Just got a fashion shoot in. There was a sheet of paper for each setup with a dozen cut contacts 0f 6×4.5, 6×7 in B&W and color plus… 35mm. God, I hadn’t realized how long it’s been since I’d gotten 35mm contacts and how much I love seeing them. It’s as if that’s a cutting edge format now… I mean who the hell shoots 35mm neg? It’s so tiny.

Three cameras for every setup… that’s cool.

PS- One photo on each page had two stars and another had one and the rest had none.

PPS- Only one photo had two stars and a sun drawn around it.

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15 Comments

  1. Yup – that’s the way to submit a job: all the shots – minus the trash – with the photographer’s selects indicated.

  2. 35 is mostly what I use nowadays. those carl zeiss lenses are nice. also the sort of quick snapshot aesthetic has a realness people can comfortably relate to in todays world of short attention spans and reality tv.
    3 set ups seems to me more of an insecurity. I admit I often use two but anymore than that makes editing more difficult.

  3. who the hell shoots 3 formats on each shot, let alone on the same job!?! that’s retarded.

    i shoot 35mm color neg, even e-6 sometimes. I don’t think it’s that rare with actual working photogs, especially those out of the 80s when it was the staple format for a lot of catalog shooters and fashion guys etc.

    Underrated format. You just better know what you’re doing when the repro sizes get bigger than full page, b/c a shitty neg will show it’s flaws quick. But a tight well shot 35mm neg has a special quality to it, a bite.

  4. I grew up on 35mm. Was always a Leica shooter. Shot loads and loads of medium-format for magazine portraits. Tried shooting MF for my aerials, never felt right. Tried shooting 4×5 for portraits. That was fun, but not me. I shoot best when I’m shooting with a M body or a DSLR. It’s funny, since the 17MP cameras are basically MF quality, that is more than enough for most clients and the intended usage. Now that Leica has a digital camera that is 14 bit capture, I can get a stunning file that is perfect for reproduction.

    Glad to hear that people are still using film. I did a shoot recently where the client wanted to rush the film and they were surprised I was shooting digital.
    They thought my images looked like film.

    It’s funny, I recently shot a portrait and took the big rig with loads of scrims, lights, high MP camera, etc. Just for grins, I shot a roll of Tri-X in a M body and that was what was chosen. Simple shot, a lot of grain and a nice feel.

  5. A Photo Editor wrote:
    “PS- One photo on each page had two stars and another had one and the rest had none.
    PPS- Only one photo had two stars and a sun drawn around it.”

    So, the real question is: Will you only consider the stars and the sun, and cut those out of the contact sheet, and ONLY show the editor those frames….?

    “Is there more?”
    “Nope, that’s the whole take”.
    “OK, let’s go with it”.

  6. yeah I’m going to push for the 2 stars only and sun with two stars as the opener when I show to the CD. If the CD wants we can scan the one and twos but I’ll push to not include others. The editor will only see the layout and not have an opportunity to prove that he’s a visual retard.

  7. Camera junkies like Sam Jones and Martin Schoeller shoot 3 or more formats. Also, apparently this photographer I’ve never worked with who just turned her film in.

  8. “Camera junkies like Sam Jones and Martin Schoeller shoot 3 or more formats. Also, apparently this photographer I’ve never worked with who just turned her film in.”

    Yeah, I always forget most photogs are total gear nerds.

  9. I know it may sound silly, but I just can’t stand the 35mm aspect ratio, hate it frankly. I don’t like composing an image with a 35mm viewfinder. My 35mm cameras all have 4×5 crop marks to help me visualize my final cropping. I love square and the other large/medium format aspect ratios (even 645 is at the point of being a little too “wide” for me). Conversely, I love panoramic formats. I’ve also never really liked 35mm camera bodies. I like the speed (lack of actually) of larger formats.

  10. That sounds a lot like Cass Bird, actually. She’s very experimental with her equipment, which keeps her work from becoming routine. And her pictures are great.

  11. As soon as you said ‘her’ that’s who I thought of as well.

  12. i used to shoot a mix of mf and 35, but mostly mf. now it’s almost all 35mm (leica, contax, and half frame) and a pile of polaroids.

  13. Yeah, i could see Cass shooting lots of formats, but mainly b/c she’s probably NOT a camera junkie and just likes lots of variations.

    Good photographer. Great sense of humor too.

  14. Mini cameras….

    Massively mini media player. Mini vans. Mini media. Mini cooper. Mini laptop. Mini cameras. Mini choppers. Camera digital mini….


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