state of Oregon.

I began photographing the landscape at the age of 14 with my father's Argus C3. Moved up to an Olympus OM-1 bought with my summer job earnings at the age of 16. My first large format camera was a Speed Graphic that came with a 127mm Ektar and two film holders. It was a purchase that changed my life forever.

http://www.thalmann.com

Kerry

[Reinhold Schable]

68 years behind me, just gettin' tuned up...

Started in '45 or '46 with a Brownie Hawkeye, moved up into the big time with an Argus C-4 (remember them?). Got serious about '59 with 6x6 and 4x5. I still go through 120 & 220 film like thre's no tomorrow, using an 25+ year old RB-67, a couple of Mamiya M7's, a Cambo Wide 612, and a Fuji 617.

Somewhere around '63, I started using a 4x5 Graphic View, then swapped it for a Tachihara. About 1980, I convinced some guy to sell me a 5x7 Deardorff for $175.00. About that time I got a hot flash and built my own 6x17 view camera using a 90mm Super Angulon.

Then, about 5 years ago I woke up with this irresistable urge to get a Canham 8x20. Now when I go on a photo trip, my pickup is jammed with a forest of tripods, cameras, filmholders, and lens cases. It's crazy... (fun, though)...

My wife of 62 is my faithful sidekick, record keeper, and umbrella holder, she sure makes oprating that 8x20 easier. I should be able to go another 20 years, or so...

[Dominique Labrosse]

I'm 29, 'been shooting 4x5 for about 1 year or so. 'Been shooting with a serious eye about 14 years.

[Robin Coutts]

Hello, I'm 50 yrs old and been using large format for ten years. I know and have seen working about a dozen LF workers in the UK

Robin

[Georges Pelpel]

I am 45, originaly from France but leaving in Northern California since 1983. I started 4x5 about two years ago.

[Steve Gangi]

I am 49. I started with a Brownie back in the late 50s/early 60s. Now I use whatever I have handy or fits the situation best, 35mm, medium format, 4x5 and 8x10.

[Gary Meader]

I'm 51 (barely) and started using LF in the early 80's. Have gone to medium format for certain things, but there's nothing like a BIG neg.

[Sandy Sorlien]

I'll be 48 on July 1. Please send me presents: - 110 XL - 7x Silvestri tilting loupe - medium Domke cloths (2)

Thanks!

[Gudmundur Ingolfsson]

I am 56. I have taken photographs since 1956. With a serious interest since 1958. Started shooting 4x5" in 1968 in photography school in Germany since it was mandatory. Got my first 8x10" in 1982 and an enlarger for that format in 1983. I like the big pice of film the more I use it longer. Recently I started potographing digitally because of clients demand. I still like film better, the bigger the sheet the better the results ! My camera for snaps now is a 6x7 cm one.

[Ole Tjugen]

Another 40 here - seems to be about average? I've played around with a Linhof TechIII 5x7 for a few years, then decided it was too heavy and bought a Linhof Color 4x5 this winter. I know there are one or two others in Norway, but I've never met any...

[Steve Baggett]

I'm 48. Shot 35mm for 20+ years, shot MF for 6 months, and have been shooting LF for 2 years. "... a little voice inside said don't look back, you can never look back."

[Richard_3152]

I'm 35 and having been shooting 4x5 for 3 years. Based on the above list it looks like we have many 30 somethings here. I'm glad to see it!

[Wayne Crider]

Turned 50 in January. Got photo flu at 17 and had it on and off ever since. Got LF'itis a couple of years ago which has turned into a full blown disease, and I will either likely die from it or probably starve from it.

[Richard Boulware]

I'm a young 66 years old, and just getting warmed up. Got out of a lifetime of photojournalism and advertising photography (Shell Oil, Samsonite, Pentax, Rollei, Borg Warner and other clients) to help build the new Denver International Airport. Earned my 'wings' as a Navy photo recon and patrol pilot, and a B.F.A. in photography at Art Center in California with Dave Muench, Larry Gordon and others. Ex- Director of Photography at the Colorado Institute of Art. National UPAA photographer of the year, picture of the year IPPA/MWPPA and eight gold medals in Denver advertising..and a CINE Golden Eagle for film. Retired four years ago as deputy director of DIA. Came roaring out of retirement last year...and back into photography. I am finishing up a five month contract on a big construction project on Cherry Creek in Denver...for a very nice financial reward. Shooting construction progress with 3 Canon EOS-1VHS and will do the finish with my museum condition Linhof Super Technika V and lenses. Yeah, I'm nearly 67....and I'm 6'2 and 200 lbs. I spend my day crawling through dirt, mud and dust, and loving it. Pal...at 66...If I can do it so... can you. GO FOR IT! (This OK, JP?)

[David G Hall]

80 People. Average age 43 and a half. So far...

[Anthony J. Kohler]

I'm - let's see, two from seven, carry the . . . I'm 54, for almost the remainder of this year. While I had some forays into photography as a kid (I still remember 620 box cameras), I only got into it on an ongoing basis while in Vietnam. Shot half-frame and full-frame 35mm, then came home and did some experimentation with various cameras. Shot some 116, and some Rapid, then had a ball for a while with a Miniature Speed Graphic. Settled down to 35mm until about 1994 or so, when I first got really into 4x5. Got the 8x10 almost two years ago and have been a committed LF shooter since. Sold all my 35mm stuff about a year ago, and now my 'small' camera is a Mamiya 7. The 8x10 is my real baby, though.

Tony

[Wes_2428]

I'm 55. Started shooting 4x5 8 years ago. It's been an on again off again situation with me. I haven't decided if it is worth the trouble yet. I enjoy it much more than 35mm. I just haven't been able to sell large format, not that I have submitted much. The few customers I have dealt with seem to be more receptive of my 35mm work.

[James Phillips]

The kids keep reminding me I seem to behave like I?m 75 years old. She ?who must be obeyed? says I?m still in my teens especially when Saturday night company comes over. A couple of years ago at the age of 45, I regained a lost interest in photography and brought my darkroom back out of the boxes from a 20 year rest. A few months later I bought my first 4x5 and began having the time of my life. Blending my outdoor activities and especially hiking with Large Format shooting has been a pure delight. I shoot both color (mostly Velvia) and B&W negatives. I also do all my own processing from start to finish and enjoy the quite time in my darkroom almost as much as the shooting sessions in the hills.

This is a great thread and I?m glad to read that there are many others like myself.

