POLL: How many users shoot large format film professionally?

[SpeedGraphicMan]

I was just wondering how many "pros" shoot large format film?

If so does it usually involve printing directly from the neg or scanning?

[Helen Bach]

Yes, 4x5 E100G which is scanned to CMYK on an IQsmart2 for web offset printing. Nothing fancy.

[Kimberly Anderson]

Yes. 8x10, 4x10 and 5x7 b&w, usually scanned, but sometimes printed GSP's...then scanned.

[eddy pula]

I just sold some 4x5 marathon pictures to SPAFAX, I used the worlds junkiest epson 2450 I believe and spotted them like crazy only to have the graphic designer crop them like crazy and print them 1/12th page. I got the check the other day! I haven't even seen the magazine yet... but the checks in the mail to Krikor to fix a sick rollei!

[Vaughn]

I am a professional artist -- I sell prints using an 8x10 and alt processes. You probably are more referring to commercial artists/photographers, though.

[Kirk Gittings]

What kind of "pros" are you referring to? It means allot of different things to different people.

Do I shoot commercially with LF and film. No. Do I shoot LF film of say landscapes and sell them? Yes.

[Helen Bach]

Reading the other replies and Kirk's comments makes me realise that I should clarify: I use LF film commercially, hence the scanning / printing method. I also sell a little of my personal work, usually at an acceptably small loss. I know other photographers who also use LF film commercially, but they aren't members of this forum or any other that I know of. The guys who scan our stuff also scan for other clients such as Condé Nast, and they say that we are not completely alone.

[Preston]

Do I shoot commercially with LF and film. No. Do I shoot LF film of say landscapes and sell them? Yes.

Same, here.

It's a part-time gig for me, and not my sole source of income.

--P

[SpeedGraphicMan]

I am sorry I wasn't as clear as perhaps I should have been.

I meant to ask how many shoot large format film commercially?

Would a potential client be turned off if they knew I/You shot film only?

And yes Kirk, I know you shoot alot of large format for your personal work. :cool:

[Eric Rose]

Same as Kirk.

[toyotadesigner]

I meant to ask how many shoot large format film commercially?

I do.


Would a potential client be turned off if they knew I/You shot film only?

No. If so, they didn't tell me, and I didn't care.

Question:

If a client wants my style, why should he be turned off if he knows I'm shooting film? Is film bad? Does film have less value? Does it have viruses? Does it cause heart attacks? Does it make you fat?

Oh, sure, film doesn't have as much hype as digital (whatever digital might mean to the dumb people out there).

[Drew Bedo]

I shoot both 8x10 and 4x5, scan the neg/tranny and ink jet print them.

I sell my work through my website: www.quietlightphoto.com

And at:
www.artsyhome.com

[Kodachrome25]

I'll use my 4x5 for some commercial work, but mostly black and white fine art darkroom prints in galleries, high end hotels, luxury home remodels which I already do in medium format.

[jnantz]

yes ...

i have another HABS job that I will shoot in the next few days ( as soon as the weather gets better .. )
all 4x5 sheets of film, all contact printed on azo ...

... i also process b/w film for a local lab when they get a straggler roll ..
sometimes in "normal" developer, sometimes in coffee ...

they aren't turned-off, kind of the opposite

[mandoman7]

I would also fall into the Kirk category. Most commercial clients these days are not prepared to absorb film development costs and nor are they willing to wait very long before seeing results. There are some situations where the archival concerns take precedence, such as the HABS work, but most commercial enterprises aren't too concerned about longevity. The standards for commercial photography have gone through a phenomenal change in the last ten years. Hardly anybody I knew of in the film era is still in business in these parts.

[Corran]

How does one get work with HABS anyway? There are a lot of historical structures and architecture down here in the deep south but I don't know anyone documenting it or anything. I looked on the HABS website and there is nothing listed for where I live, but I know of several historical sites here.

[Kirk Gittings]

Contact your state Historic Preservation dept. Most HABS jobs come through there to one extent or another. They are a ton of work done by a team of people-the photography is just one component of a HABS documentation. So they aren't done willy nilly when some photographers feels like doing one. There is always a driving reason to do one like demolition, remodeling, restoration, condition study, transfer of ownership etc. In a state like New Mexico filled with historic buildings there are only 1-2 done every couple of years. Talk to them and let them know you are capable and interested and maybe they will throw one your way.

[Corran]

Cool, thanks for the info.

[wyke]

Yes! Almost religiously with a Technika! Yet, I understand the subject matter, location, workflow and client perception of image and results makes digital a lot of sense. Plus the new medium format sensors are pretty hot! However, beyond quality top-level reproduction, I consider photographic capture a practice of the heart and soul...

[Kirk Gittings]

David, I'm really curious about your website strategy with a ton of verbiage and just a handful of images, no client list, publications, awards etc. Does that actually work for you?

[Kimberly Anderson]

Delivering two packages to the client tonight.

http://tawayama.com/OJ_E7_2012/E7presents.jpg

From this shoot:

http://tawayama.com/OJ_E7_2012/canham8x10onsaltshotingE7trucks.jpg

[Pfiltz]

Totally Jealous of you guys... ;) in a good way.

