Katie Cooke talks to Haje Jan Kamps about shooting large format street portraits in the thick of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Read the article at PhotoCritic.org
Tag: large format
Proposal: Photographers Who Are Not Adams Or Weston Month
It seems not an online discussion thread about large format photography can go by without invoking Their Holinesses, Ansel Adams or Edward Weston. Great photographers, both, who made significant contributions and had significant influence. But they’re not saints or gods, and the inevitable, genuflecting references and predictable ensuing debates tend to make the conversations essentially the same. Different actors type out different parts of the same script on fora and recite them in darkrooms everywhere. Maybe it’s time to shut the fuck up about them for a little while and open our eyes to other work.
Thus, I propose that we declare September Annual Photographers Who Are Not Adams Or Weston Month, where neither of their names are spoken, typed, or their work or accomplishments even referenced. Where we just give it a rest already. Where we attempt to actually think for ourselves. Where we go out and hunt down some forgotten greats from the last 150 years, and some shining new potential stars who might help us see things in a different flavour of light.
Then on the first of October we can go back to our mindless droning, forgetting that colour large format photography actually exists, and thinking there’s little in LF to learn but what Ed and Ansel "bestowed" upon us, and that if we could just see as they saw and print as they printed, all would be well. But please. Let us have September.
Project Basho’s Fall 2007 workshop/class schedule announced, PA, US
Philadephia’s Project Basho have announced their Fall 2007 class and workshop schedule:
Fall Classes and New Workshops
We would like to let you know that the fall schedule for photography classes and workshops at Project Basho has been finalized and is posted on our website. We have exciting workshops coming this fall. As usual, we are offering beginner and intermediate black and white classes along with an introductory color class. These classes are very small with a lot of feedback from instructors and are very structured with ongoing assignments. We also offer an afterschool class for teenagers.
In addition to our regular workshops like an introduction to large format photography and palladium printing, we are featuring some exciting programs this fall. We are inviting Shelby Lee Adams again but this time for a Location Lighting workshop where participants will learn the intricacy of lighting with the mixture of natural and artificial light. This use of lighting is considered to be essential for today’s editorial and commercial photographers. Shelby will deconstruct other notable photographers’ lighting techniques and walk you through the process making it approachable.
We are offering Creating a Photographer’s Artist Book by Olivia Antsis. If you have ever had a desire to create a one-of-kind book of your photographs and learn the basics of bookbinding, this workshop is for you. Photographers will learn how to use their photographs to make compelling visual narratives.
In October Craig Barber will lead Cultural Landscape, the workshop which will expand your understanding of landscape photography. He will explore how photographers portray cultural impact on the environment and also look at how the photographer’s own culture affects their vision.
In November, we are inviting Kerik Kouklis to offer a One-day Gum over Platinum Printing workshop as well as another Wet-Plate Collodion workshop. Kerik covers these historical processes in a friendly and approachable manner and his workshops have been very well received in the past.
Kevin Martini-Fuller will be offering an Introduction to Studio Lighting as well as Nude: Form and Light and Carbon Printing.
Last but not the least, there are still a couple of more summer workshops scheduled and some more opening left: Introduction to Studio Lighting workshop by Kevin Martini-Fuller and Gum Bichromate workshop by Scott McMahon.
Lecture Series Starting This Fall
Our first lecture series in May with Shelby Lee Adams was a great success and we are looking forward to more occasions like this. When we finish our new multi-purpose room, we will be bringing a lecture series to the Philadelphia photography community.
We are scheduling one lecture a month this fall. The first one will be by Shelby Lee Adams again in September. We are working closely with The University of the Arts and hope to run Shelby’s lecture in a larger space at UArts.
In October, we are inviting Craig J. Barber, and he is going to share his work and his latest book. This will be his first lecture in Philadelphia. In November, Kerik Kouklis is scheduled to join us.
A Gallery Space Opens This Fall
As you know, we have been working on the second phase of construction, and we will soon finish the space. Starting in October, we will be showing photographs on our walls.