Good light to everyone but especially to the 4x5 crowd.

GreyWolf

[scambug]

A "walking antique" at 57: Too old to be afraid, too stupid to die.

[Jeff Scott]

45, so I am about average, huh? Been doing LF for about 17 years in formats from 6x9 through 11x14.. I also run a custom b&w photo lab, Labwork, in Cleveland, Ohio for all those who do not do their own processing or printing. Long live traditional processes! Most of my current work is done with an Ebony 45SU, makes my life a lot easier. For my birthday in September I'd like a 38XL Super Angulon or a Nikkor 500 tele, thanks.

[Tony Karnezis]

I'm 31, a graduating MD/PhD student in New York, starting residency in San Francisco this month. Got into 4x5 last year with a Bender kit which I still use. Picked up an inexpensive Sinar P 8x10 with reducing back for home use (go ebay!). Mostly landscape and some macro work, mostly with Velvia. Would like to begin the journey into B&W soon (bought some Azo). Sold my Pentax 67 of 5 years to get into LF. Started shooting 10 years ago. Have a Canon 35mm SLR system and now getting into rangefinders.

Great post.

[Graeme]

36 years old (one year older than my father, who is 35 and staying that way). Got my first 35mm SLR ten years ago and my Tachihara 5x4 four years ago. I dearly love the 5x4 but make more money from the Nikon.

This is one of the best threads I've seen in 4 years. Thank you Joe.

[Sal Santamaura]

48, anxiously awaiting retirement (from a non-photographic career) at 55, so I can do more picture taking and less picture talking.

[Scott Killian]

32 and glad to see somebody else struggling to get accurate developing times for Delta 100 on a Jobo. Patrick - if you figure that one out, let me know!

[Vishal Mathur]

Older than I've ever been, young as I'll ever be -- I guess that makes me 36 now. Started off drawing as a kid, began photographing about 14 or 15, got hooked on B&W at age 17 when I saw that first print develop in the dektol. Always had a darkroom since. Started shooting 35mm, moved onto 120 with a Mamiya TLR, then a Rollei SL66 for a few years. Wanted to move up to 4x5 since the early collge days, and started LF about 10 years ago with and old monorail 4x5 borrowed from the college. My first LF camera was an early Linhof 5x7, about 7 yrs ago. For a while, I tried to convince myself to be practical/simple and just shoot 4x5 in Readyloads, and dabbled in various formats between 2x3 - 8x10, but somehow keep getting drawn back to 5x7. Finally settled on the Canham MQC57 as the most reasonable compromise in a 5x7. Of course, the wife would be beyond ecstatic if I would stick with 35mm P&S only.

[Jennifer Waak]

I'm hoping to be response #100. I never would have guessed there were 100 LF shooters that frequent this board (and I can think offhand of at least a handful that have not responded).

Anyway, I'm 32 -- trying to bring the average back down. I started LF about a year and a half ago when I read a newspaper article about a local photographer who does Pt/Pd printing and thought those prints were amazing. I quickly figured out what contact printing was and that contact printing 35mm really doesn't work. It's been a steep learning curve since and I still have yet to make a Pt/Pd print but I've found the rest of LF so rewarding not sure when I'll get there (if at all).

-Jen

[Wayne]

going for the 100

I;m 42 but also lie a lot

[Wayne]

I gotta stop that, durnit

I'm only 38

[Wayne]

Oh, how _old_! I'm sorry, misunderstood. yeah I'm uh 39. again

been shooting LF seriously, off and on, but not necessarily well, since 85. Finally starting to figure some things out, I'm a slow learner. Father was a photographer so I've been around all those chemicals since I was tiny. That woulda been the early 60's or so. I became interested in it in 80, 12 months after he sold or threw out most of his old stuff-view cameras, an old 8x10 enlarger, damn!damn!damn! ouch ouch. But I did get the 4x5 Busch Pressman that got me started, and still have it, and gazillions of wooden holders

[Paul Coppin]

55 and climbing, working on career number 8, sadly, its not photography. Been shooting and processing film since the late fifties, 127, 120, 35, MF about three years ago, and LF only abt 2 years ago. Finally found enough money to buy some gear (actually, figured out that saving for the golden years is out, These ARE the golden years:) Did an interesting stint for a couple a years processing and printing glass plates on an awfully big Durst for book publication, back in my univesity years, oh, at the beginning of the first millenium). I think I waited too long to build a great career shooting the beautiful people. Most now just think I'm weird.(Yikes!, could they right?). Greetings, it has been a pleasure to meet you all.

[MIke Sherck]

I'm 44. That's young. Really, really young! Honest! :)

Mike

[Sergio Caetano]

I am 52. 1971:35mm; 1982:MF; 1998:LF

[Natha Congdon]

40, been shooting LF exclusively since the first time I picked up a camera, five years ago. Now mostly 12X20 portraiture...

Nathan

[Skip Abadie]

I'm 45, which seems to be somewhere near average for this group. I've just started using an 8x10 within the past year, after using a 4x5 off and on for about three.

I got my first camera, a Kodak instamatic 126 with a pack of four- sided flash cubes, when I was about 13. My first 35mm came a few years later, then MF about seven years ago. Someone gave me an old Speed Graphic a few years ago that had been sitting unused for 25 years and stored in a box for the last 15 years in a hot and humid garage in South Louisiana. It was dirty and stiff and mouldy, and the 135mm Optar lens was full of fungus, but the bellows were in surprisingly good condition. I picked up another old lens and a box of Tri-x, cleaned the ground glass as best I could, and exposed a few sheets. My first results weren't all that impressive, but I knew I was hooked when I examined that first negative on a light table with a 4x loupe.

[Andy_1233]

Wow, I can't believe the number of responses! I just turned 36 and in the two years I've been shooting 4x5 I've never, ever seen any one else with a LF camera, even in national parks throughout the U.S. Where's everyone hiding?

[Wayne_6692]

I'm 46 but feel like I'm still 18 (until I get vertical in the morning, then it's downhill for the rest of the day). Started with a 127 camera ~39 years ago, went through 620, Polaroid, 35mm, 6x7, 4x5, digital, and 5x7 in that order - still using everything except the 127 and 620. Andy had a good question... where IS everyone hiding? I've never seen another LF shooter in the field either. I'm in Pennsylvania.