[Sylvester Graham]

Wait. This isn't a poll, it's a thread.

[JBAphoto]

I do, exclusively - 5x4" and 10x8" neg', mainly Ilford D100 5x4 and HP5 in 10x8"

The images go out as fine large format silver jelly prints up to 32x40 inches from rolls of Foma fibre based paper

Cameras are Linhof STv and Sinar Norma 5x4 and Tacky-Hara and Sinar Norma 10x8" for landscape and portraiture respectively

I only make about one sale directly to a private collector in Australia per year - The rest are sold through an agent in Hong Kong, many to Australian collections - A sort of "If they come from overseas they must be better" mentality - Really phuqed, but I am earning my keep and developing two new websites to separate my landscape from my personal work and to promote my Australian landscape work internationally - Selling to the visually blind Australian public is a waste of time

John

[mandoman7]

This is an interesting thread but the original question needs clarification IMO. The distinction that's missing is whether some money is being made from film LF film usage, or whether that usage constitutes the bulk of an annual income. My guess would be that a small percentage of shooters draw their primary income from film generated images, but its hard to tell from what's being posted.

[Sylvester Graham]

This is an interesting thread but the original question needs clarification IMO. The distinction that's missing is whether some money is being made from film LF film usage, or whether that usage constitutes the bulk of an annual income. My guess would be that a small percentage of shooters draw their primary income from film generated images, but its hard to tell from what's being posted.

I'd like to know that too, but it's probably sensitive info for a lot of folks, understandably.

My guess is that an incredibly few people on this forum make anything above the poverty line on LF alone. Especially for commercial stuff. And that not one makes a living above average on LF alone. They may have other sources of income, but not from LF. You might say, oh, what about hiroshi sugimoto, or Clyde butcher, or Sally Mann? But they certainly are the exceptions.

That's the thing with artists in general. If you take a closer look at the successful ones, the ones who can live the life of the artist without other work, the layers start to peel back. You start to realize, oh, he was a lawyer for ten years before he started up the gallery. Or, oh, she has a trust fund that pays for the film. Or, quite often, X artist is married to Y investment banker or engineer or CEO (X could be male or female). Or, he's got an IQ of 160 and went to Yale, and he can rearrange the world around him to get where he needs to go.

Of course there are exceptions. But exceptions are what people like to concentrate on instead of the norm. I know I do.

[SpeedGraphicMan]

This is an interesting thread but the original question needs clarification IMO. The distinction that's missing is whether some money is being made from film LF film usage, or whether that usage constitutes the bulk of an annual income. My guess would be that a small percentage of shooters draw their primary income from film generated images, but its hard to tell from what's being posted.

My purpose in starting this thread was to see if any members of this forum actually shoot Large Format on assignment or for commercial project, etc.

It would appear that a few do, but sadly it seems to have taken a back seat to digital capture.
Many here shoot LF for producing private work or as a hobby etc.

[JBAphoto]

This is an interesting thread but the original question needs clarification IMO. The distinction that's missing is whether some money is being made from film LF film usage, or whether that usage constitutes the bulk of an annual income. My guess would be that a small percentage of shooters draw their primary income from film generated images, but its hard to tell from what's being posted.

No numbers, but to answer you question somewhat, I retired from professional photography in Perth about 18 years ago and moved to the forest to live on my pension and my mind, both hopelessly inadequate

I made a business decision to not go digital on the basis that silver jelly photography would find a similar niche to that of etching and lithography as graphic arts following the introduction of off-set lithography for commercial printing - This is finally happening and as the only photographer in Western Australia producing, and able to produce, large, fine, silver gelatine prints from large format negatives I am now earning an increasing amount of our income from this source - Business modeling shows this may be become our dominant income source in the future, but . . .

[schafphoto]

Dead architects vs. live architects: I do a fair amount of HABS HAER HALS photography which is all done 5x7 and 4x5 black and white. This, by definition, is documenting historic structures (dead architects) for the reasons that Kirk already stated. My HABS clients are architectural historians, developers demolishing or altering buildings, preservationists, DOT, and planning departments of cities, generally. My active architectural clients (live architects) are less interested in the 5x7 quality and archival superiority and more interested in the speed and economy of digital capture for getting photos of their latest building onto their website and off to award shows. A large format photographer would have a tough time competing for live-architect work without first creating a reputation and a niche-market in large format photo services, and finding a group of clients that are willing to spend a premium and wait extra-long for that niche product.

A related question might be: What kind of client or consumer would be interested or compelled to seek a large format photographer or want to purchase LF over digital prints?

The Historic American Buildings Survey must seek LF and cannot use born-digital capture yet because it does not meet their specifications (they are working on born-digital standards).
Art buyers, museums, galleries, etc., seek silver or platinum or analog-processes for their collections.
Some magazine editors seek a edgy-look and film can deliver that (usually leaving the film edge or sprocket holes in view to show how not-digital it is).
Other seekers of LF?