[LargeFormat] Introduction

[paul]

Another introduction:

I'm new to the large format mailing list, but not new to photography.

I have worked a lot in MF and use 35mm for snapshots - I'm a great fan of 
Zeiss optics and Rolleiflex and classic Contax gear, in the MF and 35mm 
domains.  I'm still in the process of finding out how this translates into 
the MF world, as far as lens choices are concerned.

Last summer, I got married and got diagnosed with cancer at about the same 
time.  What a surprise!  As a "get well" present, my new father-in-law (a MF 
addict like myself) gave me a Linhof Technika II 5x7 and I've never looked 
back.  At this point, the cancer is in remission and the Linhof is working 
overtime.

For two years I have worked - in all formats - with photoshop.  I shoot 
everything on transparency film and have it scanned, or in the case of 5x7 
scan it myself.  It has been the thrill of a lifetime to have a color 
darkroom on my desktop (nowadays, I'm a Fuji Velvia 100 kind of guy)!  I feel 
that the quality of my work has increased 100% since making the change to the 
digital darkroom.  With BW negatives the digital darkroom is equally 
impressive, and allows me to make an interesting print out of what would 
otherwise be a mediocre negative.  I rotate, I crop, I correct perspective , 
and I correct contrast and exposure.  I have made so many silk purses out of 
sow's ears, that I couldn't even count them!  I can do 8x10 on my own 
printer, and I outsource the printing for larger sizes.  The price is 
extremely reasonable and I control the "look" of the final product-I give 
them a .jpg on a CD rom and they print it just as I visualized it myself.

I have become thrilled with 5x7 for any kind of subject that doesn't move.  I 
work mostly with the landscape of southeastern Vermont where I live, and with 
southern Greece (where my wife is from) and southern India where I lived for 
many years.  I say 5x7 because that's the size of my camera and also the 
largest size the transparency unit of my scanner will handle - although my 
big enabler is a fellow photographer in the same town who uses an 8x10 
Dierdorff and contact prints everything.  A young guy, like many of our LF 
colleagues.  LF is the format of the future.

I cannot imagine that film will become obsolete any time soon, since scanning 
and digitizing are such attractive options.  You have the dynamic range and 
the beautiful look and balance of film, with the infinite advantages of 
digital image manipulation on the desktop.  Costs are cheap.  If I could quit 
my day job and do photography in this manner full time, I would do so in a 
heartbeat!

Paul Butler
Marlboro, Vermont, USA