British Large Format Landscape Photographers

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dave_whatever
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by dave_whatever » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:08 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

craigmagee wrote:Dont know if this guy shoots 5x4 but recently came across his site and the images are really detailed so i think he might do.

http://www.timsimmons.co.uk
How would you tell based on that website? My phone shoots enough resolution for a web use! :wink: What you can see however is all the shots are at 3:2 aspect ratio, so I'd say LF is unlikely.

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by timparkin » Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:11 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

dave_whatever wrote:
craigmagee wrote:Dont know if this guy shoots 5x4 but recently came across his site and the images are really detailed so i think he might do.

http://www.timsimmons.co.uk
How would you tell based on that website? My phone shoots enough resolution for a web use! :wink: What you can see however is all the shots are at 3:2 aspect ratio, so I'd say LF is unlikely.
Hmm.. I have to agree, if only for the shutter speed used in his 'cave fire' shots.. No way is that large format film. I do quite like some of the photography however!

Tim
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Thingy
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by Thingy » Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:13 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Since I started using LF again withmy 45SU, most of my work has been 5x4. I have exposed over 60 sheets this year mostly QL and following my trip to Spitsbergen this Summer (35 sheets of QL exposed) have been very impressed with Velvia 100 and Pro 160S. I expect to average 40-50 sheets a year. Can I be included?

PS: My real name is Steve Hammett
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by timparkin » Tue Dec 22, 2009 9:58 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Thingy wrote:Since I started using LF again withmy 45SU, most of my work has been 5x4. I have exposed over 60 sheets this year mostly QL and following my trip to Spitsbergen this Summer (35 sheets of QL exposed) have been very impressed with Velvia 100 and Pro 160S. I expect to average 40-50 sheets a year. Can I be included?

PS: My real name is Steve Hammett

Oh indeed you can!
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by Lynne Evans » Tue Dec 22, 2009 10:36 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Tim - one more for your list is David Taylor based in Hexham: http://www.davidtaylorphotography.co.uk

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by DJ » Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:40 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

David Noton just published his latest "Dispatches" to reveal he has sold his trusted GX617 and is now "film free", so I guess you can remove him from the list if he was on it.

Sad but I think that fated awful day when the film is discontinued altogether is definitely looming closer.

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by Peter B » Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:51 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

DJ wrote:Sad but I think that fated awful day when the film is discontinued altogether is definitely looming closer.
While it is almost certainly getting closer, I don't see it as "looming" just yet. Digital cameras are firmly heading towards video to such an extent that users are starting to complain in forums about paying for this sort of feature when they don't want it. Commercial photographers see things differently and many look forward to the day when they can just run the wedding video and pick the exact frames that the couple like and have them printed, none of which needs to concern most of us. Maybe even some will move back to still (film) cameras instead?

Where it will get more difficult will be in film choice and pricing, so the apparent demise of Geert removes the only reasonably priced source of wholeplate film. I've asked Matt at Ag Photographic if he intends to stock wholeplate at any time, and it is an area he is keeping an open mind on. Now if I could only get the opportunity to shoot the film I've already got ............. :roll:

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by dennis » Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:02 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

The really sad thing about the possible demise of film is the fact that if no film is shot, then who knows what visual legacy will be available in the future since no one can be sure how long digital images will survive, or even if they will still viewable by some future means. That said I hope that at least one film maker will have the same viewpoint & continue to make it available in the most 'popular' sizes. Happy Christmas to all & better photo weather to come. Dennis.

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by timparkin » Thu Dec 24, 2009 11:59 am Etc/GMT-1+01:00

DJ wrote:David Noton just published his latest "Dispatches" to reveal he has sold his trusted GX617 and is now "film free", so I guess you can remove him from the list if he was on it.

Sad but I think that fated awful day when the film is discontinued altogether is definitely looming closer.
Having seen the 'machine gun' shooting style that David Noton uses in his Chasing the Light video (Glastonbury Tor), I can understand why he would be reluctant to use film. He even says he spent an evening on the downs with his 6x17 and ended up with a £100 film and developing bill. By my calculation (and without discount) that means 15 rolls of 120 film or 60 shots! Even with bracketing that is a minimum of 20 compositions!

I'm not saying his approach is necessarily bad but I am saying that it isn't compatible with film.

Interestingly (to me anyway), the only shots that had real 'wow' in that video were his 6x17 velvia shots? The same goes for the blog post about ditching film. The stitch shot wasn't a 'stunner' (although it was only a test).

Perhaps he's given up trying to capture 'that shot' and volume is more important. I also imagine workshops take up a lot of his time and with noone using film on his workshops, it makes sense to concentrate on digital.

However (and this is a big however) we know another photographer who ditched his 6x17 and started stitching digitally and after a year or so came back to film. So calling this 'the end of film' is the same as saying 'this is the end of digital' when Colin Prior ditched his DSLR for his 6x17..

The film industry is worth £1bn worldwide.. Does this sound like a dying industry.. Perhaps it's dying in the same way that petrol powered cars are dying or in the same way that woodworking skills are a dying trade because most things are plastic/chipboard/etc.

Tim
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by dave_whatever » Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:28 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

timparkin wrote:Interestingly (to me anyway), the only shots that had real 'wow' in that video were his 6x17 velvia shots? The same goes for the blog post about ditching film. The stitch shot wasn't a 'stunner' (although it was only a test).
It seems to be a trend for photographers who started off years ago shooting exclusively film these days end up shooting more and more digital, many excusively. And almost without exception most of their best shots are still the ones they shot on film back in the day.

