Why do you use ULF?

[Nick Zentena]

So can I ask why? Is it for large silver contacts? Alt?

[Mark Sawyer]

I use it to justify all the money I wasted on it.

And because I'm so overtly obsessive about certain prints that only a contact print will do.

And because I want to. (Always the best reason)

[doughowk]

Because Florida is flat, my 7X17 panorama camera is appropriate. And Alt processes are challenging.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Big contact prints, silver and albumen.

It also occasionally gets my picture in the paper--

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/product...survival_x.htm

[garysamson]

Certainly the romance of photographing with a really big camera is part of why I work with ULF. And add to that the way the subject matter in the image is rendered in a finished contact print (the physical description of skin, glass, wood, fog, metal etc) is so palpable especially combined with a handmade process like platinum. I was pushed over the edge after seeing some of Carleton Watkins giant 18x22 inch albumen prints of the American west eight years ago.

[Monophoto]

The process of photographing with LF equipment forces one to slow down and think carefully about the image before, during, and after the act of releasing the shutter. It's diametrically different from the snapshot process.

LF produces large negatives that can be used to produce prints that are grainless and that have a glow and tonality that cannot be matched in prints made from smaller negatives.

It is possible to make prints using alternative processes (such as Pt/Pd) that are radically different from conventional silver prints.

And using a LF camera in the field stimulates fascinating conversations with total strangers.

[Jim Noel]

Because it fits my vision.

[Hugo Zhang]

Because I prefer contact prints.

[Dave Wooten]

It provides a venue....

When one feels all alone and unappreciated, you can set up your ulf in a public place and draw a nice crowd....in no time at all, you will be waxing eloquent. Many will be astounded, amazed, and ask intelligent questions, some converts will come forth, and many will walk away, unenlightened, into the darkness muttering that there is always one complete idiot in every small crowd. If you feel the need, and can afford it, you can actually load up a film holder and fire off a shot; but that is totally unnecessary.

[Nick Zentena]

Thanks. I've got plenty of time to flip flop before making a choice