LF Sightings?

[livemoa]

James at Photospace has some of his stuff in his office, worth checking out, that and James is a nice guy, he has a darkroom that I rent on occasion, and probably more so shortly, as I have a lot of work to print.

Enjoy the 5x4, and as to photoclubs, from what I hear the local ones are all digital this and digital that these days. My advice, for what its worth, is look at good photography books and work on subjects that you love.

 

[wildbill]

Once in the Big Sur area on the roadside. That's it.

 

[argus]

I haven't yet, but there are one or two others who post on this site who are close buy

It's a thrill... 5 hours to go!!!

G

 

[brimc76]

Only once about 6 years ago. I was up in Algonquin Park shooting medium format and I met a fellow shooting a wooden 4x5 with a bag bellows. I hadn't seen one before so he explained the setup to me and moved on. I take my 4x5 up there every year now but I haven't seen anyone else (except the friends I'm travelling with) shooting LF since.

 

[Matthijs]

Twice; last summer on the overcrowded Charles Bridge in Prague. The poor guy was waiting behind his 8x10 for the people to move out of his shot, it must have been a long day for him.

A few years earlier, in Florence, Italy, I saw some people using a huge camera on a scaffolding several meters above the ground. I couldn't tell what kind of camera it was (I wasn't that into LF back then), but they were most definitely shooting the Duomo or belltower.

I haven't seen any LF-ers in The Netherlands though.

 

[Terence]

Here in NYC, as was stated before, they are fairly common. Working in construction we deal with several firms that typically shoot medium format for us, but will do LF on request or for specific uses. Other the the professional architectural guys I see probably one a month besides my group of friends. Typically they're at the Brooklyn Bridge or at the esplanades in Jersey City and Brooklyn. On vacation I've seen a smattering out west and almost none back east. Lots of medium format shooters though.

If the steel mill in Colorado mentioned before is the one in Pueblo, there's a good chance it was me. Through a work-related introduction I've befriended their head of security and try to drop down there whenever I'm in Colorado. The inside-the-fence shots are actually not much better than the shots from the road bridge at the south end of the plant. Unfortunately they've torn down almost all the old furnaces, etc. They now pretty much make only steel rod and rebar in the shops at the SE corner of the site.

 

[Shmoo]

One fall there was an LF photographer on one of the sandbars in the Merced River in Yosemite shooting a Zone camera. It turns out he's from So. Calif. and he shoots on weekends. He plans very quick trips (in this case, both Yosemite and Sequoia in one day! ). The good thing is that he's got his son (at Stanford as I recall) shooting as well. Teach them well!!!

Oh yeah, then there's that Zion workshop group...

S

 

[Ole]

I have only met other LF'ers when I've traveled somewhere to meet them - to a workshop.

I once heard a rumor that an LF'er had been spotted in this area, but when I finally managed to track down the rumor it turned out to be - me.

 

[MenacingTourist]

Besides the LF workshop in Zion's last year I have only seen LFers on the campus of a private school here in Utah. Which should come to no suprise since Tillman Crane set up and ran the photo program there for a number of years. It was really cool to see a bunch of kids under darkcloths spread out on campus. That photo department is better than a lot of colleges.

 

[Rich Long]

If the steel mill in Colorado mentioned before is the one in Pueblo, there's a good chance it was me. Through a work-related introduction I've befriended their head of security and try to drop down there whenever I'm in Colorado. The inside-the-fence shots are actually not much better than the shots from the road bridge at the south end of the plant. Unfortunately they've torn down almost all the old furnaces, etc. They now pretty much make only steel rod and rebar in the shops at the SE corner of the site.

Terence, there's only one steel mill in Colorado (Pueblo, of course) so that must have been you. Sounds like you're friends with Dave Wilson. I'm on that site a few times every month - for work, not fun.. I got a couple of decent shots several years ago on medium format, before I took up the 4x5. I really should go back and try again, now that I have the ability to control perspective.

 

[Terence]

Indeed. One of the finest B-52 pilots-turned-security-poobah I've ever met. The only one, actually. Although I haven't been there in a couple years. I'm actually heading out to Colorado next month, but I don't think I'll have time to get down there. Disgracefully, I still owe him a couple prints from my last trip.

 

[dangadahaiada]

I am a little surprised. Don't know exactly where in Northern BC you are, but it's great country for landscape photography, especially the large format variety. I agree though there aren't too many up there. I shot up and down the Skeena for a couple of weeks and didn't see another view camera. Population isn't really dense enough to support too many of us though. See them plenty down here in Western Washington though.

 

[P C Headland]

Chris, David,

Nice to see that there are some LF shooters in my home town - I'm a displaced Wellingtonian, currently living in the flatlands (Amsterdam). We will be popping back next year, at the very least for a holiday, & will try and bring at least one LF camera.

I have seen some LF shooters before I left NZ, but since I hadn't ventured in LF shooting, I didn't pay so much attention.

Here in NL you do see a few, even just at the end of our street a few times. This area is quite popular with advertisers, glossy magazines and architects.

I'm using old gear (my current LF is a 1930's 9x12, just waiting for a 4x5 press camera to arrive), and I've done more to further my Dutch using these old cameras than just about anything else. Quite a few people come up to chat, and some of the young children are really fascinated. The baby Graphic is a good conversation piece too.

