The Horse is short for Horseman, my recently purchased 8x10 camera. I got a very good deal, yet it's a very expensive camera. One sheet of film and process is a bit over $20.00. Think about that $20.00 for one exposure. How much is a digital exposure? Crazy, crazy. But there is something subtly special and compelling about the feel of the image. Of course there is the fall off, i.e. the look of the background as it fades away from the point of focus. I have a 300mm/5.6 lens and if I dare to fully open up and I am near my subject the background beautifully obliterates. And the texture, which I have always loved, is so rich you can taste it.
My goal with this camera is to find something special to use it for. It must be something more than just a subtle quality to the image. I'm searching for something magical. It make take many more views and film to find what that may be, but I'll continue to, carefully, search. It's a bit "Catch 28." To find what's special I must burn film, which costs a fortune.
Tom Paiva, a connoisseur of all thing large format, says it's rare that a client will pay the cost to shoot an 8x10, but that does not stop him from using it for his personal work. Can the average person tell viewing it on a monitor? It's highly unlikely, but in photography, do we always opt for the practical? That's it for now. Moving forward my goal with this blog is to write more frequent yet shorter posts. Cheers to all, and it's good to be back.