[Tom Perkins]

52. They're in the bushes.

[Richard Cove]

47 yrs old, but I started with this format at @ 23 yrs old. I know a few my age or older (excluding commercial still life photogs) using LF but the majority are fine arts students less than half my age.

[Pat Kearns]

I'm 52, and the first photos I shot were of Spiro Agnew. Who's that you say? I have been shooting 4x5 for about 10 years, MF & 35 for 30 years. I wonder where all the LF photographers are as well. In all my years I haven't seen another in the field. I think at times I will see a Unicorn before I see another LF photographer. Pat.

[Jim Chinn]

42, have been shooting 4x5 for 15 years, 8x10 for about 4yrs and gathering components for a home brew 11x14. Have been shooting 35mm since 20yrs starting with a good old reliable college issue Pentax.

[e]

I'm 46...Man does the time fly. Instamatic and polaroid as a kid in the sixties. Around 10 years old stopped in the Nikon shop and gallery in NYC and the interest took hold. Dad gave me his Graphic at 13. Music took over at 14. At 15, NYC photographer Victor Laredo showed me briefly how to work in a B+W darkroom. Bought a Nikon FM at 22. Leica M at 33...then it really began. At 35 sold first B+W prints taken with a Yashica twin. Sold in local gallery Leica shots as well as medium format stuff and 4x5. At 44 bought a 12x20.At 45 a Anba 5x7......What next? Hmmmmm Platinum??

[Huib]

39, started about 18 month ago with 6x6 and a few month later with 4x5, before that I bought a 35mm slr ten years ago for some snapping, but the SLR just catch dust the last 9 years.

Scanning this thread it looks like that the modus operandi for LF is: old enough for having the bucks to buy LF gear and young enough to lug everything around.

Huib

home.plex.nl/~hsmeets

[Vicki Guidice]

When I started in photography (1972), Zone VI didn't exist yet, Ansel Adams was a young man of 70, there were no SLR commercials on TV, Kodak 35mm film came in a screw top aluminum can inside a box with a separate instruction sheet, some of their developers came in metal cans; I think the only large format field camera was a Deardorff, and the only automatic 35mm SLR was a Konica Autoreflex!

Anyway, 46. Ouch!

[fw]

41. Have been doing 4x5 for about 4 years now.

[scott jones]

What an amazing post! I am 46 and two years into large format (4x5). Just took a John Sexton workshop and am INSPIRED and revamping my darkroom for some serious photo phun! Always wanted to be a fine art B&W photographer, but got talked out of it as a teenager. Have studied photography ever since, but realized two years ago with a reduced work schedule, that I could still try out my dream!!!!

I am having a ball. . .

Scott

[QT Luong]

I am 38, started LF a 29. Jennifer, you thought that there were less than 100 participants in this forum ? Are you serious ? Between January and now, 1500 different people posted a message.

[Andy Eads]

51. My dad set me up with his 2x3 Busch Pressman at age nine. I got serious about LF in 1973.

[Joe Lipka]

Fifty right now. A day older tomorrow. LF for twenty years, Pt/pd for ten. The reason that most of the LF crowd is older is that we can no longer squint through the viewfinder of a 35mm SLR any more!

[Mark Windom]

Just turned the big five-oh(no). I returned today from a shoot out on the Olympic Peninsula of my home state, Washington, and after lugging around a pack of camera gear for a couple of days I'm beginning to realize that 50 has its drawbacks. Started too many years ago to remember with an OM-1, then a Pentax 67, followed by a Wista SP, added a Pentax 645 and have sold all of the above and now shoot exclusively with an Arca-Swiss 69. I shoot professionally (nature) for stock and am hoping the economy turns around real soon.

[Frank Lahorgue]

At 66, I'll bring up the average age a bit for this forum. After a lifetime of shooting 35mm, I started with LF six years back. Now retired in the Bay Area, I get spend real time with my Canham DLC and then lurk here on the forum between shoots.

[looker]

35, started photography at 14. moved up to lf for close to 15 years ago? has it been that long? gulp. shoot all kinds up to 8x10, but don't use it too much anymore... too heavy.

any patrons care to loan me a wizzy exped 8x?

trib

[kthompson]

35 as well...bought a speed graphic when I was 17, was forced to use a view camera in photo school and spent my following years after graduation in sveral small dark closets loading film holders for hours on end & earning minimum wage....never dreamed I'd be using a view camera to make a living, but after almost 10 years now, I'm starting to almost enjoy it...in a moment of temporary insanity earlier this week I bought an old kodak 8x10, so we'll see where that goes right now it's hogging up what little empty space I had in my darkroom, so I guess I better get shooting.....

[Marv Thompson]

I'm 48....my exposures average 30 seconds.

Started with 6X6 in '68, moved to 4X5 in '79, swerved into 6X7 in 85, and 8X10 in '97.

Bounce around all of those and do a little digital from time to time.

[Willhelmn]

Sixty Six big ones. Am trying to switch to LF from 35 so I'll slow down and make "great photographs" in my dotage. (Good 35mm requires too much energy from an old man.)

[Justin Chan]

20, shooting 4x5 large format for about 6 months now. Like Tony, I'm a medical student (however nothing as hardcore as MD/PhD). I suppose lugging a 4x5 monorail around the streets of Melbourne beats the old stereotype of medical people having Hasselblads and not knowing what to do with em...

[Jim Galli]

living here in the west I HAVE seen other large format photogs in places like Death Valley, or Bodie ghost town. So far they've always been too good to talk for 30 seconds to the likes of me! So consider yourselves lucky if you never stumbled into one!

[Glenn Kroeger]

Well, I am 47. Started doing astrophotography with an Exacta body at age 14. First LF in 1975, but have been doing significant LF since 1980. Mostly 4x5 and digital now.

[Steve Feldman]

Per - I've also got 55 good reasons NOT to schlep around a LF rig. But it's a persistant passion.

cj - The condo won't be nearly as satifying.

ALL CALENDARS LIE!!!

I've learned more by my 19 years of photographic failures and I have by my successes.

-Steve

[lee nadel]

i started to shoot lg format back in the 70's with a 5x7 kodak found out about pyro from old photo books from the turn of the century the experiens became like a religion i'm 52 and have shared with my sons the beauty of the medium. i guess i taught them to see before the camera format became important i have never shot out west only the intimate landscapes of new england years ago when walking around with a view camera people always asked "do you shoot weddings" no they say oh your a real photographer !

