[LargeFormat] Large format at weddings

[Jim Brick]

Dear Unk,

Being a bit older than you, I have already been through your A, B, & C 
scenarios. While they look good on the surface, they always require vasts 
amount of equipment and an Igor assistant to do the schlepping.

To my credit, I have happily solved the ABC dilemma. I now use a pocket 
full of Minox cameras. I find the Minox TLX to be good as it has Aperture 
priority. A pocket full of loaded Minox cameras (six cameras x 36 
exposures) will give you 216 photographs. You need only one Minox flash. 
You take a new camera out of your right pocket, attach the flash, 
photograph, and when the film is spent, remove the flash, put the camera 
into your left pocket and repeat.

If you are left handed you may reverse the sides.

No more Igor, no more large bags of equipment, no more broken back and flat 
feet. Just snap, snap, snap at both appropriate and inappropriate moments.

Nefu Jimmy



At 10:12 AM 9/14/2002 +0800, rstein wrote:
>Dear friends,
>
>      Uncle Dick takes off his comic hat and puts on his serious one for a
>moment. I have an enquiry that may have commercial benefits.
>
>      I do small wedding photography - by that I mean it is not a constant
>money-making venture that is essential to my survival. Those of you who do I
>salute - please do not be offended that I am lurking  in your field of
>endeavour. Be content that the weddings I do would never have been big
>payers to a commercial worker - nor are they big payers to me. They are what
>might be termed niche coverage.
>
>     They are not great art - whatever great art is. ( Aside - Art is what
>you can't sell and fine art is what you couldn't sell in a fit....) They are
>cheery documentation of the day with a few mantlepiece masterpieces that
>will be dusted for decades and then pressed into a family history book.
>
>      I employ a servant, Igor, to haul cases, load magazines, hold flashes,
>and bring me unconscious females during thunderstorms. Igor comes from a
>long line of Igors and is very professional at it. See Terry Pratchett.
>
>     Up to now I have been experimenting for years with the right
>combinations of cameras,films, flashes, and accessories to do the coverage.
>Some weddings have been like an explosion in a camera shop - and some have
>seemed like hauling ammunition up to the Somme. I have longed to reduce the
>amount of gear needed.
>
>     To that end, I am devising a three-part plan for coverage. A,B,and
>possibly C. A and B involve 35mm and 6 x 6 camera outfits respectively -
>different amounts of coverage, different results for the size of prints,
>different prices. I have plotted a reasonable return on the investment and
>will only be hauling one type of camera in each scenario - spares, of
>course, but not 2 systems at once.
>
>      The C option is the one I need advice on. I am contemplating offering
>huge pictures taken on 4 x 5 sheet film. I have enough holders to do 50
>shots at one time, though I am contemplating only doing 32 per wedding. As
>you can imagine, the price will need to be high, but the whole package will
>be quite large - proofs at 8 x 10 for instance. I am contemplating using the
>Linhof E on a Gitzo tripod to do it.
>
>     Does anyone else in the list use their large format cameras for wedding
>coverage in the field? How do they manage the practicalities of it? Is there
>a market? How many pictures do they take? Equipment? Lighting?
>
>      I would be very grateful for any advice.
>
>     Uncle Dick
>
>
>
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