The Manrilla Blog | Life. Art. Religion. Culture.

I finally got the first portrait up off the ground yesterday, commencing the new series, People I’ve Known. There is a Projects section up on the photography site, where I have some older photographs that I’ve compiled to start that series. But I’ve begun a new series of photographs, looking to do an exhibition eventually with all of these. My goal is output all of these as large prints (30″ x 40″ or larger). I’m shooting the series on 4×5. I’d like to say exclusively, but we’ll see. Shooting in the studio yesterday with Nick and Sara made me realize how much I missed shooting 4×5. For those unfamiliar, a 4×5 camera, otherwise known as a large format camera, creates a negative that is 4 by 5 inches. This is huge in compared to traditional 35mm, which measures 24 by 36 millimeters. Though I do so dearly miss my Hasselblad 501 c/m, the 4×5 is just magical. It’s slow; precise. The images captured have a sense of space that other formats just don’t. You shoot only one sheet of film at a time, forcing to you to change your approach. I’ve been shooting straight 35mm digital now for almost 6 months. And while I do love digital for what it’s worth, it’s also a big breath of fresh air to put a big camera on a big tripod, pull out two or three sheets of film, load some holders, put the dark cloth over your head, compose your image reversed and upside down, take a deep breath, cock the shutter, focus the bellows, loupe up to glass and click. Ahhh…, yeah. This is going to be a fun, rewarding series. I’ll post images at some point. Stay tuned.