I'm from Linz / Austria and have started (film and) large format photography in March 2011.
So I bought a Toyo Field 45AII with a couple of lenses, development equipment, etc and started off...
Altough I went through some baptism by fire (mostly exposure related), so far this journey went well:
- Handling the view camera ... easier than expected ... altough I've mostly only done landscapes
- Developing my own color film with a Jobo CPE2 ... easier than expected, thanks again to Tim Parkin for the awesome instruction videos
- Hand exposure metering ... this turned more difficult than expected, but now I'm more or less managing to get good exposures ... my beloved Fuji Velvia 50 film is quit stringent
- Scanning ... after struggling with newton rings, problem with high contrast edges etc. with my Canon flatbed I bought a drum scanner at the end of April ... now works perfect
Here are some examples of my work so far: http://www.flickr.com/photos/martinjankoehler/
Regards,