Paul

 

[Jim_in_Kyiv]

When I was Stateside I was in New York often and saw others with LF often enough. My sister lived in Brooklyn and we'd go to Brooklyn Heights with whatever I had just scrounged up recently - the Speed Graphic got a lot of attention. Here in Kyiv, I haven't seen any LF other than myself, though MF folders can be seen once in a while - usually on a 'pod. Funny thing, even though I see all sorts of ancient Kiev 35mm, I've seen the 88 and 60 MF pieces being used once in 2 years. Probably, anybody who can afford 120 film here either appreciates folders or shoots a Mamiya.

 

[Ken N]

Here in Iowa, there are rumours of other LF photographers (even another who frequents this list), but you wouldn't know it. But in reality, I don't expose my Crown Graphic to daylight very often myself either.

 

[kudzma]

Quite remarkably, including me there are three 8x10 or larger LF photographers that live in a 5 mile (or less) radius in the Clinton/High Bridge area of New Jersey. I bought my 8x20 Korona from one of them and have seen and talked to the other when I spotted him locally with his 8x10 Deardorff. Also, noted LF photographer Carl Weese has a shot on his web site which he took not a mile from my house. Western NJ is apparently some secret hot-bed for LF

I'll be at the View Camera Conf next week in Springfield, MA where I hope to meet many other LF'ers and hopefully APUG'ers. Say hi if you see me.

Linas

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

I don't usually start up conversations with strangers on the subway, particularly not with stylish young women who might think I'm some creepy guy, but I had to ask this one woman on the L train where she got a messenger bag prominently displaying an arc of block letters spelling the word SCHEIMPFLUG on the flap. I thought maybe I could find one at ICP, but she said she had it made for her at a shop called Neighborhoodies in Brooklyn, which I've discovered also has a website at http://www.neighborhoodies.com/ . Unfortunately, I was on my way to do some shopping at the farmer's market in Union Square, so I didn't have a camera with me, but she said I was the first person to ask about it who knew what it meant.

 

[archphoto]

That shure is a revival of an old thread....... 2005 ???

I have been in Central Brazil for the past 2 years: no sighting of LF and even MF.......
Times have changed.

Peter

 

[munz6869]

I was in Sweden in Switzerland in July (with my 4x5 Wista), and apart from attracting old blokes all the time, the only other LF or MF camera I saw in use was a Rolleiflex. Quite a few 35mm film SLRs and compacts though - especially amongst tourist groups from Eastern Europe....

Marc

 

[Wyno]

For the first 15 years I never met a soul using LF. Since then only about 2, not counting the LF meet up in Melbourne in June this year and the trip to the Otways a couple of weks later.
Mike

 

[Leighgion]

I don't see any where I live, but I've actually spotted them while traveling. At least twice in Vancouver, BC, and once in Amsterdam, NL.

Don't actually indulge in LF myself.

 

[photovestad]

LF'ers in central British Columbia.

For those who care...alas...Jeff has just moved...D'OH!

Any other LF'ers in the Rupert, Prince, Terrace, Kitimat, Smithers, Etc...area?

Murray

I'm pretty sure I'm the only LF shoooter in Prince George. The guys at the local camera store seemed happily surprised to see someone coming in looking for film. I think I bought the only 120 film they had in the store and I'm pretty sure it was from one of the staff's private stock. I had to order my 4x5 film and chemistry from Vancouver.

As for seeing other 4x5 shooters; only on television.

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Saw someone shooting a portrait with what looked from the front like a 4x5" Graphic, probably a Crown, (the camera body was covered with a darkcloth, as was the photographer, so I couldn't tell precisely), on Poet's Alley (aka "The Mall") in Central Park today. Also noticed someone shooting with an F-1n or possibly a New F-1 (hand was covering the key parts to identify precisely on a quick glance), and another person with a film Leica M of recent vintage, so it was a good day for film cameras in the park.

 

[Terrence Brennan]

Oldies...

A bit off topic, but I ran into an old friend at the Cenotaph, in Ottawa, Ontario, on Remembrance Day (Veteran's Day in the U.S.), with his Leica M-4 in hand; I had a pair of my motorized Nikon Fs around my neck.

While I was setting up a shot, I was approached by a pair of younger photographers, one with a Contax--was it a G-4?--the other with a Hasselblad. I pointed out to them a woman I had seen a few minutes earlier, with a Bolex 16mm motion picture camera.

I also had the experience of meeting a mother and her daughter, with a conventional 35mm point-and-shoot, and the daughter, who was high school age, said she had never seen an actual motorized Nikon F, only pictures of them. I was amazed that she actually recognized the camera!

Analog photography isn't dead, not by a long shot, and it always warms the cockles of my (rapidly approaching 60 year old) heart to see younger photographers with a REAL camera in hand!

But LF photographers in Ottawa? I've never seen one, and I've been here for 19 years.

 

[Alexander Ghaffari]

I've seen about six, around where I live, so far this year. They were all younger than me, and I'm 23. Now, I've never seen anyone shoot Super 8, like I do. That would be neat.