As I've slowly gotten back into shooting film, something crossed my path the other day. My wife and I stopped at my favorite frame shop to see if they could cut a piece of anti-reflective glass that I could use with my new scanner. They have several alcoves where local painters and artists rent space. One of the local photographers who is mainly known for his portraiture had a series of about a dozen 4x5 contact prints for sale. Now, I've always known about large format, but have never actually seen anything printed or contact printed from one of these cameras. Heck, I've never even seen one of these cameras in the flesh, so to speak. The detail in these little prints was absolutely astounding! They were inside shots of an abandoned industrial warehouse here in town. I've seen other images of it online, but they ALL pale in comparison.
While most people I know, including myself, go for prints with some size, these just drew me in like a moth to the flame. I completely ignored the larger prints he had. Before I even saw the images clearly, just the size made me want to go see what they were. They were matted on about 11x14 mats, vertical shots. My wife agreed. We talked about what do most people do who look at a photo, even the really big prints? They walk right up to the thing and go jeez, that's blurry
With those 4x5 contact prints, the closer I got the better they looked. Perfect for a visually impaired person like myself.
I now have my long term goal. Take these 35mm's that I have, these MF TLR's that I have, and learn, learn, learn. Learn how to compose again, learn how to judge the light again, learn all the basics again, learn darkroom techniques again, start all over--again. In the meantime--save, save, save, and save some more. These damn kids and college cutting into my photo fund! 4x5 and especially 8x10 looks to be a fairly expensive venture, but I am not a large volume shooter so it might work out on the fiscal end, if the prices don't just skyrocket on everything in the next several years. I'm definitely thinking at least 3 years out.
While most people I know, including myself, go for prints with some size, these just drew me in like a moth to the flame. I completely ignored the larger prints he had. Before I even saw the images clearly, just the size made me want to go see what they were. They were matted on about 11x14 mats, vertical shots. My wife agreed. We talked about what do most people do who look at a photo, even the really big prints? They walk right up to the thing and go jeez, that's blurry
With those 4x5 contact prints, the closer I got the better they looked. Perfect for a visually impaired person like myself.I now have my long term goal. Take these 35mm's that I have, these MF TLR's that I have, and learn, learn, learn. Learn how to compose again, learn how to judge the light again, learn all the basics again, learn darkroom techniques again, start all over--again. In the meantime--save, save, save, and save some more. These damn kids and college cutting into my photo fund! 4x5 and especially 8x10 looks to be a fairly expensive venture, but I am not a large volume shooter so it might work out on the fiscal end, if the prices don't just skyrocket on everything in the next several years. I'm definitely thinking at least 3 years out.
