My first 4x5 shot

Well, I used my 4x5 for the first time this weekend...... WOW. I'm in love, granted I used only polaroids for instant gratification but I was very impressed. I just want to say thanks to everyone for helping me out of the silly binds I got into. This may sound wierd but, I felt like some guy in the 30's etc taking pictures. I loved the time it takes to get a shot etc.

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Thanks to everyone!

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Joe

Congratulations! You may now consider yourself a REAL photographer.

Have fun with LF, and don't get in a hurry when working with the LF.

Setting the camera up and knowing you are going to get a good image

if part of the fun of the big stuff. Enjoy it.

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Regards,

Now that you are "wowed"... put some sheet film in and then enlarge to 16x20 at least and prepare yourself to be "wowed" again!

The time and prep that it takes will only help your other formats!

Cheers,

Scott

I know how you feel. I started in LF about 8 weeks ago. I had been

an "advanced amateur" with 35mm since the early 80's. I even dabbled

in MF for short time (and my satisfaction level went up some.)

However, I was never completely "satisfied" with my results. I had a

few good ones hanging around, but I could not seem to either (1) get

the quality of image I wanted nor (2) get the enjoyment from the

process that I felt I should. When I finally decided to go all the

way, I could not believe I "wasted" so much time NOT doing LF. I

still have my 35mm and will still use it for my macro work and family

snapshots, but all of my "art" photography is LF, forevermore. The

old excitement of going out to shoot has come back, and boy did I

miss it! For anyone "thinking about" going into LF and hesitating, I

can only give you the following quote from some artist that I can't

remember or find the source, but an excellent bit of wisdom:

"Simply put, you have a choice between giving your art your best shot

and risking that it will not make you happy, or not giving it your

best shot and thereby guaranteeing that it will not make you happy."

Congrats. Joe!

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There's even more good news. LF can keep getting bigger. Just

imagine an 8x10 contact print. That is something special. Enjoy and

welcome to LF.

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Regards

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Jason