Scott Buttrick
New member
Hello, my name is Scott Buttrick and I am excited that I found OPF. I am glad to see a photography website that is dedicated to an intelligent, thoughtful discussion of photography. A site where there is a free exchange of thought and ideas intended to advance our understanding and knowledge of photography.
I come from the old school of photography where lugging around a 4x5 view camera was the norm. As was stated in a famous movie "ahhh....I love the smell of fixer in the morning", or something like that. I majored in photography in college where my passion for black and white photography was born. I was fortunate to have an outstanding instructor that taught me how to see in black and white. The ability to see the world in shades of gray is something that takes time to develop, but after 25 years I can still do it. My early work was done with a Kowa Super 66 medium format camera and a 4x5 Speed Graphic. I also owned (past tense) a mint Graflex red bellows monorail view camera. Unfortunately in a weak moment I sold it ....... damn, what a bone headed thing to do.
My B&W films of choice were Kodak Verichrome and Tri-X. I created my own blend of developer and was able to get incredible negatives. I printed on Agfa Protriga Rapid which was a beautiful warm silver rich paper. In college all of my work was fine art and it was where my true passion resided.
After college I open a commercial studio where I specialized in product, catalog, and architectural photography. I also shot all the images for a local business magazine for a couple of years. I enjoyed the commercial side of the business for awhile, but after 10 years of the long hours I got burned out. I walked away from photography completely until 2004. What brought me back? Digital.
I was totally intrigued by digital photography and its potential. This time around I made a promise to myself, photography was going to be for me and not for a client. This time I am only doing fine art photography only and letting my passion take me where it wants to go. I still love to make B&W photographs and always will, but a new world opened up for me, color.
My color work work today always start as black and white. There must be a reason for color to exist in the image before it becomes a color image to me. This philosophy is a throw back to my college days, and is as valid today as it was back then.
Today my quest is to create black and white digital images as rich as the negative and chemical way. I am getting beautiful results from my scanned negatives, but the digitally created images aren't quite there yet. The first two images above were scanned B&W negatives. The image below is from a digital color conversion.
I have rambled on too long here so I'll wrap this up. I look forward to learning and helping others as I can. I only hope that I can give as much as I know I will receive.
Regards,
Scott
I come from the old school of photography where lugging around a 4x5 view camera was the norm. As was stated in a famous movie "ahhh....I love the smell of fixer in the morning", or something like that. I majored in photography in college where my passion for black and white photography was born. I was fortunate to have an outstanding instructor that taught me how to see in black and white. The ability to see the world in shades of gray is something that takes time to develop, but after 25 years I can still do it. My early work was done with a Kowa Super 66 medium format camera and a 4x5 Speed Graphic. I also owned (past tense) a mint Graflex red bellows monorail view camera. Unfortunately in a weak moment I sold it ....... damn, what a bone headed thing to do.
My B&W films of choice were Kodak Verichrome and Tri-X. I created my own blend of developer and was able to get incredible negatives. I printed on Agfa Protriga Rapid which was a beautiful warm silver rich paper. In college all of my work was fine art and it was where my true passion resided.
After college I open a commercial studio where I specialized in product, catalog, and architectural photography. I also shot all the images for a local business magazine for a couple of years. I enjoyed the commercial side of the business for awhile, but after 10 years of the long hours I got burned out. I walked away from photography completely until 2004. What brought me back? Digital.
I was totally intrigued by digital photography and its potential. This time around I made a promise to myself, photography was going to be for me and not for a client. This time I am only doing fine art photography only and letting my passion take me where it wants to go. I still love to make B&W photographs and always will, but a new world opened up for me, color.
My color work work today always start as black and white. There must be a reason for color to exist in the image before it becomes a color image to me. This philosophy is a throw back to my college days, and is as valid today as it was back then.
Today my quest is to create black and white digital images as rich as the negative and chemical way. I am getting beautiful results from my scanned negatives, but the digitally created images aren't quite there yet. The first two images above were scanned B&W negatives. The image below is from a digital color conversion.
I have rambled on too long here so I'll wrap this up. I look forward to learning and helping others as I can. I only hope that I can give as much as I know I will receive.
Regards,
Scott
