I've been asked by Asher to start documenting my experiences with a new set of tools for my photography. I'm not sure why he's asked me... I'm more of a visually oriented person than one who can express themselves in words. I'm also not a very prolific writer... most of my day is spent in my 'real' job, a software engineer writing code that makes the wireless access points a lot of you use work. After I leave this job, most of my interaction with a computer is with images.
So I'll start with a little history of how I got started in all of this.
In 1977, I was introduced to computers. I had a great uncle who had built an Altair 8800 (one of the first microcomputer available to 'hobbyists'). At that time, anyone who would play around with computers like that would make today's 'geeks' look absolutely 'hip' (a word, from what I understand, that isn't used any more). That computer motivated me to put my own together, and from then on, my profession was Computer Engineer. I've worked in that industry ever since. This experience has been helpful with the advent of digital photography.
In 1982, I discovered some books with images by Ansel Adams and Brett Weston. Up until then, I hadn't given much thought to cameras.. but from those images (especially Weston's) showed the world through eyes that saw in both tones as well as in small abstract slices of a much larger reality. I had always seen things in 'patterns', and I felt that here was a way to express what it was that I saw (having absolutely no aptitude at putting paint or ink down on paper/canvas).
I ran out and bought a 35mm camera, some b/w film and began shooting.
The film that I got back from the Lab didn't touch me the way that I thought it should have (hey.. I was young... I figured it was a camera.. how hard could it be....) . I bought Adam's series of books (The Camera, The Negative, and The Print), a lot of chemicals, some development tanks and an old used enlarger. Still no magic.
I then found an old used 4x5 monorail camera, so I bought that. Looking at the ground glass struck a chord in me. An image floated in space, separate from the reality around it... upside down and backwards. I could for once, see if the image 'worked' for me before I clicked the shutter. The slow, meditative work before the capture suited the way I interacted with the world. It was a more solitary (most friends tired of hanging around while i 'looked'). I felt more part of the scene, rather than on observer snapping away.
I was hooked. While the images weren't good, they still had something of me in them.
Most of what I've shot since then has been with a View Camera... moving from a monorail, to an old wood Zone VI, a Wisner Traditional, and the last one i've been using for a good number of years.. an Ebony SV.
I started using Digital back at Photoshop 3.0... still film capture though.. I just had my film scanned (40Mb was a *big* file back then... and an unsharp mask on an image that size took hours)
I picked up 35mm digital cameras along the way (Fuji S1, Nikon D1x, Canon 1ds (Mk1,2).. but my favorite was the Betterlight scanning back. It took me back to my 4x5.. but I could see the images as I took them (I'm a very impatient shooter.. probably the reason I alway developed my own film). I've been working with that back since about 2001 (it's been at the top of the heap image quality wise since then)
This image quality has been what's kept me coming back and using the Betterlight in spite of the convenience of the DSLRs. I realized that the current generation of Medium Format backs were an excellent compromise between the two.. allowing for more convenience of the DSLRs, while approaching the IQ of the Betterlight. After coming across a deal that I felt couldnt' be beat on one of the forums, I sold all of my Canon gear, and bought the Aptus Leaf and Mamiya 645 setup. I also found a very (very) good deal on a Horseman SWD-II and 35mm lens. This 'diary' will be document how I work with those tools (and they are just tools.. I could never understand the 'my-car-is-better-than-your-car' religious wars.. and I don't understand the 'my-camera-brand-is-better-than-your' wars either. My images aren't to everyone's taste. I prefer very mute, pastel colors over the 'chrome' look most popular today. But I can only shoot how I see and feel.. and this is what the world feels like to me.
Well.. enough for now.. that's a very long winded summary of the last 30 years in gear ( I suspect I'll go into print output one of these sessions... since for me, it's all about the print)
thanks for listening.. and Asher, thanks for the platform
jim
So I'll start with a little history of how I got started in all of this.
In 1977, I was introduced to computers. I had a great uncle who had built an Altair 8800 (one of the first microcomputer available to 'hobbyists'). At that time, anyone who would play around with computers like that would make today's 'geeks' look absolutely 'hip' (a word, from what I understand, that isn't used any more). That computer motivated me to put my own together, and from then on, my profession was Computer Engineer. I've worked in that industry ever since. This experience has been helpful with the advent of digital photography.
In 1982, I discovered some books with images by Ansel Adams and Brett Weston. Up until then, I hadn't given much thought to cameras.. but from those images (especially Weston's) showed the world through eyes that saw in both tones as well as in small abstract slices of a much larger reality. I had always seen things in 'patterns', and I felt that here was a way to express what it was that I saw (having absolutely no aptitude at putting paint or ink down on paper/canvas).
I ran out and bought a 35mm camera, some b/w film and began shooting.
The film that I got back from the Lab didn't touch me the way that I thought it should have (hey.. I was young... I figured it was a camera.. how hard could it be....) . I bought Adam's series of books (The Camera, The Negative, and The Print), a lot of chemicals, some development tanks and an old used enlarger. Still no magic.
I then found an old used 4x5 monorail camera, so I bought that. Looking at the ground glass struck a chord in me. An image floated in space, separate from the reality around it... upside down and backwards. I could for once, see if the image 'worked' for me before I clicked the shutter. The slow, meditative work before the capture suited the way I interacted with the world. It was a more solitary (most friends tired of hanging around while i 'looked'). I felt more part of the scene, rather than on observer snapping away.
I was hooked. While the images weren't good, they still had something of me in them.
Most of what I've shot since then has been with a View Camera... moving from a monorail, to an old wood Zone VI, a Wisner Traditional, and the last one i've been using for a good number of years.. an Ebony SV.
I started using Digital back at Photoshop 3.0... still film capture though.. I just had my film scanned (40Mb was a *big* file back then... and an unsharp mask on an image that size took hours)
I picked up 35mm digital cameras along the way (Fuji S1, Nikon D1x, Canon 1ds (Mk1,2).. but my favorite was the Betterlight scanning back. It took me back to my 4x5.. but I could see the images as I took them (I'm a very impatient shooter.. probably the reason I alway developed my own film). I've been working with that back since about 2001 (it's been at the top of the heap image quality wise since then)
This image quality has been what's kept me coming back and using the Betterlight in spite of the convenience of the DSLRs. I realized that the current generation of Medium Format backs were an excellent compromise between the two.. allowing for more convenience of the DSLRs, while approaching the IQ of the Betterlight. After coming across a deal that I felt couldnt' be beat on one of the forums, I sold all of my Canon gear, and bought the Aptus Leaf and Mamiya 645 setup. I also found a very (very) good deal on a Horseman SWD-II and 35mm lens. This 'diary' will be document how I work with those tools (and they are just tools.. I could never understand the 'my-car-is-better-than-your-car' religious wars.. and I don't understand the 'my-camera-brand-is-better-than-your' wars either. My images aren't to everyone's taste. I prefer very mute, pastel colors over the 'chrome' look most popular today. But I can only shoot how I see and feel.. and this is what the world feels like to me.
Well.. enough for now.. that's a very long winded summary of the last 30 years in gear ( I suspect I'll go into print output one of these sessions... since for me, it's all about the print)
thanks for listening.. and Asher, thanks for the platform
jim