View Camera Themes

[Kirk Gittings]

Chris Jordan's work depends on 8x10 film, and therefore, a view camera

Actually after "Intolerable Beauty" and the Katrina work, Chris sold all his VC equipment here and did the next few portfolios with stitched DSLR images. That is up until the new Midway portfolio which I am not sure what he used.

[tgtaylor]

Large format still has a big advantage in wet plate.

As far as image quality is concerned, I'd say that large format is unsurpassed. Keep in mind that the view camera will accept wet plates, film, digital recording devices and any still recording medium currently known or being contemplated. What makes it unsurpassed is the ability to make that front tilt and similar movements as pictured in the top left corner of this forums page.

Heliofocal cameras are fine for a lot of images but the savy photographer reaches for the view camera when the absolute best capture is required.

[Jay DeFehr]

Some images are just simply beyond the capacity of a view camera to capture. MANY images, in fact. The best photographers use the best tool for the job at hand, and I think that's the point of the OP's assignment; to identify themes for which a view camera is the best tool.

[GPS]

In fact your task is very simple. Take pictures of whatever you like with 1) highly selective focus, due to the use of extreme camera movements (you can find scholarly examples in view camera learning books) or 2) pictures with highly distorted object shapes (cars with exaggerated engine space is a typical example) due to the use of extreme standard movements. This kind of pictures you can find again in view camera learning books (remember the cubes tower in Simons View camera technique?)...
Everybody knowledgeable in LF photography will recognize the necessary use of a view camera in such pictures. Regardless of the subject photographed.

[GPS]

Actually after "Intolerable Beauty" and the Katrina work, Chris sold all his VC equipment here and did the next few portfolios with stitched DSLR images. That is up until the new Midway portfolio which I am not sure what he used.

If I'm not mistaken and I remember well he used MF camera for his Midway pictures

[Dave Ludwig]

Back a few lifetimes ago in photo school my assignments were centered around a theme using a 4x5. Here are a few I remember that might get you thinking:
Sense of place
Abstract
Street portrait (stop a person on the street and take their portrait - have the
camera set up first and move locations)
Singular objects (single out one object out of many and make it the focus)

Good Luck

[Graham Patterson]

Turn the question around: what is hard to do with LF? Mainly jobs that need large numbers of exposures in quick succession, remote triggering, high mobility, high magnification (long lenses or microscopes). So I wouldn't choose a monorail for documenting a riot on foot... Anything else is fair game.

[Jay DeFehr]

Graham,

I think you're generalizing the OP's question to include any LF outfit. A view camera is a very specific piece of equipment, best suited to studio use. If we allow field cameras to be included as view cameras, which I do in my own use of the term, the applications broaden considerably, but limitations still apply. any subject that moves, for instance, is not best suited to a view camera. This is not to say a moving object cannot be photographed with a view camera; just that it is not the best tool for that job. One can list innumerable scenarios in which a view camera is a poor choice, or an impossible one. It's far simpler to list the scenarios in which a view camera is the best choice.

[Ivan J. Eberle]

Any number of applications that readily come to mind for which the view camera is the best tool at hand might also happen to be commercial yet not particularly artistic ones. Photographic illustration of a piece of art, for instance.

Architectural views are principally for sales and leasing an/or corporate annual reports.

It might similarly be argued nature and landscapes are shot with the view camera today largely because larger pieces of wall art have commercial viability and are more gallery worthy. Nice but perhaps a bit dull to someone still in school who doesn't have expansive bare walls of his or her own to decorate and may not for a number of years yet.

Speaking of bare walls, how about "nude in exotic landscape" for a theme. View camera elevates a photographer above the level of just another creepy guy-with-camera.

[Graham Patterson]

One thought which comes to mind about large format cameras is that they are more forgiving of poor vision (actual, not artistic 8-) ). I stopped using 35mm SLRs as much because I couldn't get comfortable using them with my glasses as anything else. With the 5x4 I can use magnifiers, switch glasses, or stand well back.

Technically, you can produce the equivalent of a large negative by stitching. You can get tilt/shift lenses. What you can't get is film plane movements on fixed mount cameras. And increasingly you cannot do multiple exposures on new equipment. The computer tools are shrinking the difference, but it is an emulation.

There is also a psychological aspect. Bigger cameras generate fewer exposures and a different attitude in the photographer (and subject).

I am not sure any of this adds up to a theme that automatically demands some form of large format.