Anatomy of a Large Format Portrait Session

Large format photography knows no bounds; it is only limited by your bank account and patience. Want to shoot life size Polaroid’s? It has been done, and 20”x24” negatives are more common than you would think. Don’t bother asking Costco about them, they aren’t that common. I dabble in the lower end of this spectrum with 4”x5” Graflex Camera’s and an 8”x10” pinhole (we’ll save that for another day). People who get into large format photography are passionate about their art and very open to helping others get involved. I guess the more of us there are the more likely film will keep getting produced and labs processing it. Ultimately, I find large format to be an exercise in patience and attention to detail. Like any other camera or format it is only a tool, and is up to the user to make the tool work properly. I can equate this to my other hobby of wood working, power tools are nice and can cut down production time and decrease the learning curve (just like digital cameras) but do they add to the experience of producing the final product? If your only goal is the final image and you wish to do as little work as possible to produce it, then large format is not for you. It is a painstaking process that only offers challenges and few rewards that the masses will never understand. You have to do this for yourself and your need to create, and no other reason. Here is my process for every image I make with the Speed Graflex equipped with the 172mm f2.5 Aero Ektar lens.

Kara the owner of Dos Manos Gallery in Anchorage, Ak

Anatomy of a Session
Unload film cartridge in dark bag
Place exposed negative in dark box
REMEMBER TO CLOSE THE BOX BEFORE PULLING OUT YOUR HANDS
Clean all cartridges of dust
Reload each cartridge with film correctly and only one sheet at time. Without looking or itching your nose during the process (see above).
Did you remember to place all your negs right side up, and your dark slides right side out?
This has to be done by touch only and if you get a finger print on the negative you just ruined it.
Load the gear, cartridges, focusing loupe, light meter, filters, lenses, camera, tripod, dark cloth (focusing), light, bounce.
Want to shoot more than the cartridges you have, now bring your dark bag, and boxes of film.
Did you remember to write down what is in each cartridge (BW vs. Chrome vs. C41) and the ISO of each?
If not, start over.
Load your hulking tripod, gear bag and hot light (flash doesn’t work with my rig).
Get to your subject
Set up your gear on location; just remember it isn’t easy to move a large format camera
Take light readings, place your subject (ignore the strange looks), check your framing.
Answer questions about the camera and why you do this, as this never fails to be the topic.
NOW FOCUS, upside down and backwards on ground glass through a 12x loupe.
If it is bright outside, do this under a stifling black cloth.
Convince your subject to look good, and not move at all. Get them to relax at the same time, easy.
Grab an unexposed film cartridge nearby, as you didn’t forget your film across the room.
Watch your subject not move and load the cartridge. If they moved, start over.
Don’t move the camera as you slide in the cartridge.
Cock the shutter and set the shutter speed to your predetermined light reading.
NOBODY MOVE
Now pull the dark slide from the film (you didn’t grab an exposed one did you?)
Subject sill hasn’t moved and you haven’t bumped the camera
TRIP THE SHUTTER
Replace the Dark Slide
If you pulled the cartridge before replacing the slide while in a hurry,
START OVER.
Either way, check your focus again.
Engaged your subject
Check your focus
Rinse, Wash, Repeat……..

Sound like fun? It is to me, and I look forward to every session someone agrees to sit for. Why? When
I could just take the digi SLR out and a small strobe on location and shoot 200 frames and Photoshop
them to perfection? It is the process of making art that interests me just as much as the final product.
It forces me to focus all my energy into creating and image and break down the process step by step to ensure a final image that is worth printing. It took me over a year to figure out the above steps and
remember to them in order most of the time. My first tries were disastrous; I have a box of expensive film that is never going to see the light of day. It is ultimately the challenge of using the tool that the artist must enjoy. Why do some carpenters use only hand tools…..because it is the challenge that they seek, not just the final product.

Tintype, film, digital, it doesn’t matter, what matters is the process you go through to produce art. Do you engage yourself and your subject, if not it will show. Large format ultimately helps me immerse myself in creating an image, and requires my subject to engage as well. It demands patience, and practice, and lots of film and in the end only you will decide if it is worth it.

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The man who drove me to this

Good Health and Travels,
David