I Am A Purist

Submitted by Syv Ritch on 2. June 2011 - 23:50

The other day, I met this photographer who shall remain anonymous because… He makes very nice black and white panoramic landscapes and he makes a good living selling the prints. Within 2 minutes of our conversation:

I am a purist, I only use black and white films. When I take the photo, that's it, that's how it's printed.

So, I asked him a few questions:

Me — Do you have landscape camera?
Him — Yes, an Hasselblad XPan (a landscape camera, 35mm film, 2 photos wide 24x65mm frame with 3 different lenses. Hasselblad stop manufacturing them because of the EU lead regulations.)
Me — Do you do your own processing?
Him — No, I use the "The Lab" (It's one of the best photo lab in Vancouver, BC or the best.)
Me — This (the print) looks like these "old" Kodak Polycontrast paper
Him — Yes...

  • Mine's bigger than yours.
  • Mine's better than yours.
  • I'm more of a carpenter than you because I use a handsaw.

I love snobs. He is so much better than I am, I use digital, Lightroom… He may be a purist, but his photo processing is not that pure. Kodak Polycontrast paper allows you to use the same photo paper but change the characteristic of the paper by using filters and making the photo paper behaving like a soft paper or a hard paper.

Soft paper, hard paper. What's that? That's the Kodak 1970s/1980s equivalent of using curves in Lightroom/Photoshop to change the contrast.

I have not yet figured out what the difference between film and digital when making or even taking photos. It's still a matter of:

  1. Light
  2. Composition
  3. Moment
  4. Marketing the business