Digital BW, The Print

compilerbitch wrote:
> That's a very valid point. I find that I always get the best results
> when I am forced to slow down the most. This goes for technical
> quality, obviously, because if I take my time I don't tend to mess up
> with the basics, but it also applies to composition. If I shoot with
> my little point-and-shoot Panasonic, I only rarely get good results,
> not because of the camera or lens, but because I tend to take 5 to 10
> seconds over a shot. I tend to use it for record shots only for that
> reason -- things like, yesterday, wanting a list of the sizes of
> cardboard boxes I could get from a local shop, not finding anything,
> then just basically taking a couple of quick photos of the shelves so
> I could refer back to it later.
>
> This is why, about a year ago, when I decided to put some serious
> investment into my hobby, I *didn't* go the DSLR route. This would
> have been sensible and a lot cheaper, but I doubted I'd have really
> liked the results. Not so much because the cameras or lenses were
> inferior, but because I know I'd be tempted to work too quickly.
> Instead, I went for medium- and large-format, but digital in both
> cases. I wanted the image quality of high-end digital, and didn't want
> the hassle (or ongoing cost) of film. The lack of automation, the
> physical difficulty of moving heavy cameras and tripods, all of that
> slows me down. With medium format, if I go out landscape shooting, I
> might take 50 to 100 frames in a day, with many of them simply being
> repeats or bracketing. With large format, 20 frames would be a *good*
> day. But out of that, the number of usable 'keepers' is actually
> pretty high -- I generally get at least 3 or 4 shots that I'm really
> happy with. This is way more than I ever had previously, but it's come
> from taking fewer photos. I think it's partly because, if I've half
> killed myself hauling large format gear to a location, if I know that
> it's going to take me half an hour to set up for a shot, I might as
> well take 10 minutes to find the best place for the camera, and think
> about what I really want to get out of the image. This really *does*
> make a huge difference.
>
> I don't think my previous problems were so much inadequate seeing as
> not really having had the habit of doing enough *looking*!
>
> As for why I take photographs, this is either simple or complicated.
> The simple view is that I get a huge amount out of it -- if I make
> some photos that I like, I get a big boost from it emotionally. This
> happens for me from pretty much any art -- in the past I was more into
> music, and got much the same kind of return from playing keyboards and
> bass guitar. The more complicated view is harder to pin down. I think
> if we do something artistic, it gives us an opportunity to redefine
> ourselves as in some sense artists -- for some, this isn't much of a
> hurdle, but for others (myself included), coming from a culture that
> didn't tend to value art, and having gone through a school that
> repeatedly told me that I was useless at it, created more of a
> mountain than a hurdle. The sad thing is, I actually am more an artist
> than an engineer at heart, and always have been, though my career
> hasn't taken me in that direction. It's tempting to theorise that the
> art side makes me a better engineer/scientist, but I'm only one person
> and I can't repeat my life a different way to see if this was really
> the case. I think that scaling that mountain and getting to a position
>  where I can (and do) make art that I'm happy with has been a hugely
> empowering thing for me.
>   
Well said. I think you nailed one of the main attractions of LF 
photography. People who haven't climbed our particular learning curves 
often seem to think that the main draw is the control a view camera 
gives you over the plane of focus. But for me its more about the 
processes, slowing down, and less-is-more. For me, as you, this results 
in a much higher percentage of "keepers" because I don't pull the camera 
out of the bag unless the image I see in my head demands that I commit 
everything I know and have learned to making the photograph. This ain't 
no point-'n-shoot.

So I guess I'm saying that using a view camera does very much help me to 
slow down and actually see. And that's one of the driving reasons behind 
my art.
--
Bruce Watson