xpan for documentary work

[emraphoto]

i have never really embraced the 50 myself so it has been a bit of a wrestling match at times. i usually sport a 35 or 28 and you have quite a bit of room to move with those focal lengths. they gather quite a bit of information respectively.

the 45mm requires that i am a LOT more prepared as far as my positioning and where i am looking for things. i can't just wait around up close and snap as things unfold. i have to be a little more in tune with where i want to be when things are happening. i find myself doing a lot more 'bobbing and weaving' in the upper body. sometimes up on the ends of my toes and sometimes down on my knees. a full body workout!

of course the proximity must be taken in to account. i have always been a close shooter. a few steps back and perhaps a little less yoga would be in order. i have been really cautious of turning the format into a gimmick. trying very hard to use all the space on the negative with shapes and tones. it certainly keeps one focused!

i was in contact with one of the folks at the agency and they are pretty impressed with some of the work (which is code for EDIT, EDIT, EDIT). we will see where it goes from there in a month or two.

right now i am just scanning. i haven't printed yet and when i do i usually rent an imacon for a few hours first. might as well extract every last drop of information! i will be printing it though to show in the spring.

forgive my long silence my friend, i have really been on the run the past weeks with a few major grants due and this rather unexpected piece tossed in my lap. i have not forgotten!

 

[emraphoto]

Some very nice pictures, congratulations, I think you really used the format very well and that is not as easy as you make it seem.

Below link leeds to a photographer that also used an Xpan in this case to document the hospice of Angola prison in Louisiana (most of the inmates never leave the prison and die there).

http://www.themorningnews.org/archives/galleries/hospice_behind_bars/

thanks for the great link Peter. and the kind comment as well.

the photographer you pointed out has a far more structured approach to composition than i. the frames feel a lot more ordered and considered. admittedly i have been a pretty 'loose' shooter for quite some time and these images are good food for thought.

the subject matter is damn brilliant! this work just added a new dimension to a group of people i had admittedly pigeon holed. and someone was saying "we don't need photojournalists"?!?! a fine example of why we do, not to be found on flickr or youtube.

 

[emraphoto]

Thank for updating your site! I've been looking at the Xpans for a while, but still not sure if it'll suit my shooting style. Though looking at your pictures I'm inspired by what the Xpan can do, so thank you very much!

/David

thank YOU David. i was expecting a long period of adjustment with the xpan however i just sank into a rhythm really. it does take a bit more thinking when you are rolling to keep the format relevant.

it is a pretty sublime machine. does what it is supposed to do, well constructed, fairly quiet and a familiar interface. i realize it has classically been a landscape tool and a lot of the design takes that into account but with a little adjusting and some reasonably creative vision it can serve one well for other uses. i picked one up specifically to force myself to wrestle with another format and get those creative juices flowing.

the only negative really is that the viewfinder doesn't have the shutter/aperture displayed (version II does i believe). so far it hasn't proven an issue for me. the (relatively) slow lens is not a impediment for me as i can run tri-x at 800 due to the larger negative size. everything you see so far is plus-x at iso 500 with my inversions trimmed to 1 per minute versus every 30 seconds.

get one, you won't regret it.

 

[kermaier]

A number of years ago there was a guest lecturer in a class I was taking at the ICP in NYC, by the name of Teru Kuwayama. He showed some great documentary work he'd done using an XPan in Afghanistan and maybe Iraq. I just found his website (www.terukuwayama.com) and the slideshow has a few examples. I don't know if there's any collected work of his in pano format available online.

::Ari

Edit: I think since getting beaten up and having his gear stolen in Iraq a few years go (or so I heard), he may have switched to a Holga to present a less tempting robbery target.

 

[Peter S]

Don't sell yourself short. She has been shooting this project for at least 3-4 years I think. I find it a fascinating format in documentary photography. It tries to tempt you to cram to much information in one frame, if you manage to resist then the results can be very nice as both of you prove.

 

[emraphoto]

Thanks Peter, that's a mighty nice thing to say. one must really be on their toes and aware of the peripherals when shooting with an xpan. often they can make or break a frame.

 

[Colin Corneau]

Very very true.