Hi Bill, Seasons best to you and your 'much better half'! I've never
tried to shoot my railfanning with a 4 x 5 view camera but I certainly
could have. I don't know much about Don Wood, but I would bet that he
actually used a 4 x 5 'press' camera in his work. I used one more than
a few times in my earlier years in the business and with a good lens,
good techniques they can make excellent images.
That being said the old masters are definitely giving way to a
bunch of 'new masters' in the digital realm. This summer, I produced a
catalogue for a client who makes cabinet hardware, so it's alot of close
delicate work. In the past I had used a 4 x 5 camera and produced an
excellent book. This year we did it digitally with a Kodak SLR14n and
the results are almost identical.
When it comes to Black & White work, yes it holds an honored time
and place in my career and life, but in no way can it match the quality
and tonality of a digital print made on fine art paper. With black and
white, we all printed the infamous 'step wedge' showing 10 steps from
white to black. Today we can make a print with 256 shades of
tonality. I hardly do any B & W printing, but many guys have used some
of the older semi-pro Epson's (1200/1280's etc.) and used some of John
Cone's quadra ink systems to produce some truly outstanding work.
However, you must have it in the camera first, the digital file or film
next to be able to produce really in-depth images. I truly wish that I
had devoted a little more time to that side of the trade. Most of my
work is for ad agencies and corporations who have gone the 'Wal Mart'
way, and thus we have lost the financial means to produce truly 'better'
work even for ourselves, not to mention our clients.
Bob Werre
Bill Lane wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> The combination of attending the Don Wood estate sale at Thanksgiving and
> negative purchases from eBay this year got me thinking about past and
> present railroad photography. In spite of taking thousands of photos, I
> still say that I take pictures, but Don Wood was a photographer! With the
> world quickly moving towards all digital photography, I think that it
> takes
> a lot of the "old master" knowledge out of the process in making an image.
> If you have ever used a 4 x 5 camera you know what it must have been like
> for Don to lug that beast along for a fun day of Railfanning! My 4 x 5
> camera was a studio camera. I cannot imagine trying to take a photo of
> something moving.
>
> I also still much prefer a darkroom produced print over a digital
> print. In
> spite of having a $600.00 8 x 10 negative scanner and a $600.00 Epson
> photo
> printer that can print up to 13" x 19", in my opinion, a darkroom produced
> photo from a medium or large format negative will yield a much better
> photo
> then I can make from my computer. Since I have acquired some interesting
> negatives this year, I decided to set up my darkroom again, possibly
> for the
> last time. I have always been a Kodak man for my paper and chemicals.
> Since
> Kodak stopped making B&W paper a while ago it is becoming hard to find. I
> just bought some sealed 8 x 10 and 11 x 14 paper boxes from eBay that
> I hope
> are still good and not outdated.
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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