[Steve Clark]

Hmm...If things go really well, I`ll be 47 in January. Started with a borrowed 35mm in 1972. Now that I think about it, all these years of traveling, and I`ve rarely seen anyone use anything other than 35mm. In the past I`ve used up to 11x14, but have to say that 5x7 and 6x12 have become my favorites.

[Ed Candland]

OK, OK if EVERYONE else is going to post on this one I guess I don't want to be left out. I'm 44, started photography in college with a Nikon FM. I needed a major and Photography sounded fun. I had a blast and did well. After shooting for a few years for pleasure and working in photo labs for money I sort of petered out. I guess partly because all I had at the time was 35mm equipment (I had tried 4 x 5 at school with there equipment) and became unsatisfied with the quality. I felt limited to 5 x 7 prints or maybe 8 x 10. And partly because I spent all day printing other peoples negs and chromes. Anyway, last year I started remembering how much I had loved photography once apon a time. Which brought me to purchacing a 4 x 5 kit. So hopefully I still got it. I?ll let you know. ;-)

[Scott Stadler]

I am 31, I've shot 35mm since I was 4 years old, medium format for the past 6 years, and 4x5 for a couple of months now. I bought an old speed graphic to try out large format to see if I liked it, and am now having a blast. All those years shooting smaller formats, I've really been missing out.

[John Quinn]

I am 57. I started in photography about 1963 with a Fujica Half frame and I have steadily moved up in format size over the years. I absolutely love LF. I log onto this page several times a week - but rarely contribute answers - I get a bit overawed by the wisdom of many of the contributors - I suspect there would be many like me that get a lot of enjoyment and value from the site - but rarely contribute. I have often wondered about where the contributors come from - I live in Adelaide, south Australia - and wonder where others hail from. Thanks for a great forum

John Quinn

[MattO]

50 - been shooting MF for decades - LF for about 8 yrs.

[Ellis Vener]

46. I've been shooting large format since I was 29.

[John Moye]

I am 50 and stated shooting large format 4x5 in 1976 at SIU Carbondale, bought my 1st large format camera one year later, an old 5x7 B&J's flat bed. Contacted printed that for the next two years while working as a photo asst in a catalog house in Chicago. Bought Omega 5x7 enlarger at Dark Room Aids in Chicago in 1980 . 5x7 camera was taken by landlord in 1983 because I was behind in my rent and after regrouping I traded in the 5x7 enlarger for a 4x5 and only 4x5 maybe 6 times a year. Moved to Cinncinati in 1986 and two years later bought 8x10 B&J's flat bed camera. Have been shooting 8x10 portraits ever since, but now I shoot with a Sinar P 8x10. This is my 50th year being on this planet and my goal is to shoot 50 B&W portraits of my friends, so far I have 15. And that is my story and I am sticking to it.

[Christopher Nisperos]

49. First pictures taken, first film developed, first prints made: 1964. First camera (Montgomery Wards 126 Instamatic): 1965. First MF (Yashica TLR): 1969. First LF (Graphic View 4x5): 1971. First 35mm SLR (Nikon F): 1972. First 8x10 (Eastman 2D): 1982. First 5x7 (Cambo): 2002. First and only digital camera (a gift which remains unused for the moment!): 2003.

Note: Speaking of age, my digital camera, a Canon D30, is already considered "old". If I live another 49 years, seems I'm more likely to be using a trusty wooden LF than any of today's digital wonders (the film gods willing) . . . if at 98 years old I can carry such a thing! Hey, there's an idea: wheelchair-mounted view cameras! Though the camera shake might be caused by me, rather than the wind.

Anyway, no matter what age I reach, this hobby/passion/profession has remained as fun and interesting as the first day I was bitten by the friendly demon "shutterbug". Photography's Peter Pan effect. As the French say, "génial"!

[Ernest Purdum]

74 Sorry to run up the average. Most of my working life was spent in travel so I've bounced bacdk and forth from LF to 35mm and back again depending on where I was at the moment. My first camera was a "616", though. Would you consider that MF?

[Jeff_3801]

I'm 40, and have been using large format since the age of 13. Ok, well, that camera was a pinhole camera made out of a shoebox... does that count? Sure it does! Actually, I was only able to afford a decent lens 4x5 field camera in the last couple of years, even though I have been considering getting one for over half my life.

[Ted Harris]

How on earth did I miss this thread the first time around? Must be my age <smile> 62. Picked up a shiny new Graphic in 1954 to do sports for thr Junior High newspaper. The rest is history.

[otzi]

56. Started when I was 7 with a box brownie contacting on the kitchen sink. Still have some of the negs and prints. LF 20 yrs. Lost the brownie.

[Wayne]

A couple years older than I was when I answered before. Actually only one year, but it'll be two tomorrow.....sigh

[Michael_3785]

40. I was photographing 35mm 25 years or so, but since I discovered LF about 15 months ago my Nikon gear sits on the shelf most of the time (with some exceptions like my vacation trip to Tierra del Fuego this January). Taking mostly landscapes, I do my weekend walks around Brno, Czech Republic, with Sinar F1 in my backpack. Didn't meet any LF'er around here ever. Wishing long life to film and LF and "good light" to you all, Michael

[Edward (Halifax,NS)]

I had to double check that I hadn't posted before. Gotta watch out for early onset oldtimers. I am just shy of 36 and have been shooting 4X5 sporatically for parts of 3 years, 6X6 for 7 years and 35mm for 10 years. I mainly shoot colour landscapes/seascapes close to home. Peggy's Cove is my favorite subject. I think my medium and large format gear is all older than me - or close anyway. I am shooting with a CC400 (127mm f/4.7 Ysaron) and with a Yashicamat. If anyone cares to see my stuff it's at:

http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=286188

[Dan Fromm]

60.

But and however, my wife says that when she took up with me I'd attained the level of development of an average six year old. She says that now I'm at the level of a four year old. Perhaps sometimes I'll find out what I'm going to be when I grow up.

[gfen]

29.5

Started with a 110 (I think) camera when I was wee, given an old Ricoh rangefinder when I was 13, which I promptly destroyed. After that it was a few years before I picked up in highschool with a borrowed Minolta. Then another absence of a few years, started back up with Pentax 135.

Someone gave me an old Speed Graphic Pacemaker with the Optar 135mm and a Dagor 111mm lens about two years ago. I liked real negatives, but didn't like the portability so I took a diversion into a Yashica 124G TLR and then a Pentax 645. Missed the whole process of LF and bought an 8x10 B&J about a month ago.

