Trickery and fake

Bill Burk

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Michael W said:
I like them. They have the ortho look of paper negs, and I think the posing is better on those ones than the digital shots.
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Yes, any excuse to shoot 4x5 is fine by me!

I think maybe the hostility was a knee jerk reaction when at first glance it looked like it was a trick.

Then closer examination shows they are genuine and that's all right.
 

tkamiya

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I'm not a LF kind of guy but for example, the second image with a bike... The dreamy fuzzy effect is all on the background but stops abruptly just for the athletes face and the shirt. "USA" is perfectly clear with no distortion. What the heck...?
 

blansky

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I think they're interesting and fun. Naturally black and white vs color gives the images an added interest.

BUT if you printed the digital in black and white and controlling depth of field and other aspects you'd have more interesting pictures as well.

I don't know why we're over thinking this.

Just enjoy it.

By the way, check out Mark Tucker's work for a great working photographers work.
 
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cowanw

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tkamiya said:
I'm not a LF kind of guy but for example, the second image with a bike... The dreamy fuzzy effect is all on the background but stops abruptly just for the athletes face and the shirt. "USA" is perfectly clear with no distortion. What the heck...?
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That's the way petzval's look when used for negative sizes too large for their original purpose.
 

eddie

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I think it's great when a major US newspaper does a story on analog photography.
 

E. von Hoegh

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eddie said:
Analog photography is many things... As this was truly analog, I don't consider it a misrepresentation.
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He was using the lens on a larger negative than it was intended for, and his processing was sloppy. That misrepresents analog photography pretty thoroughly.
 

Steve Smith

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An interesting interview with David Burnett:

[video=vimeo;13036394]http://vimeo.com/13036394[/video]



Steve.
 

ic-racer

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the photos show an interesting contrast between “old” and “new”.
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Yes, an outdated 1990s color fill-flash style compared to the newest retro swirly-lens craze.
 

ME Super

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It's art, pure and simple. Art doesn't have to reflect reality accurately. The photographer was going for an old photo look. My first thought was that he was using some orthochromatic film, until I saw he was using paper, which explains a lot of the look as most B&W paper is not red-sensitive. I think he could've done better without some of the blotchiness, especially of the last image, but if he got the look he was going for, good for him.
 

batwister

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So long as publications keep mentioning analog photography as something worthwhile - and I think that's the emphasis of this article - it's all good.
 

lxdude

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E. von Hoegh said:
He was using the lens on a larger negative than it was intended for, and his processing was sloppy. That misrepresents analog photography pretty thoroughly.
Click to expand...

That's really it for me. The sloppy processing, deliberate or not, makes for distracting streaks and blotches. Old photos look so much better, and most modern paper negatives also do.

While attention given to analog is a good thing, and the idea of it being cool is a good thing, showing it just as some quaint lo-fi way of rendering doesn't really serve it all that well.
 

hoffy

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Oh My F'ing Gawd - The LF Analogue snobs are out in force today. Do you guys do judging at camera clubs, because it surely sounds like the "doesn't fit what should be done, so its bad" mold that you see in these amateur clubs......

The pictures are what they are. The photographer probably had exactly what you see in mind when he went out to do the shoot. He applied some different techniques to get what he wanted and he is probably very happy with them. Sure, they might not be everyones cup of tea, but he got people talking about large format analogue photography didn't he.

Me personally? These photos show character - they are different (& dare I say, a damn sight more interesting then those shocking official photos that were published a few months ago).

Worry less, shoot more...
 

Mainecoonmaniac

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I agree! The cat is shooting analog.
 

lxdude

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Speaking for myself, I just don't think they're all that great. I intensely don't like the blotches, streaks, etc. I think they add nothing to the images, but distract considerably.

Snobbery, no. I just don't care for them, for reasons I've already stated.
 

lxdude

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