Getting started in 11x14"

[Drew Wiley]

Those are ENORMOUS towns compared to where I came from, Vaughn. Most of it instantly blew up when a logging truck swerved and hit the gas pump. Fences there were barbed wire, period. But here on the coast, I use all heart redwood, and build things solid, having had the advantage of dealer pricing. Good fences keep out of view obnoxious neighbors, but not their weekend loud music. I like your Nordic motif. Did sasquatch arrive here on Viking ships?

[Vaughn]

I didn't say it was a hick town...

One of the reasons I quit the Forest Service was so not to have to raise kids in Covelo...

[bob carnie]

I sold my house outside of a very very small town, a long ways away from any actual city - much nicer than my house here. It had a fantastic view, a view which is now largely carbonized by the most dramatic fire in State history. The property itself is just below the destruction zone. It's own immediately surrounding brush and forest already burned in catastrophic fires decades ago, and it's been largely cattle grazing land ever since. Those kinds of rural mountain properties are a LOT of work, especially with respect to mandatory fire prevention tasks; so I decided to sell that property slightly prior to my retirement years. My wife is quite a bit younger, and is still mid-career; so we're staying here on the coast and not planning to move anywhere else yet.
As far as capture modes, Bob, wouldn't that be awfully contingent on the very different manners of depth of field management in composition, and even portability logistics, between a ULF camera and something smaller subsequently enlarged? Materials cost like film itself would also be a factor; time involved, etc. Very different paths. If I were younger, and hadn't have had so very many overriding responsibilities when in fact young enough, making and using a really big camera would have appealed to me. But 8x10 proved to be the more realistic sweet spot. Now I'm acclimating to MF gear just in case the time ever arrives I can't handle the big stuff. I use it all parallel in the meantime, based on what's best suited for each particular project or weather circumstance.
Hopefully your lab business will smoothly transition over to the next generation, and you can oversee it a bit more remotely, leaving more time for your own long awaited personal work. There is a sliding scale of how much energy one has left too, in that particular hourglass. As a co-worker once told me slightly before he passed, "You not only grow older, but grow older faster." So use the opportunities while you still have the time and necessary energy.

Hi Drew

Actually now my personal work is generating about 20% of my income and I am actively mixing it with work for others.. There may be a day when I fully retire.. but I do not see this happening just I will take less work for others ..

[Drew Wiley]

That's wonderful, Bob. Good balance.

[bob carnie]

That's wonderful, Bob. Good balance.

Its taken quite a while Drew , but having the shows has helped me get a following in the local Toronto area where I sell most of my work.. I am trying to do about two large shows a year locally where I can introduce all the subsections of my Consumption Series .. about 20 subsections so this could go on for the next 10 years.

[Drew Wiley]

I only had a little over a decade when I could muster up the spare energy and time to do exhibitions. Have kept up shooting and printing just as much ever afterwards, but many family, property, and job responsibilities have rightfully taken precedent to routinely pursuing print sales. I've hung some large venues subsequently, and am equipped to do so again if the opportunity arises, but I am also somewhat indulging actually being retired, and finally taking things in less hectic stride. Many ongoing projects nonetheless, including quite a number of portfolios.

[Greg]

While back started a thread
https://www.largeformatphotography.i...14+experiences
8 pages of good info to read

Still shooting 11x14. Now 99% of the time only use these 3 lenses:
200mm f/6.5 TAYLOR-HOBSON Cooke Series VIIB WIDE ANGLE ANASTIGMAT: really wide with a little room for movements. Bought it in a barrel mount for a very reasonable price and had S K Grimes mount it in a Copal shutter. A very compact lens.
360mm f/6.5 NIKKOR-W: Not small but throws a huge bright image with room for a good amount of movements. Asking prices are usually very reasonable considering the amount of glass.
600mm f/11.5 S KangRinpoche: Wanted a Fuji 600mm lens but asking prices for them was way up there. Lens is a copy of the 600mm Fuji and acquired it for half the price of a FUJI. Bought it from a Photo dealer in Korea. Was advertised as excellent +, but when I got the lens it was in new condition in its original box. So far I have been 100% satisfied with it.

Shooting HP5+ till I run out, then definitely switching to FP4+ which I use for whole plate and 8x10. Have always used Rodinal with great results. I am slowly starting to use PYROCAT-HD IN GLYCOL but will probably stick with Rodinal in the end since I have been using it since the 1970s.

Semi-seriously considering acquiring an Epson 12000XL scanner to scan my negatives and making digital negatives to contact print on Platinum/Palladium paper. But the cost of acquiring a 12000XL is too much for my pockets.

For me 11x14 is the largest format that I can easily handle. Once used a 14x17 and found the camera a bear to use alone and actually prefer 11x14 prints over 14x17.

Good luck with acquiring and using an 11x14....

[Hugo Zhang]

Greg,

Isn't 11x14 negative big enough for pt/pd printing? Why do you consider making digital negatives out of 11x14 negatives?

Just curious....

Thanks.
Hugo

[Greg]

Greg,

Isn't 11x14 negative big enough for pt/pd printing? Why do you consider making digital negatives out of 11x14 negatives?

Just curious....

Thanks.
Hugo

Hugo, for 2 reasons..

1. Costs. Have been able to get final prints on the first try many times. I use Dan Burkholder's system from his book The New Inkjet Negative Companion. Always printing a Step Tablet aside the image. Graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in the 1970s. Favorite class was Materials & Processes with Hollis Todd. We became good friends and I acquired his mindset on tonal reproduction. Hand plotting film curves I've always had a soft spot for doing. When printing Platinum/Palladium, I usually print 3 or 4 prints from different images at the same time. Using standardized digital negatives, they all have the same contrast range and same exposure, not so for me when I was printing directly from different film negatives.

2. Burning and dodging possible with digital negatives. Have always done a lot of abstract imagery which most of the time requires tonal manipulations.

Good to hear from you

Greg

[Fred L]

Vaughn, did you get a long john style cargo bike ? I'm looking at these (E-assist) when I retire. This is one I'm jonesing for...https://curbsidecycle.com/collection...n-arrow-family