Figured I might as well do my best to carry that around now before I'm too old to get away with it. After a short (2-3mile) hike yesterday, maybe I'm already too old for this. Heh.

[André Michaud]

...57 years old Always interested in the Photography medium. What an amasing passion,I am collecting LF cameras, classic lenses and some accessories. I took the time to study history of them. Use them when I got the time Linhof Color. Calumet C401, Ansco-Agfa 5x7 , ect. Internet is a wonderful world .... When I restored an old Gundlach 5x7 inches camera, I found there all the information, replacement of broken parts , restoring bellow on internet.

André

[Frank Petronio]

44 years old, started with 35mm but got my first 4x5 in 1983. Whoa. Twenty years? No wonder my back hurts.

[Matt Wensing]

I'm 22. And everyone on this board is 2 years, 1 month, and 11 days older than when this thread was started! Began LF with a Toyo 45AX I found on eBay in January '04. So that makes me an LF newborn relatively-speaking. I am just LOVING the detail of a 4x5 negative, and though I have a 5 MP digicam and used to be addicted to digital photography, these days I tend to let my wife carry it around while I lug the big fella (Manfrotto 3221W tripod w/ 3047 behemoth 3-way head--but at least the Toyo's light!).

I tie Dave Munson as the youngest (not knowing his birthday I can't be entirely sure, but two years ago he was 20 years old, just like I was).

Seems like the average (without doing any calculation, but based on previous calculations) lands somewhere in the early to mid forties.

Matt

[Ken Lee]

49 - Started darkroom work in 1964, large format in 1970. As far as I can tell, started this sort of thing, around 1000 years ago.

http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/poetonmountain.jpg

[Ken Lee]

... but, as they say in the movies, "I'm back..."
http://www.kenleegallery.com/images/forum/NewYears4.jpg

[Peter Galea]

48, but still feel like a kid! LF off and on for 20 years.

[Jon_5843]

31. After years with leica Ms and experiments with Maiya C3 I now trudge the fields of England with a Calumet 400 series, which makes me feel about sixty. Never seen any other LFers on my trips.

Jon

[John_4185]

I'm so old my organ donor card has expired, and I remember when these jokes were new.

[darr]

I'm a 47 year-old female in Florida USA; started out with 110 in my youth, then 35 mm for 30+ years, medium format for 20+ years, large format for 17 years and counting.

[John Cook]

I am sufficiently old that I couldn’t remember whether I had contributed to this thread when it was new. Had to read the whole thing again, looking for my name.

Actually, I was born ten months before Pearl Harbor was attacked. (Some of you youngsters will have to look that up.)

My secret to longevity has been to follow the advice of my crunchy granola friends to give up red meat and eat a lot of tuna fish.

Only drawback is after consuming all that mercury, every warm day I experience an involuntary erection. ;0)

[John Kasaian]

I'm three years older than when this thread first started-----two more years and I'll be old enough to vote! ;-)

[william_3670]

i'm a 57 year old ironworker living in florida who three years ago decided i needed a hobby. it was either golf, surfing or photography. i decided on photography after seeing pepper #30. i started with 8x10, abc pyro,contact prints on azo developed in amidol by inspection. everything i needed to know to get started i found here or on the azo forum, thanks to all.

[Jack_5762]

58 large format since '71, 8x10 only since 79

Now will somebody please average this thing out?

[FpJohn]

Hello:

56. Shoot a AS 6x9, a View if not Large Format camera, and have been doing so for 15 years. First used Rodinol in 1965.

yours
Frank

[Kirk Gittings]

Old enough to worry that I am running out of time to get my personal projects finished before I croak.

[John_4185]

Jack: The average so far is 44 years, 6 months and 15 days

[John_4185]

Sorry, too quick

Mean: 44
Average: 44.5
Youngest: 16
Oldest: 76

elearning.winona.edu/age.gif (http://elearning.winona.edu/age.gif)

Here's the distribution. On Topic: What film/developer gives the same curve? :)

[Calamity Jane]

My maiden name was Marthy Cannary. I was born in Princeton, Missourri, May 1st, 1852. so I rekkon that makes me 153 years old (that'll screw up your figuring!) - some mornings I FEEL like it.

My official government paperworks says I'm 56 - but we all know how governments LIE!

Started shooting 35mm in the late 60's, 120 in the 80's, and LF about two years ago.

[Randy Gay]

50 today and brand spanking new to LF. Have been shooting 35mm and some medium format since 1973. I hope to do more and more LF but will need some help from this community.

[Mark Sampson]

I'm a lot older now than I was when this thread started.

[Andrey Donchev]

I'm 37 and when this thread was started I didn't knew that there is still on the Earth such thing like Large Format Photography! I didn't knew neither the name Ansel Adams nor what the Zone System is! And now I'm feeling much younger then in 2002! Thank you to you all for this revelation and for the pure happiness of slowly emerging picture on the negative developed by inspection! . . . .

[David A. Goldfarb]

jj, what's on the X-axis of that curve? I'd expect the distribution to be a little more bell-like, or am I just not getting it?

[Sidney Cammeresi]

The curve he posted is a cumulative distribution. (Percentage of people who are a certain age or less.)

I'm 26, shooting 11x14, been in photography for four years.

[Tedd]

A 31 year transplated American living and working as an advertising photog here is beautiful Stockholm Sweden.
Started out with a Pentax Auto 110 which I got from my grandfather at age six. It started me on my journey of imaging.
Bought a Sinar F2 at age 17. Bought a Wisner 12x20 two years ago for 2:1 ratio portraiture of famous Swedish women.
I still have my Pentax 110 in my back pocket when out shooting with my 12x20 in the Nature.

Anyone interested in monster enlargements? Almost finished building a 20x24 color enlarger
together with a lab dealing mostly with sheet film clients here in Sthlm.....
www.soost.com

[David Luttmann]

36 years.........my kids tell me I'm old already. Shoot with 35mm, MF, 4x5, and Digital. Printing is all digital now.

[Oren Grad]

Uh oh, I'm literally within a few days of jj's calculated average. Not sure what that means...

Started with a 120-format Diana-type camera when I was 5 or 6, followed shortly by a 127 Kodak Brownie... first prints of my own around 1969... first 35mm in 1974... first darkroom of my own in 1980... first "real" medium format in 1989 or so... first LF in 1996 - a handful of 4x5 test shots using Phil Davis' Sinar Norma and 135 Sironar, followed immediately by a leap to 8x10 with a 250 Wide Field Ektar and a borrowed Phillips Compact II. That did the trick: I've been hooked on this craziness ever since...

