hugo_j._zhang1

Swimming 15 miles a week, reading Nabokov and Proust.

18cm Zeiss Dagor f/9.

I went from 4x5 to 8x10 two years ago. The only drawbacks: 1. you do not want to touch your 4x5 camera anymore, 2. you do not want to use an enlarger anymore.

41. 8x10 for 2 years after 1/2 of that time on 4x5.

Hi John!

 

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I own and use 9-1/2 f6.8 Dagor for my 8x10 Deardorff. Wonderful lens.

I have the golden dot version. Small, sharp, contrasty with a special

glow. Enough coverage for 8x10. I usually shoot at f45.

 

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Hugo

110xl. I have no experience with Nikon 90mm f8. But I do own and use

110xl. Very sharp and contrasty, a great performer.

I use Ries100 with my 8x10 Deardorff.

To create a new world.

Old wooden 8x10 Deardorff. Bergger 200 film in ABC Pyro. Contact

printing with AZO+Amidol, getting into Pt/Pd. NO DIGITAL!

Same photo can NOT be taken over and over again, unless you are using

an auto 35mm shooting out of the window of your tour bus. First and

foremost, photography as an art is a very intense creative process

and experience. It's a form of personal expression. If somebody

happens to like my photo, that's fine. I care less if somebody say

that my photos are just like others' photos. I know that's not true.

Nature is infinite, thus the way to express it.

I went to see Edward Weston's exhibition last Saturday. One of his

early photo was subtitled "Something out of Nothing?".

Dan,

 

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Let me try to answer part of your question.

 

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Nothing is something you do not value or care to know. Something is

discovered from nothing.

 

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When we make responses and judgements, we make them based on our

backgrounds and experiences. Because of the vast diversity of our

ever changing life and the way we grow to learn, answers have only

relative meanings.

 

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There is a world in a drop of water. Or you can say the eternity is

in the moment. As fine art phtographers or artists in general, we

are trying to discover or make something from NOTHINGNESS. Our

attempts(futile?)to leave marks behind. Like our children building

sand castles on the beach in summer. The difference is they do it for

fun and we do ours with serious intentions. Tibetan monks will spend

hundreds of hours to make beautiful artwork using sand, and then

destroy them when finished to leave no marks behin. In doing so,

Nothing becomes Something, and then Something ends in Nothing. For

people involved in this activity, the second Nothingness is not the

same first undiscovered Nothingness.

 

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As human being, we also try to dicover THINGS around us and give

names to them. When you say it is nothing, you do not really mean it

is NOTHING, you mean to say it's something of low value to YOU at

that moment.

 

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In the end, nothing is something, and something is nothing. It is not

what we say, but rather HOW we say it.

No, Chris. How could you go back to 35mm from LF? What makes LF so

addictive is the challenges and rewards it represents. Tell me you

feel the same when you look at THINGS on 8x10 ground glass. What

about that sensual sharpness and special texture and glow of contact

print? The time you spend to contemplate about compositions and zones

behind that dark cloth and the pounding of your heart the moment you

press the shutter when you know you are getting something good. The

heaviness of your gears and the endless hours you spend in the

darkroom trying to craft a fine print. The lonliness and joy. LF can

be a powerful tool of artistic expression. But the physical and

emotional involvement of it can also be an unique experience and be

an end by itself. I know some people who shoots 8x10 and has not

developed the negs for the last three years. You do not have shoot

1,000 frames to get good. Better time might be spent to look at good

pictures, specially good paintings. I can go weeks without a single

exposure. If I have nothing to say, I just keep quiet.

Aaron,

 

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I agree with what Kevin and Carl. Photography is only one means of

artistic expression. It's more a journey than a destination.

The "vision" comes from within yourself. You have to dive into

yourself to find it. It's an accumulation of your experience(pains

and bliss), of what you have learned, of your memories of past and

observations of HERE and NOW. You have to ask yourself a serious

question: Do I have to use cameras to express myself? Be honest with

yourself. If the anwser is a simple no, then do not take photography

seriouly, there are millions of happy hobbiests in this world. If the

anwser is YES, and photography as a means of expression so important

for you that you can not live without it, then start to build a life

around it. Your can not ask other people opinon about your photos.

They are irrelavent. Do not expect to make a living out of it. It's

more a sacrifice. Take your time to learn, and do not rush yourself.

