If you enjoy watching portraits taken then this video will be a rare treat for you. One photographer takes an 8x10 large format camera on a number of portrait shoots of strangers and acquaintances.
Film photography is a polarizing topic in our industry, with some revering it as the roots of the craft and a worthy experience, while others chalk it up as merely its history. Whatever your stance, film photography does have something about it. It's something I believe every photographer should at least try, if nothing else but as an exercise to round out your understanding of how photography has progressed. One particular area of film photography you may be hard-pushed to try, however, is large format.
Large format cameras are cumbersome, slow, expensive, and require a lot of know-how and experience to use effectively. I am currently in possession of a smaller camera than the one in this video, but large format all the same. I am shooting with it in a few days and the amount of preparation I have done just to ensure my shot is properly exposed and in focus is unusual, but also enjoyable.
Have you ever shot with a large format camera? Can you share any of your images? I'd love to see some.
I’m always happy to see a film related post and even more for large format. My camera is an 8x10 and I love the format. I shot several sheets just this past weekend. As you wrote, large format is slow and cumbersome, but it’s absolutely worth the trouble. It’s all part of the process.
You can't shoot 100 images on large format to get one good image. That's what's special about great large format work. Shot on 4x5, probably Kodak EPR and then printed on Kodak 4111 Print Film