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by timparkin » Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:38 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

dave_whatever wrote:
timparkin wrote:Interestingly (to me anyway), the only shots that had real 'wow' in that video were his 6x17 velvia shots? The same goes for the blog post about ditching film. The stitch shot wasn't a 'stunner' (although it was only a test).
It seems to be a trend for photographers who started off years ago shooting exclusively film these days end up shooting more and more digital, many excusively. And almost without exception most of their best shots are still the ones they shot on film back in the day.
Yeah, possibly so. And, as said, it was only a test after all... However, having shot digital for over 6 years you'd expect to see a few 'showcase' shots being digital on the video? Maybe they only chose pano shots for the format. We'll have to wait another 10 years to find out. With only 3 years very part time experience in photography under my belt, I'm hardly one to listen to anyway.

Tim
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by Joanna Carter » Thu Dec 24, 2009 2:06 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

timparkin wrote:The film industry is worth £1bn worldwide.. Does this sound like a dying industry.. Perhaps it's dying in the same way that petrol powered cars are dying or in the same way that woodworking skills are a dying trade because most things are plastic/chipboard/etc.
When we went to Maldon to seek out locations for the Spring Workshop, we met with a wonderful boatbuilder, still building and restoring old wooden boats. Upon seeing our "ancient" cameras, he asked us why we continued to use such equipment when digital must be so much easier; Helen quickly replied with the question, "How do you feel about fibreglass boats?". "Ah!" he said, "I see what you mean".
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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by DJ » Thu Dec 24, 2009 8:23 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

timparkin wrote:Having seen the 'machine gun' shooting style that David Noton uses in his Chasing the Light video (Glastonbury Tor), I can understand why he would be reluctant to use film. He even says he spent an evening on the downs with his 6x17 and ended up with a £100 film and developing bill. By my calculation (and without discount) that means 15 rolls of 120 film or 60 shots! Even with bracketing that is a minimum of 20 compositions!

I'm not saying his approach is necessarily bad but I am saying that it isn't compatible with film.
i think it perhaps a little unfair to use the "machine gun" label for David Noton :wink: To be fair to David Noton, he's done his time, served his apprenticeships and he's used the full gamut formats, including LF. A typical machine gun shooter is going to fire off loads of shots hoping the composition on one turns out ok, I don't see David Noton doing that, he takes his time and considers his composition and merely shoots many exposures of that composition in the changing light conditions because he can, at no cost. I also don't believe for a moment that he took quite that many exposures when shooting film or that he's your typical machine gun shooter, but then in comparison to LF, doesn't eveyone seem like one? :D

Certainly the main body of his work appears to be Landscape and Travel, with a good percentage of his shots being taken abroad in exotic locations which would have been difficult and expensive to reach. In that situation I think I would be burning through a lot of film (and digital too), yeah you'd waste a lot of film, but it's an insurance policy, cheaper than going back... I just think that's David's approach, because it has to be, and with digital you've nothing to lose with taking multiple exposures.

I don't think it's that he doesn't like film, he said it's just that it's now "impractical" for the way he works in comparison with Digital. I remember reading so many of his "Dispatches" columns in PP where he extolled the virtues of film and eschewed the possibility of "going digital". In fact, there's a possibility it might have been Colin Prior who "converted" him :wink: I can't remember for sure.
timparkin wrote:Interestingly (to me anyway), the only shots that had real 'wow' in that video were his 6x17 velvia shots? The same goes for the blog post about ditching film. The stitch shot wasn't a 'stunner' (although it was only a test).
Not really so remarkable when it was his main camera for nearly 20 years and shot almost exclusively with it, he's only "gone digital" in the last 4 or so. I do know what you mean though, I believe I can see a difference in his pre-digital shots compared with the newer ones, the film ones appear to me to be more "epic". I guess he's just evolving, the majority of his income is from stock sales, and look at what has happened to that industry... Whether the evolution of his photography is for better or worse... a subjective thing I guess, but he does it because he must. :?
timparkin wrote:The film industry is worth £1bn worldwide.. Does this sound like a dying industry.. Perhaps it's dying in the same way that petrol powered cars are dying or in the same way that woodworking skills are a dying trade because most things are plastic/chipboard/etc.
Yes you're right of course, I don't expect it will happen anytime soon, I'm just becoming aware that it will happen, and I expect it will come out of the blue, much like the withdrawl of QL has. And when the film is withdrawn, the processing will be withdrawn, and the chemicals will be withdrawn ( frankly, I'm amazed you can still buy them in this Nanny state ), and even the enthusiasts like us, who shoot film and LF because we want to, even though it's not as practical or economical, will have no choice but to hang up our darkcloths. Despite our nature for tinkering with most of the aspects of film photography ourselves ( developing, printing etc. ), making your own film? that will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

I still have a freezer full of original Velvia so I'm not worried. :wink:

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by EddieB » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:32 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

Hi Tim

Although I'm still not able to scan film - so not able to post any results on the 'net - I'm still getting through way over your threshold in colour neg (Fuji Pro160S) and B&W. Using my recently completed darkroom for printing.

I'd be pleased if you would add my name to the list.

Best Regards
Eddie

all I'm asking is for a bit of sunlight in the right spot when I'm ready

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Re: British Large Format Landscape Photographers

Post by timparkin » Sat Dec 26, 2009 8:57 pm Etc/GMT-1+01:00

EddieB wrote:Hi Tim

Although I'm still not able to scan film - so not able to post any results on the 'net - I'm still getting through way over your threshold in colour neg (Fuji Pro160S) and B&W. Using my recently completed darkroom for printing.

I'd be pleased if you would add my name to the list.

Best Regards

No problem eddie... would be good to see some pictures when you get a chance though!

Tim

p.s. Eddie B......?

p.p.s. Where are you from?
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