Digital BW, The Print

AHHHH!!!!  Life is good.  I spent a good part of the day out in the wind and rain taking pictures of the stormy sea with my 4x5 and real b&w film.  A tourist came up (there are ALWAYS tourists here) with a puzzled look on his face.  "Not many of your kind of photographer left", he said.  "It's even worse than that" I said.  "I'm shooting black and white".  At that point his expression was something like "Man, YOU ARE NUTS."  He promplty said, "Well, I guess I better let you get on with your work.  My wife and son are waiting for me in the car."  He turned and left.
 
I don't know what the message is here.  But,  LIFE IS GOOD in the large format b&w lane.
 
Tom Baker


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Ain't it grand, though...I sometimes get the same reaction with 
my rangefinder 35s (and in New York City, no less). 

Keep 'em wondering. :-)

- Barrett

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Tom 
Baker <tbaker1328@s...> wrote:
> AHHHH!!!!  Life is good.  I spent a good part of the day out in 
the wind and rain taking pictures of the stormy sea with my 4x5 
and real b&w film.  A tourist came up (there are ALWAYS tourists 
here) with a puzzled look on his face.  "Not many of your kind of 
photographer left", he said.  "It's even worse than that" I said.  
"I'm shooting black and white".  At that point his expression was 
something like "Man, YOU ARE NUTS."  He promplty said, "Well, 
I guess I better let you get on with your work.  My wife and son are 
waiting for me in the car."  He turned and left.
>  
> I don't know what the message is here.  But,  LIFE IS GOOD in 
the large format b&w lane.

>  
> Tom Baker
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Sunday, November 30, 2003, 6:06:04 PM, you wrote:

TB> AHHHH!!!!  Life is good.  I spent a good part of the day out
TB> in the wind and rain taking pictures of the stormy sea with my 4x5
TB> and real b&w film.  A tourist came up (there are ALWAYS tourists
TB> here) with a puzzled look on his face.  "Not many of your kind of
TB> photographer left", he said.  "It's even worse than that" I said. 
TB> "I'm shooting black and white".  At that point his expression was
TB> something like "Man, YOU ARE NUTS."  He promplty said, "Well, I
TB> guess I better let you get on with your work.  My wife and son are
TB> waiting for me in the car."  He turned and left.

TB> I don't know what the message is here.  But,  LIFE IS GOOD in the large format b&w lane.

TB> Tom Baker

That is a good one.  Someone last week commented when seeing my
Rolleiflex around my neck, "Wow, I'll be that takes good pictures!" I
said, "Yes, it can.  If I don't muck it up!".  Then his wife said, "Is
it a digital?" and I replied, "Well, no, it's from 1953."  In which
she sort of looked at me like I was nuts.  I think she thought I was
being sarcastic.

Here's another good one.  In reply to a query about whether B&W film
and traditional process is dead or dying someone on photo.net just said:

"Just my feeling: If you spend a lot of $$ in top notch equipment - camera,
printer, paper, ink, you will be able to make B&W prints that looks quite
decent. But not up to the real thing. And for sure they will last
less."

So, it takes all types....

-- 
Best regards,
 Richard                            mailto:richard@...

Tom Baker wrote:
 
<AHHHH!!!!  Life is good.  I spent a good part of the day out in the
wind and rain taking pictures <of the stormy sea with my 4x5 and real
b&w film.  A tourist came up (there are ALWAYS tourists <here) with a
puzzled look on his face.  "Not many of your kind of photographer left",
he said.  <"It's even worse than that" I said.  "I'm shooting black and
white".  At that point his <expression was something like "Man, YOU ARE
NUTS."  He promplty said, "Well, I guess I better let <you get on with
your work.  My wife and son are waiting for me in the car."  He turned
and left.

<I don't know what the message is here.  But,  LIFE IS GOOD in the large
format b&w lane.

<snip>
 
Cool story Tom.  Every time I go out with my Wisner 4x5 I have similar
experiences.  I always get onlookers, and sometimes small-format
photographers, coming up and asking questions or often just watching.  I
always try to be friendly and accommodating.  However, most of the time
their questions and expressions don't say to me, "Man, you are nuts,"
but something different.  Even though they most likely don't really know
exactly what I am doing, they think, "Man, this guy is doing something
special."  Or so I choose to believe! :-)
 
Jeff Moore
 


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Excellent snippet.  I was out the other day (great light) with my 8x10 field
camera.  A fellow with a 35mm SLR and some kind of _big_ zoom lens walked up
and asked what my "apparatus" was when I started to open the clamshell.  I
explained that it was a view camera.  When I got the bellows extended he
asked if I was taking pictures of wildlife (big = telephoto).  I explained
it was a fairly wide-angle lens.  From there on it was pretty much deer in
the headlights, esp when I was happy the exposure time was under a minute.
That happens a lot.

Regards,

  --Ken Carney
    www.kencarney.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Baker [mailto:tbaker1328@...]
Sent: Sunday, November 30, 2003 8:06 PM
To: DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [Digital BW] A snippet from a day in the life


AHHHH!!!!  Life is good.  I spent a good part of the day out in the wind and
rain taking pictures of the stormy sea with my 4x5 and real b&w film.  A
tourist came up (there are ALWAYS tourists here) with a puzzled look on his
face.  "Not many of your kind of photographer left", he said.  "It's even
worse than that" I said.  "I'm shooting black and white".  At that point his
expression was something like "Man, YOU ARE NUTS."  He promplty said, "Well,
I guess I better let you get on with your work.  My wife and son are waiting
for me in the car."  He turned and left.

I don't know what the message is here.  But,  LIFE IS GOOD in the large
format b&w lane.

Tom Baker