The main gallery room is 600 sq ft with a 14ft ceiling and unique architectural details. The gallery also extends to a 40′ long hallway in the studio. That is over 100 liner ft. space for hanging photographs. We will be slowly and thoughtfully developing a series of photography shows which are visually stimulating as well as thought-provoking.
Tintype Portraiture Session During POST
October is the time for the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours. It is a great occasion where many artists’ studios will be open to public. As an artist-run organization, Project Basho is happy to be part of this unique annual event.
In order to provide an occasion for raising awareness and appreciation of historical photographic processes, we are having tintype portraiture sessions during POST. Tintypes have peculiar qualities which are difficult to reproduce with other technologies. For a small fee, you can have a one-of-a-kind tintype photograph made of you while you are visiting the studio. We will be running the sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. You are also more than welcome to come by to see how the process is done.
More Exciting Projects
We are working on a couple of other exciting projects right now. They have something to do with the use of our gallery space both physically and online. We hope to be able to make an announcement by the end of summer, so stay tuned with our latest development at Project Basho.
For more information and updates, please feel contact us or visit our website.
Project Basho
1305 Germantown Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19122
US
215-238-0928
www.projectbasho.org
More cowbell: 30×40-inch camera
Holy shit! Check out this 30×40-inch ultra-large format press camera for sale at the Large Format Photography Forum. Pictures included.
More cowbell: gigantic home-built 16×36-inch view camera
Check out this monster 16×36-inch view camera that Ron Klein built for a friend.
How to use your large format camera as an enlarger
Tim Haynes writes:
I was looking for a cheap and convenient way to make small enlargement prints, particularly from 5×4″ black and white negatives, but without the expense of buying a proper large-format enlarger (to say nothing of the space such a thing would occupy).
Does that sound like you? Sounds like me! Check out his set-up.
The Jim Galli shutter for barrel lenses
Most large format lenses are mounted in shutters, as focal plane shutters for large format are extremely rare. Barrel lenses don’t have them, and are generally used with very slow film and historical plate processes, where the shutter time is long enough that you can just remove the lens cap to make your exposure. What happens when you want to use a barrel lens with modern, faster film?
Enter the Jim Galli shutter, which is a free DIY arrangement:
Drum roll please. The world has been waiting for me to invent this.
Having just purchased a few old LF lenses without shutters, I actually have been waiting for him to invent this. Check it out at APUG.
DIY 4×5 sheet film processing tube
Check out Eben Ostby‘s plans for a 4×5 large format sheet film developing tube. View a larger, more legible version of the plans and construction notes on the photo’s page on Flickr.
New large format P&S cameras
Oren Grad writes at The Online Photographer:
Check out the re-launched, much improved website of Fotoman Camera. This Hong Kong-based company is known for its well-made, (relatively) inexpensive, interchangeable lens, scale focusing, roll film panorama cameras in 6×12, 6×17 and 6×24 formats. A long-awaited second lineup of large format point-and-shoot cameras has now finally become available, including an ultralight 4×5, an 8×10 and—surprise!—a 4×10 panoramic P&S. Helical focus mounts, viewfinders, a comprehensive selection of regular and panoramic viewfinder masks and a dual-axis bubble level are now offered separately as well for users who would like to mix-and-match with their own equipment.
They actually are relatively reasonably priced. I’m not quite sure when $699 US because "reasonable" for a metal spacer with lens and film holder mounts, but it is compared to what else is out there (typically $1500 and up(!)). By Grapthar’s hammer… what a savings.
Check them out at Fotoman Camera
Cheap DIY large format filter holder
f295 member greyhoundman has posted instructions for how to build an ultra-cheap filter holder for large format lenses:
Ok, I know someone probably sells an adapter for holding filters on a large LF lens. But, not around here, and I like to see what I’m buying.
So again I decided to build what I need.
I used, 1 thin CD case, a piece of PVC pipe and a 6-32 nylon thumbscrew…
Read instructions at the f295 DIY Photography forum