Now that the 11x14 Korona deal has gone belly up I am wondering what size film format should I go for next? 11x14 is a nice size but it is not super large. Maybe I should consider skipping 11x14 and moving up to a very large format like 7x17. 7x17 is basically a landscape format but maybe I could use it in non traditional ways. Instead of doing traditional mountain and tree shots like everyone else in the free world, what about using ULF cameras to shoot stuff hard edge documentary in nature. I could do shots in the Klong Toey slum, the canal and housing, poor living conditions etc. I could shoot things like the dump huts in Mae Sot surrounded with flies and garbage. I could shoot in the slums of India, Nepal, Cambodia etc. Instead of doing what everyone else does in Asia, Buddhas and the like, I could do hardcore documentary social photography of where people live. Shoot their environments!! This idea could lead to some be very powerful work.
Everything would have to be contact printed, but 7x17 is large so that is not a problem. Film would be very expensive as well as the holders. I know that Ilford does yearly ULF format film runs, 7x17 has become a standard. I am not sure about Kodak films.
7x17 seems like such a beautiful format, especially for doing environmental landscapes. Keith Canham turned me onto the wonderful photographer Lois Conner. I guess she has been shooting the 7x17 for 30 years, often on a bicycle. I guess she traveled around China by bicycle shooting with the 7x17, an amazing story. Here is her site:
The Photographs Of Lois Conner
Maybe the crashing and burning of the Korona deal will turn into a good thing for me.
Everything would have to be contact printed, but 7x17 is large so that is not a problem. Film would be very expensive as well as the holders. I know that Ilford does yearly ULF format film runs, 7x17 has become a standard. I am not sure about Kodak films.
7x17 seems like such a beautiful format, especially for doing environmental landscapes. Keith Canham turned me onto the wonderful photographer Lois Conner. I guess she has been shooting the 7x17 for 30 years, often on a bicycle. I guess she traveled around China by bicycle shooting with the 7x17, an amazing story. Here is her site:
The Photographs Of Lois Conner
Maybe the crashing and burning of the Korona deal will turn into a good thing for me.
