Large Format Photography

Lockdown has given us some time to perfect our large format photography process - we were able to shoot a few during our most recent wedding, and we’ve shot some portraiture at home using each other as subjects.

Woz, shot by Em.

We’re using the Intrepid 4x5 as shown in previous posts and using sheet film, in this case Ilford HP5.

The film has changed what we can photograph. Previously working with paper negatives meant we needed so much light, and such long exposures that the process wasn’t really practical, especially in winter.
The film allows us to even take pictures indoors with windowlight.
Pictured with the film is the processing system we’re using - an SP-445 from stearmanpress.com
This is what’s enabled us to shoot film - as film is far more sensitive to light, it’s much harder to process in a darkened room as even a tiny amount would fog the image.
This is what it looks like with the lid off:

It’s essentially a light proof bottle that allows you to pour and mix the chemicals in daylight, meaning that you don’t need a darkroom to process the negatives.
That said, it’s still a long process, needing a sink and lots of different bottles. Calling it a processing system makes it sound a lot more automatic than it is!

Woz, shot by Em.

This and the above portrait were both shot in window light, with a single reflector being used to create some fill. Without this, one side of my face would be in very dark shadow. The reflector was hung from a light fitting in the kitchen! Not exactly a studio, but it does show that we could do this anywhere where there’s enough light.

Even in my little cottage with small windows, the exposure times aren’t too bad - these were at 1/15s, which means we won’t be shooting any indoor sports or even vague movement!

I’ll write in another post about the trials and tribulations of actually using large format in a wedding situation, which offers many more challenges!

Cirque Du Vulgar

By Em

I have had the privilege of working with Cirque du Vulgar alongside Len Copland on a number of occasions and I jumped at the chance when Len got in contact with me last week and said he had another session booked.
Len shoots for the press, but on this occasion I was shooting for the joy of it, the characters in the troupe are just amazing and so much fun to work with. I hope this comes across in the images I’ve included here.

If you’d like a peek at Len’s work, head over to his site here:

https://lencoplandphotography.blogspot.com

wet plate

the idea to embark on this insane experiment in artisanal photography came from when i was working on a module for my degree and the wonderful Adam Clark at Yeovil College decided to show us the new camera he had just purchased. it was actually the same model that we are now working with at something borrowed, from Intrepid Cameras. there’s a portrait I took of Adam in the set below.

at the moment we are working with more traditional film chemicals that you could have bought in boots the chemist a decade ago, but wet plate is an entirely different animal and we will be posting mode details and history of that process in the future.

in the meantime, here are some of the plates that we produced in our first faltering steps towards the previous millennium.