[John_4185]

David Goldfarb jj, what's on the X-axis of that curve? I'd expect the distribution to be a little more bell-like, or am I just not getting it?

I can make it a bell-curve if you like. :)

[John_4185]

The curve he posted is a cumulative distribution. (Percentage of people who are a certain age or less.)

It's just a record# X age graph. Not very usefull, I admit. (I knocked it off and lost interest, got busy quickly.) The data really does follow a Bell curve, as David suspected, with a range of 16 to 76.

If you look at certain vertical spans, those are modes - for example, 40 and 50. Mode is 40, with 50 a close challenge.

[Stephan.in.Belgium]

I'm 22 :)

[Greg Lockrey]

I'm 59 started into photography when I was about 19. Got my first 4x5 a Cambo SCII and Leica M4 when I was about 23 in 1971. Don't have the Cambo, but still have all the lenses and the Leica. Happen to have a Speed Graphic that I use a lot and was built the year I was born. :)

[Louie Powell]

Currently 61. Been doing LF intermittently for about 15 years, and almost exclusively for about 5. So far, limited to 4x5, but I have dreams about 4x10, 5x12, etc. Have had my own darkroom for nearly 30 years, and while I've tinkered with color, the main focus has been black and white. Started dabbling in Pt/Pd a year ago.

[Rob_5419]

How old?

How oldddd???


How oooolllldddddd am ..... I????

Thankfully you didn't ask.


How old are we??

We is middling.

Actually not as old as my Gandolfi avatar, and almost half the age of the Taylor Hobson lens in my avatar, although the same side as either the length/breadth dimensions of the whole-plate format.

Started photography at 14 and worked professionally to pay for my studies at university as a mature student (in my 20's) with a view to pursuing a career in academic philosophy. Sadly it didn't pay so I returned to photography. Just retired this year, so at last I'm finding a chance to make photographs for myself instead of for others. On top of that, a lot more time to think, rather than do.

[Vick Vickery]

Long thread...buncha wippersnappers around here! I'm just a little over 2 months from turning 60 (July 1) and shot my first sheet of 4x5 at age 20...had been shooting 2 1/4 sq. and 35mm for several years before that.

[curtis roberts]

I'm 50 Ther was a deer on the hill Grandma let me use her kodak 620 to shoot it. took 3 weeks to get photos back ( i still have it )I was about 8 at the time.I was hooked. 126 in the 70s, 35mm in the 80s, 2 1/4x2 1/4 ,4x5 & 5x7 in the 90s to now 8x10 by 2015

[Duane Polcou]

Physically, 48. Emotionally, undecided. Shooting 4x5 since 1989. A shout out to photogs from the UK: The British version of Outdoor Photographer blows away most American photography magazines by leaps and bounds (God save Barnes and Noble).
Larger magazine format, heavier paper, and plenty of multi format content including LF. Joe Cornish holds his own against the "famous" American landscape photographers any day.

[David Luttmann]

I was younger the first time I replied to this thread! Be 38 in June. Since last time, gave up 35mm and MF film for high end digital. Now only 4x5 sheets and digital.

[Ben Chase]

I'm 28.

[Eric Brody]

It is encouraging to see all these youngsters. I wonder if there are lots of older folks shooting LF who are less computer oriented and less likely to be involved with this forum. I'm a mere 61 and have been photographing since my wonderful Uncle Albert showed me how to make a contact print from old family negatives when I was about 10, in the mid 1950's.

From there I progressed to being a "serious" 35mm shooter with a Beseler Topcon, a friend's dad worked for Beseler at the time, and then a Nikon. I had a Beseler 23C for many years. I got a MF camera when my daughter was one in 1983 and a 4x5 about the same time. When I finally got smart and moved to Oregon, I really got involved with 4x5.

I am now happily retired for the last four years and spend almost all my time making images or working on them. The Portland area is fortunate to have a vibrant photographic community, a wonderful art museum, and lots of skillful and friendly photographers. I am truly fortunate to live and photograph here.

Eric

[joe a kras]

I can't believe how old this thread is! Is this the oldest thread? Does this mean that the average age has also increased by 5 years?

[Nigel Smith]

was is more amazing, is you're replying to it after all this time, with a total of 14 posts to your name... bit of a lurker eh?

[Eric James]

...bit of a lurker eh?

:) :) :)

I'm 46.

[Kirk Fry]

Hooked by Mt Williamson in 1964. Started in 35mm, then saw a Cole Weston show of his Dad's work. It was clear that 35 mm was not going to cut it. Tried 6X6, no luck. Bought a 4X5. That was somewhere around 1970-71. Now the only problem is talent and time.
Let's just say 1969 was not a good year to graduate from college as far as age goes. K

[adrian tyler]

looks like i'm a year under average, 43...

i started on pot in 1999 and have been shooting 4x5 since 2002, be warned friends....

[Frank Petronio]

pot in 1999? I thought we were talking about photography.

I think that amateurs need to have enough disposable income and time to do this right, and that means being an professional/high wage worker in their 40-50s with older children, etc...

I see RIT students experimenting with 4x5 because it is novel and cool again though.

[Louie Powell]

I think that amateurs need to have enough disposable income and time to do this right, and that means being an professional/high wage worker in their 40-50s with older children, etc...

I see RIT students experimenting with 4x5 because it is novel and cool again though.

Economics are clearly a differentiator, but I find it interesting and reassuring that there are so many younger people getting into LF and that they are making a commitment well beyond the level of experimentation.

I'm one of those 1969 college graduates that Kirk mentioned, so I guess that makes me kind of an old fart. But I find the work that some of our younger colleagues are doing inspires me to overcome the senility and physical handicaps of old age, and get out to do new things. :)

[Gary Smith]

I am slighter more than 10 years younger than the average.

Gary

[Terence McDonagh]

Chronologically 33, mentally 5. But you're only as old as the woman you feel . . .

Been doing LF for about 7 years, but only seriously for the last year or so.

[Stan. L-B]

I plead guilty to starting my photographic trek by using a Helier F4.5 Glass Plate camera given to me by a sympathetic, very elderly neighbour. I later adapted the back to take 3.5X2.5 inch sheet film which I developed and printed in a cupboard!

I did some of my best work between the sheets in the 1950s....

