| Equiment and Technical Information |
| Cameras For my artistic work I use "classic" cameras. I call them classics because it has a nicer ring to it than saying my cameras are old. My most recent camera is about 25 years old. There's times when I'd like to go out and buy some new stuff but when I start looking at the new stuff and I ask myself, "What will this do for me that my current cameras won't do?" I end up walking away. In order to make a photograph one needs a camera. In essence a camera is only a light-tight box that has a place to hold film and a mechanism for allowing light to hit the film and then becoming light-tight again. A camera can be made from an apple juice can or a shoe box. Maybe you made one of these pin-hole cameras at some point in school. In my opinion, too much is made of equipment in photographic circles. Many photographers become obsessed - if only I had the lastest model of camera X then I could produce wonderful photographs. But it's not the camera that makes the photograph, it's the photographer. Having made that statement, let me say that I don't consider I'm a better photographer because I use "classic" equipment, I just haven't been convinced that I should set aside the old stuff because new auto-everything cameras are now available. I have three formats: 35mm, Medium Format, and Large Format, but I hardly use 35mm any more. I started out working with 35 mm, but shoot less and less 35mm as the years go by. The main reason is the type of photography I engage in. What I want from a photograph is the ability to enlarge it to a reasonable size, up to 20x24. While I do sometimes enlarge 35mm negatives to 11x14, I seldom find that I can make a satisfactory print larger than 8x10 from a 35mm negative.. A medium format camera uses a larger roll of fim than a 35mm camera - about 4 times the size. This allows the photographer to capture much more information on the negative, and when enlarged, the print is sharper and clearer than a print of the same size from a 35mm negative. I use 4 medium format cameras, a Holga 120S (really a toy camera with a retail value of about $20), a Yashica Mat124G (from 1984), a Bronica S2 (from circa 1962) and a Moskva 5 (1959). Both the Yashica and the Bronica are 6x6 format, meaning that the negative sixe is 6 x6 cm in size. The negative is square which allows a lot of flexibility when composing a photograph. It may be printed as a square or cropped either vertically or horizontally. I have some excellent prints in the 16x20 range made with medium format equipment, howver, I prefer to limit the enlargments from medium format to 11x14. The Holga shoots either 4.5 x 6 or 6 x 6 and the Moskva is a 6x9, the same aspect ratio as 35mm. The third format I use is large format. Large format refers to film which normally comes in sheets 4"x 5" or larger. I have 4 large format cameras - a 4x5s (a Speed Graphic, circa 1955) a Burke and James Saturn 75, ( circa 1950), a Sinar Alpina (no idea how old it is) and one 5x7 ( a Russian FKD, cira 1970) cameras. I use them all depending on the situation or as the mood dictates. The negative from a 4x5 is 16 times larger than a 35mm negative, so large enlargements are possible with very high quality. As with everything in life, there are trade-offs. One can't beat the quality obtianed with a large-fomat camera, however, they are heavy, cumbersome, and take a long to set up and focus (large format cameras are also known as view cameras. They are the kind you may have seen in movies - they have the bellows - the photographer stands behind it with a dark cloth over his/her head. Also film is expensive (compared to smaller formats) and sometimes hard to find. I'll get some pictures of the "classics" posted soon. |
| Film I use the same film with all formats (sizes). My number one film is Ilford Fp4+, followed by Ilford Hp5+. I also use Ilford Delta, but I haven't really tamed this film to my liking yet. Developer I've used quite a few developers but have settled on Ilford ID-11, Agfa Rodinal and Ilford DD-X. Each developer has its own characteristics and I try to match the developer with the flim to give the look I'm after. |
| Enlargers It seems I work in threes. Three cameras in three formats, three types of film, three developers, and I guess for consistency, three enlargers. I use a Beseler 23c for 35mm and medium format, an Omega D2V for 4x5, and an Eastman Kodak 5x7 enlarger. Like cameras enlargers are quite simple pieces of equipment. The lenses are what determine the quality of the print. All enlargers are equipped with El-Nikkor lenses of the appropriate focal length. |
| Paper For exhibition prints I use Fibre Base paper. Most often I use Ilford Multigrage, however, I do also use Kentmere and Forte paper. Each paper has its own characteristics and again, I try to match the paper and with the negative for the look I want to achieve. |
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