I find it immensely enjoyable to make "slow" photography with my large format (9x12cm) camera. But I also find it difficult to arrive at the state of mind that this type of photography demands.
I shouldn't use the term "slow". A better term is Deliberate, which is how a photograph in the large format has to come to completion. If a mistake is made; if one of the several steps made to produce an exposure is missing, there will be no (discernible) photograph.
I have come to realize that (manual) photography demands a lot of me. Sometimes too much. I do have difficulties to concentrate when my attention is divided, so repeatedly make simple but decisive mistakes. And it happens in social situations - when my attention is on both making photographs and on the people being subjects or company. And the frequency is something like 75% of the time. My rate of success when working alone is maybe 90%.
So what do you do? Practice method; practice social skills; practice concentration. All the while sneaking off to make those truly important exposures on my own.
It is a depressing thought: To avoid making portraits because of lack of concentration. Portraiture is something that I wish to do more of.
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| Chrismas wreath on April snow. |
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| This paper positive (3 ASA) was very overexposed. I post-flashed it in development and kept it in the developer for several minutes. That didn't do it much good. The first photo in the post (top) went through a similar process. |
All but the first photographs in this post were made in the 120+ year old garden of my in-laws. Most were made on expired photo paper which I've rated at 0,007 ASA. All were exposed for two minutes or more in my Dallroid camera.
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