For many decades the standard snapshot print size was the deckle edged "N" print (3.5" x 4.5") (look in your old family photo albums) it is only since about the 70's when 35mm became the default that 3.5" x 5" and now 4" x 6" have become the norm. Back in the fifties if you shot with your brownie you got 3.5" x 3.5" prints back. Even today, pro-labs return 4" x 4" proof from square negatives. Very few mini-labs can handle 120 film so you don't see any square prints from them, but than they won't develop your square negatives either.
Some of the strongest images I have seen have been squares, the photographer has to do his work to create a dynamic image because the format itself is rather static, but when he does the image can be spectacular. Ciao, Graywolf http://pages.prodigy.net/graywolfphoto ----- Original Message ----- From: "frank theriault" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Personally, I think it's poppycock. And I still think that the prevalence of > rectangular photographic paper is due to the overwhelming dominance of 35mm in the > marketplace over the last 50 years or so.