[adrian tyler]

pot in 1999? I thought we were talking about photography.


sorry that should read 35mm, but it still gets you hooked on the hard stuff...

[ljb0904]

I'm 37, I'm not old! Been at this 4x5 thing for about a year with chromes. Gonna try B+W sometime, really.

[Scott Davis]

I'm 36, pushing toward 37. Been doing LF off and on since about 1996. Had a Sinar A-1 kit for a while, then sold it for some 35mm gear (can't do wildlife shots in a tropical jungle with a 4x5). Got back into 4x5 in about 2000. Now I'm whole hog into everything in-between 4x5 and 8x10. Looking to later add 12x20 to my repertoire.

[Armin Seeholzer]

I'm 51 now started with MF at age of 8 then 35 mm for10 Years then again MF and since 17 years LF in 4x5 and since 3 years i got the larger cancer and got my first 8x10!
I fighting still against more cameras and equiment syndrom;--)))

Armin

[Kirk Keyes]

I'm 44. I started at 13 with 35mm and 4x5 at 23.

[Hugh Sakols]

I'm 42 and use mainly a 6x6 and 6x9 view camera.

www.yosemitecollection.com

[Joe Forks]

I'm 44. My first camera was a 110 in my teens, 35mm at 19, 6x7 at 20, and I'm about 2 years in on 4x5, a couple months in on 5x7, with an 8x10 on the UPS truck as we speak. My only regret is waiting so long go LF.

[roteague]

I'm 52. I started shooting 4x5 in 1987 or so, and 35mm since 1973. Now, I shoot 90&#37; 4x5, and 10% 35mm and 0% digital.

[Andrew O'Neill]

43 pushing 44. LF since '93 (4x5). 8x10 since 2001.

[SAShruby]

34. But don't tell anybody.

[George Losse]

I'm 44.
I started shooting 4x5 in 1980, 8x10 in 1990, 11x14 and 8x20 in 1992.

[Don Boyd]

I'm 61. Started 6x7 in 2001 and 4x5 in 2004. Pentax to Toho to Arca Swiss. What a ride!

[evan clarke]

A "walking antique" at 57: Too old to be afraid, too stupid to die.


Ditto..Evan Clarke

[Matus Kalisky]

27, sterted with LF in 2006. A "serious" amateur. I do hope to have the possibility doing the LF when I am 50 and there are MANY factors in the game. If it will be still allowed, of course ...:p

[Harold_4074]

Lessee...

Tri-Chem Packs and Velox in 1959, negatives on Verichrome Pan from a Brownie Hawkeye.

By 1961, Plus-X in a Nikon S1, enlarged in a reconstructed DeJure 5x7 using window glass and tape for a negative holder, printing on Army-surplus Haloid and DuPont papers.

In 1965, up to 6x6 in a used, $60 Yashicamat, making Tri-x negatives as a stringer for the local newspaper.

At last: 1966, and a derelict RB Portrait Graflex, complete with glass plate holders and septums (and a few unexposed glass plates!) . (Somewhat mystified at the time by the "soft glow" look of the prints, due to the Velostigmat Series II lens that was on the camera when I got it.)

First (and only purchased-new) view camera in 1968, a Calumet 400.

2002: a demo Cambo 8x10. Sobering to think that a month's worth (back then) of pictures (36) from the Nikon is about the same amount of film as one exposure in the Cambo.

I consider the Nikon to be a relic; it is 54 years old and I'm 58. But the Graflex was born in 1928, and it is still going....

[Barry Trabitz]

I am 73,
I acquired a Ciroflex in about 1945 or '46. Was camp photographer in the summers and did street photography with the Stuyvesant High school (NYC)camera club.

My first SLR was a Contaflex with a ring light purchased during my residency. Any one interested in 3-500 clinical slides?

After the Contaflex died in in 1977, I acquired an OM2 with a bunch of lenses.

I was "Pickered" in "78, but even though the "Master" scorned I kept the SLR.

In 1980 I spent two weeks in Yosemite with Mr. Adams (call me Ansel, sonny). After this workshop, I succumbed to the LF virus.

Still infected, and looking forward to two weeks this June in Montana with messers Barnbaum,et,al.

Barry Trabitz.

[Rick Moore]

55. Started with an Argus C3 in 1965, moved to a Crown Graphic in 1968, Tachihara 4x5 in 1978, Canham 8x10 in 2000.

[xavier deltell]

I'm 53. Shooting 120 and 35 mm in 1968, 4x5 in 1980. Now I shoot 50 % 6x6, 40% LF and 10% digital.

Xavier Deltell

[Orgnoi1]

35 Here

[David R Munson]

Wow....this thread really *is* old. I'm 25 now, still shooting some 4x5 here and there, and aside from that a mix of 35mm and MF B&W and color with my Canon digital. Sold the 8x10 and am switching from my Linhof monorail to a field camera. Still obsessed with photography every bit as much as I've ever been.

[Sheldon N]

Turned 30 today.

[Michael Wynd]

I'm 51 and I've shooting 4x5 since 1984. Last month I got my 8x10 and next month I'm advertising for a sherpa to carry the bloody thing. LOL. When I got my first 4x5, I had to show the staff at the "professional" camera store how to collapse it and I hadn't used one before.
Mike

[Frank Petronio]

Happy Birthday Sheldon! go make a cool picture...

[william linne]

115 and counting....

[J Peterson]

I'm 30, it's been three months since my last drink...oh, am I in the right group?

30. I feel really old. ergggg. Please tell me that feeling goes away...?

[John Voss]

Oh well, okay. (I shoulda done this 5 years ago when the number was lower :p ) I'm 60. There it is....in writing....immutable...I won't get any older.....right?

[Maretzo]

Old photographer (50 and some months), used to enjoy film long ago, moved to digital afterwards but could not find the same "feeling" when looking at the final prints, I am now a total convert to the slow pace of the 4x5.
I shoot with 4x5 in Switzerland, and since I live part of the year in southern Asia, I still shoot digital there, too hot and too humid to hide inside a black jacket... :mad:

[Scott Davis]

I'm 30, it's been three months since my last drink...oh, am I in the right group?

30. I feel really old. ergggg. Please tell me that feeling goes away...?

Who let the baby in? :D

just kidding!

Actually, thinking of babies, I would say that between William Littman and his nemeses their collective age is about three.