Try to observe THINGS. When you look at a tree in its fall glory, try

to imagine yourself as that tree, feel the warm golden light on your

skin. In addition to Rilke, read Van Gorh's letters, some Proust, or

even some Zen books. Sometimes you have to get loose. If you have the

verbal anwser for the big question of "vision", why do you need

photography? Photography is a very sensual experience, enjoy it. If

you do not have an an anwser to your question, be content that you do

not have an anwser. To finish, I want to quote you some wisdom of

3000 years age:

Do not seek fame. Do not make plans. Do not be absorbed by

activities. Do not think that you know. Be aware of all that is and

dwell in the infinite. Wander where there is no path. Be all that

heaven gave you, but act as though you have received nothing. Be

empty, that is all.

The mind of a perfect man is like a mirror. It grasps nothing. It

expects nothing. It reflects but does not hold. Therefore, the

perfect man can act without effort.

I used a 35mm Nikon for 10 years before I bought a Hassy and a 4x5

Arca-Swiss a year later and then a 8x10 Wista a few months later and

a 8x10 Deardorff another few months later. I only shoot 8x10 now.

It's an addiction. It's so hard to get a fine print, but you really

start to learn. You drive a few hundred miles over the weekend just

for that tree or rock or that special light. It's an experience. It's

a life.

I second David. I have been using Bergger for over a year after

dropping Ilford HP5. Best combination seems to be:

Bergger+Pyro+AZO+Amidol. I shoot 8x10 and the contact prints have a

wonderful glow.

You need to read Rilke's "Letters To a Young Poet". It anwsers many

questions you have raised.

I own and use a 150mm Super Symmar XL. It's a very sharp and

contrasty lens. But it is very heavy and big. I prefer to use 150mm

or 180mm Zeiss Dagor as a wide angle lens. Only 1/5 of weight and

size, covers 8x10 with plenty of room and extremely sharp. Actually,

I prefer old dagors than modern Schneider/Fujis. You will be doing

lots of contact printing anyway. Dagor+Pyro+Azo+Amidol=beautiful

glowing images. I was lusting for that $9,000 Ebony before I settled

down with a used Deardorff. I love it and still think that's the best

choice I have made. The brand name of the tool is not that important

once you get addicted to the vision and technique part of your art.

Look at the lens Edward Weston used to make his images. I bought a

brand new Arca-Swiss 4x5 and brand new Rodenstock and Schneider XL

lenses two years ago which I hardly use now. You grow as you learn,

save your money and keep your options open.

Welcome to the 8x10 world and best luck!

 

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Hugo

I am mostly what you call a amatrur fine art photography. I have a day job and in my spare time I do 8x10, mostly B&W landscapes and still life with pyro and contact print them. About a few months ago, maybe under the influence or inspiration of Sally Mann and Jocks Sturges, I took a few snap shots with my hassy of my children(a 8 yr old boy and a 7 yr old girl)unclothed in the bathtub. I thought they were innocent pictures and took it to a local lab to process it(I only process my 8x10s)last week. Detectives showed up in my house yesterday morning with these "disturbing" pictures, searched the house, took my computer and a social service lady showed up in the afternoon. I am not allowed to see my kids and had to stay in a hotel last night. I am waiting for their words now. No clue what is going to happen. I did not know child nudity = child porno which I think they are investigating. I came into this country 12 yrs ago and never come to something like this. Do I need a lawyer? Any similar experience and advice?

Lee's B&W filter set(4 filters), a snap-on holder with a rubber band.

I have 9 8x10 lenses from 150mm to 600mm. It fits all. It costs you

$57 from B&H.

The lens in Copal 3 is an earlier version and single coated. The one

in Compur 3 is a multi-coated late production run and usually costs a

two or three hundreds more than the first one. I use a Lee filter

with the snap-on rubber band, easy and great with different lens

sizes.

I am going on a 3-day trip to Cancun this Oct. I need to decide if I want to bring my 8x10 Deadorff with me for the Mayan ruins. My main concerns are crowds, light conditions and logistics. Any comments and suggestions are welcom. Thanks in advance. Hugo

I use an Arca-Swiss Discover 4x5 with 110XL and a 210 Rodenstock

lens. Wonderful combination. No need of WA bellow. Discover comes

with a backpack. You can get an extension rail for the 210mm lens if

you want to do some close up work. Good luck and welcome to the world

of LF.

It's a Schneider 210mm f/8 Angulon,I guess. Due to inconsistant

quality control of lens production of that period(50s-70s?), you

actually have to test Anlugons before you buy them. This is what I

have learned somewhere from this forum.

Why don't you take a look at 240mm Dagor? It's coated, very sharp

when stopped down. They are available used at very good price.