I like square photographs also, but I would argue that they were originally a "form follows function" result of the twin-lens design of cameras such as the Rolleiflex/Rolleicords and the common psuedo-TLR camera production of cameras such as the Kodak Duaflex, Ansco Rediflex, etc. If you put the viewfinder in the top of the camera, it makes a rectangular format impractical since it is designed to be used as a waist-level camera and turning the camera 90 degrees to become vertical is, in a word, awkward.
At least part of the reason I think that square format images have appeal today is that they are now out of the ordinary. They have visual interest on the basis of their format alone, independent of the content of the image. Old school square format shooters could always choose to crop horizontal or vertical, after the fact (essentially turning their square 120/220 film cameras into 12 exposure 645 cameras). Today, we have the same option with every rectangular format image we shoot... to see if there is an interesting square formatted image hiding within. Darren Addy Kearney, Nebraska -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
