A day In 'West End' ... (going street with large format)

Keith

Keith

The best camera is one that still works!
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West End is one of Brisbane's oldest suburbs and is still probably the most interesting with it's eclectic mix of the well to do and the down and out. Quite a few of the disadvantaged live on the streets and sleep rough in the local park, many of them are Aboriginal with alcohol problems and little future beyond their current situation ... but they are very good people as I discovered!

I spent a few hours there the other day with my Crown Graphic, six film holders loaded with HP5+ and no light meter. There are twelve images and because they reperesent something that turned out to be very significant for me I have to show them all. I missed the focus on one or two and a couple are under exposed but that's life ... they still tell the story!

I'll let the photographs speak for themselves.

If you would prefer to view them as a slideshow they can be seen here.



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i'm curious Keith as to how you felt about going large format for quick work? i have been pondering a speed graphic or point and shoot 4x5 for documentary work but really have no experience at all with them.

are things like zone focusing a possibility? obviously loading film holders isn't like hammering away with the d700 but is it reasonably easy to load and swap?
 
Excellent series. Strange, the guy in the hat in the last picture looks familiar. What would the percentage of "keepers" have been if you used digital?
 
I held Keith's Crown Graphic after he took these photos and it is so light and usable. Load up a holder and preset everything. I would honestly be more comfortable shooting street with his setup than a waist level medium format camera.

The only drawback I can see would be zone focusing due to the shallow depth of field.....tricky.
 
...and what a story it is! Thank you for putting these up. I love street portraits, and I think 2,9,11,12 are fantastic contributions to the human story.

But I like seeing them all together too. It gives us a real feel for what your day was like, the challenges you faced as a person and as a photographer.
 
Love the third to last, especially with the 'missed focus.'

I'm going to have to calibrate the RF on my crown graphic in time to do some street with it this summer.
 
Good stuff Keith! I recognise a few faces of West End regulars. The second shot of the old gent having a ciggie is a cracker, and I also like the self-portrait and the 3rd last shot (softness and all).
 
Great stuff Keith.
I would like to ask you (mostly because I once asked myself the same question):
What advantages do you see in 4x5 over, say, 6x7 MF ?
 
emraphoto said:
i'm curious Keith as to how you felt about going large format for quick work? i have been pondering a speed graphic or point and shoot 4x5 for documentary work but really have no experience at all with them.

are things like zone focusing a possibility? obviously loading film holders isn't like hammering away with the d700 but is it reasonably easy to load and swap?
Click to expand...

To throw in my two cents--I used a Wista 4x5 in Tokyo. Love the results. The down side is the film holders and film changing. Holders are heavy and if you have too few, then film changing becomes a pain. I would go into a coffee shop with a changing bag to change holders. In the end, I found medium-format to be my best compromise between image quality and ease of use--I think 6x12 is very close to 4x5 in terms of quality (I also shoot 6x6).

But some have done really well with 4x5, even in remote places:

http://www.kevinbubriski.com/
 
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