Something about Large Format.

[Gene McCluney]

There is something about Large Format that is missing from most other modes of photography. It is a hands-on, DIY thing. You get to participate in "making" the image more than any other photographic media. A lens comes in, I make a new lensboard for it. Bellows needs replacing, no big deal, I have one made, and put it on myself. Don't have a 5x7 back for that 8x10, no big deal, find an old 5x7 back and adapt it to the 8x10. It's all so hands on. Mounting Packard shutters, patching bellows, loading holders, etc. It's great fun particularly with older wood cameras.
I recently made several "adaptor" lensboards so I could use my Sinar mounted, Toyo mounted and Eastman 11x14 2d mounted lenses on my Agfa/Ansco 8x10. Now I will probably make an adaptor to mount my Graphic mounted lenses on some of these other cameras. Total interchangeability, cool.

[Bill_1856]

Gene, if I had to go through all that crap to use a LF camera, I wouldn't go within a mile of it.
Large Format Photography isn't about equipment, it's about a state of mind.

[John Kasaian]

There are exciting elements that ride along on large format's coattails---different things to learn like mixing esoteric chemicals, fabricating small parts, refinishing wood and the properties of 19th century optics to name but a few. I think it does make LF more interesting as it expands the boundaries of your particular state of mind,

[Glenn Thoreson]

Like Gene, I make and repair much of my own LF cameras and accessories. It's as much fun as using the stuff. I do have to watch that I don't get too entangled and miss out on using the stuff, too. It's easy to do that.

[Brian Vuillemenot]

Large format has a natural, "organic" quality to it. You just feel so connected to the whole image making process, and it makes the keepers especially rewarding because you remember the circumstances you went through to make the images. This is something that one can never get out of the digital, "I'll shoot 1000 shots a day and pick out the top 3 of them" approach to photography.

[Vaughn]

Instead of the DIY aspect, I am more involved with the MIUY aspect (mess it up yourself). Generally speaking, I don't mess with my cameras -- other than making lens boards out of matboard.

I do like the pace and as Brian mentioned, the process of making the negative -- I find that it contributes to my making of the print...the experience of taking the image influences in a positive manner the making of the print. While I would not call in "organic", they are connected.

That and the image control one has through control of the focus plane.

Vaughn

[Photobackpacker]

For me it is a great excuse to slow down and see - I mean really SEE.

There is a huge investment in the shutter-drop - in terms of finding a subject, getting your gear to the subject, setting up the camera and then the cost of the media and processing. All of this forces me to take that extra time to cast aside what I expect to see and find what is really there.

It is a gift that keeps on giving. I find that my LF refined eye stays with me all the time - seeing the world through a refined eye.

[RDKirk]

This is something that one can never get out of the digital, "I'll shoot 1000 shots a day and pick out the top 3 of them" approach to photography.

There is a huge investment in the shutter-drop - in terms of finding a subject, getting your gear to the subject, setting up the camera and then the cost of the media and processing.

So you're saying that digital is male and large format is female.

[Vaughn]

So you're saying that digital is male and large format is female.

I don't know, looking at it that way, both sound male...

vaughn

[Brian Vuillemenot]

I don't know, looking at it that way, both sound male...

vaughn

I think he's comparing every digi shot to a spermatozoan whereas a sheet of 8X10 film would be an oocyte. In addition to the massive difference in time and energy invested, both are about the same difference in terms of relative size, assuming we're drum scanning in the 8X10 film so we can make a direct comparison to the digi shot. Sperm (and digi shots) are also much more common than eggs (and 8X10 sheets of film), and the later are both far more prized by most male heterosexual large format photographers.