Check your pics - all this confusion you carry in you and with you must be visible there too. As it is visible in your thread. After all you know it already - your thread starts and ends with that knowledge. Choose and take just one wife.
Check your pics - all this confusion you carry in you and with you must be visible there too. As it is visible in your thread. After all you know it already - your thread starts and ends with that knowledge. Choose and take just one wife.
I shoot 8x10, but cut all my mats for 9.5 x 7.125 inches, which is a 3:4 proportion. 8x10 is 4:5 proportion, and 35mm is 2:3. Before deciding on this I cut out several gray pieces of paper in different sizes to see what I liked best. The "look" of the 3:4 is what I liked best, which was a surprise because I used to love the long 2:3 of 35mm.
Which may make me almost as mental as you. I say almost because I have stuck to this one proportion and I think it looks great and works great.
I would suggest you cut out some paper in the proportions you are considering, and stare at them a while and see what sits well with you. The easy part is to make your compositions fit the chosen shape. Pick one and don't look back.
Just give the 8x20 camera to me...?
Best regards,
Eirik Berger
Isn't there some reference in the daybooks about Weston being exhausted after a day of making enlarged negatives? Those gorgeous 11x14 contacts may not necessarily mean he was working with an 11x14 camera.
That's it, embrace the Dark Slide, resistance is futile. Once you pick up your first large format camera, LF photography will take over your life. I should know, it all started so innocently with a Graflex Speed Graphic 4x5 camera. Since that day my life has never been the same. LF photography is a very dangerous addiction, you can never get enough of it.
There is no shame in cropping. A 5.5"x14" crop from an 11x14 neg has the same ratio as 8x20 & is still a great size for contact prints. With a split darkslide or in camera mask, you could get 2 shots per sheet of film without wasting any. 1 camera, 1 back, 2 formats.
Well, I'd say, find one subject and stick to photographing *that* for awhile. Be sure you can do the work with gear you already have. Make a goal to produce a small (12-24 print) body of work around that subject. The requirements of that subject will dictate your camera/format size for awhile. When you've photographed- and finished- that small body of work, re-assess your camera requirements. A change may, or may not be required by then; but you'll know why or why not.
Large format photographers I have met tend to fall into 2 categories - 1) those who are primarily interested in photographs, and 2) those who are interested in equipment. I don't think there is any shame in being interested in large format photography just because you are primarily interested in collecting, or restoring equipment - but you should realize which road you are going down.
"Well, I'd say, find one subject and stick to photographing *that* for awhile."
This is a good idea, but I wouldn't interpret "subject" literally, as in photographing nothing but barn doors or pine cones. Make it a project that's about something that matters to you. The subject can be a theme or a feeling you get in certain places, or a way of looking at space ... or whatever turns you on. Just as long as it's about more than pitures that happen to look pretty.
Forget about whether you're maximizing the odds of producing a Serious Body of Work. Just do whatever is the most fun when you're out in the field.
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