[Jeremy Moore]

Who let the baby in? :D

so will i be lambasted if i drop my age down? (24) :eek:

[Scott Davis]

so will i be lambasted if i drop my age down? (24) :eek:

Jeremy-

you know we all love you anyway, regardless of your age :)

[Sylvester Graham]

I just turned 18.
Oh great, now anything I say in this forum won't be taken seriously. Oh well.

[Richard Littlewood]

Flying the flag at 49

[MIke Sherck]

At the moment, although the calendar says I'm 49 I feel as though I'm about 90. Yesterday (Sunday) was glorious in northern Indiana and I was out and about with the 8x10, sunup to sundown. Oh, boy: is the back feeling it today. I'd probably have been all right if I hadn't carried the ... thing up Mount Baldy (hah! "Mount", indeed. A 300' sand dune is NOT a mountain!) then up and down the coast at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore a few miles. This was after spending the morning photographing downtown in my home town. This is what I get for playing couch potato all winter! ;)

At some point I'll learn that I'm not 20 any more. Until then, I'll probably continue whining. At least the negatives were worth it!

BTW, four high-school age guys were interested in the camera. After telling them to look at the ground glass, instead of trying to look through it, they were awed. Thought it was the coolest way to photograph they'd ever seen (so they said.) I did remember to set the stop down to its lowest, f/8, instead of leaving it at f/45. :)

Mike

[J Peterson]

I just turned 18.
Oh great, now anything I say in this forum won't be taken seriously. Oh well.

LOL.

It's awful that isn't it? I remember going through that!

If it makes you feel better, Einstein came up with the theory of special relativity (Challenging the then GOD like status of Gallileo), invented Brownian motion demonstrating the *existence* of molecules, invented photoelectrics which changed the thinking on the nature of light AND developed the space time continuum ALL in one year ALL at the age of a very mere 26 years of age.

So BE YOUNG!

[Robert Hughes]

I just turned 52, been shooting LF since I was 51. But had an MF camera when I was 6 (one of those crap-o-matics), and been up and down in the format wars ever since.

[seawolf66]

Well, I am part of the older generation,[67] and I am just getting into Large format, as so as have things put together, and IO am new to this forum:

[David R Munson]

I just turned 18.
Oh great, now anything I say in this forum won't be taken seriously. Oh well.

If it makes you feel any better, when I started following this forum way back in '96 I was only 14...those were interesting days.

[Mark Carstens]

Using a reciprocal version of dog years as my standard, I am a fit and healthy 7 :p. Now that'll muck with the average just a bit.

I've been into photography in one form or another since I was 7 or 8 (human years) with a 15 year hiatus while going to college (wreckless and carefree youth -- at least in my case anyway) and making a living in sales (not the best of times, but I've been repaying my debt to society for the past eleven years).

My first image came from my mom's old Kodak Brownie, and my most recent from an 8x10. In between, I dabbled in color for a good 10 years before returning to B&W. I've shot 35mm, 645, and currently 4x5 and 8x10.

Time flies when you're having fun. :)

[Gregory Ng]

I am 60. Been doing LF for 2 years. Planning to do more LF when I retire later this year.

[Andre Noble]

Use the survey function for questions like this. Easier than going through 200 posts!

[Joe Smigiel]

What was the question?

[Brian K]

49 and using LF for 31 years.

[JPlomley]

39 wishing I had discovered LF 10 years ago before I took all those landscape trips on 35mm and medium format. :o

[Michael Graves]

Old enough to know better, but still young enough to want to try.

[dominikus bw]

I'm 31, 5 years in photography and 7 month in LF.

[Christopher Nisperos]

I was born on December 24, 1954 —a lousy Christmas for my brothers and sisters, and a curse for me as a gift receiver! I began in photography (in a fallout shelter / darkroom) in 1963. My first serious camera was a new TLR that I begged my mom to buy for me (Yashica A, $49.00 + tax, with leather case. Bought at A.G.E. in Oakland, 1969), and my first large format camera was a spanking new Crown Graphic which I obtained while working in a camera store in 1972, then I began playing with Sinars once I started working as a tech rep for their distributor, EPOI, in 1973.

About age, I like what the actress, Billie Burke (Oz's good witch, Glinda) once said: "Age doesn't matter ... unless you're cheese".

Christopher

.

[russyoung]

Let's just say that I cut my teeth on a Kodak [I]Master View[I] in 1966, Super XX, DK60a, Azo or Medalist... working as an assistant in a commercial studio...see, sometimes my memory still functions...
Russ

[JOSEPH ANDERSON]

Like Russ; I also cut my(then) teeth on a Kodak Master View,(which became Calumet)
around the time I got mine. I believe around 1970 but not sure. I was planning to take my time learning to use it. But within 2 or 3 days I got a call from a local Ad agency. They needed shots of HOW TO BOOKS for a brochure. I was very nervous taking this
job, since I never used a view camera. All my experience was with 6X7 & 35mm and
the subjects,even though it was brochure work were people doing various tasks.
My experience with 4X5 was limited to my Speed & Crown Graphics used only for my
amusment.But, that experience realy helped. In the 3 days it took the agency to get
the art work to me. I read the basics like keeping verticals vertical.Focus compensation with movement. I did, however, go through 3 or more packs of Polaroid
before I felt comfortable. I did work on and off for the agency till they moved out of state. It's nice to see younger people get into LF. By the way I was born in1943 u
do the math.
Joe

[esbtse]

I'm 48 and lives in Sweden, Scandinavia. I'm new to LF, one week into it.
I have used 135 camera system before but lost the edge when the DSLR displaced the analoge camera. I have for the last 10 years tried to take Landscape and Nature pictures but the results are not good.
Thomas

[Jim Jirka]

Old enough to do some things, but not old enough to get caught.;)

52 actually.

[ic-racer]

46 years old. Just got my first 4x5 view camera in the mail last week (Horseman FA) and I am just as excited about it as when I got my first 35mm at age 13.

[butterfly]

50 - spent the last 20 years working up from an instamatic 126 through 35mm, 120, digital, and have now given all of that up to go 4x5 -haven't used the digital for months - LF is far too much fun. Probably now spend the next few years going up, 10x8...11x14...

[Stefano]

I'm 38, I used to taking photo since I was teenager and LF more than 10 years, I started with a 4x5 camera, before I used to use 35mm and 120mm and sometimes I still use them, but I prefer taking photos with my 8x10 and now I'll use also an 8x20 camera, I'm going up.....
Stefano
Italy