jeannie_birdsall

Thanks, Sandy. That's just what I wanted -- for a lot of strangers

to know I'm 50 lousy years old. But enough about that. I've also

worked with an ancient (circa 1910) 8x10 camera in the studio to

create paper negatives -- they make great platinum prints. I took

the 8x10 outside once or twice and was overwhelmed with the bulkiness

and weight, but the 4x5s (old press cameras, usually -- I'm not big

on spending money) travel all right -- I've taken a few to England.

If only the filmholders were lighter. I've even worked a few times

with a 12x20 banquet camera, but it was old and falling apart and was

just too much -- or so I decided after sawing a hole in my studio

ceiling so that I could use the camera vertically -- without the

hole, I couldn't get the slide out of the filmholder. I certainly

agree with Sandy that men and women often approach technical problems

differently. My love for large format comes from letting me avoid

some techical stuff, i.e. enlarging. I love contact printing the

original negative -- I love the purity of it.

<p>

P.S. Sandy is still several years away from 50.