[LargeFormat] Introduction

[animal]

| 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
|
|
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Congratulations with your recovery.
simon jessurun
amsterdam
the netherlands