Sexagenarian Seeking Inspiration

[Jim Noel]

I'll be 79 in two weeks. Favorite formats are 7x17 and 8x10 in that order. My "Small" camera is a 5x7 Deradorff.

[Leonard Evens]

I'm 74. I started doing large format in my late 60's. Earlier in my life I had used a medium format camera with view camera features, but hadn't done much for over ten years due to lack of time and cataracts. After retiring, I had cataract surgery, and a whole new world opened visually for me.

Because of spinal stenosis, I can manage 4 x 5, but anything larger would present problems of transit. Also, I'm limited in how far afield I can go. I can't carry more than 10---15 lbs on my back for any significant distance, so I'm restricted to terrain I can run my Baby Jogger, loaded with equipment, over. Since I'm mainly interested these days in local architecture, I have plenty of material left to photograph, even with those limitations. If my stenosis gets bad enough, I can have a surgeon rebuild my spine, and then I may be able to do more.

Every now and then I look ahead and think that I don't have that much time left to do the things I want to do. Most everyone one in my family was dead by 80. I hope to do a bit better because I've never smoked and I try to watch my diet and I exercise as much as I can. When I get depressed by such thinking, I just set myself a task and try to accomplish it.

[Randy H]

I have always said that this is the reason for going from 35mm, to MF, 4x5, etc etc, and ultimately we old half-blind geezers start touting ULF (the bigger the better) as the only way to go. "The resolution is soooo much better". Truth is, we just flat-ass can't see anything smaller.

[Dan Schwartz]

There's a very nice electric railway museum halfway between Toronto and Guelph that should be easy to shoot...

And Yes, I too will be lugging around the 57 pound Big Bertha I'm restoring... That f/8 1016mm Bausch & Lomb lens is even bigger than any pecker you'll ever see in a porno flick, too!