A Baker's Dozen: Large-Format Contact Prints

Up first is an image that isn't even a contact print, but might go one better. It's a unique image made directly in-camera on Ilford Harman Direct Positive Paper. Reader Johan Verhulst, 58, who lives in Lebbeke, a small village in the Flanders region of Belgium, uses a brass Suter Petzval lens from the 1800s on his Sinar P 8x10 camera. Because he rates the paper at ISO 2, he says "my poor models suffer a very high dose of flash light."

Denise Ross, Summer Sweet Corn, whole plate camera. Denise writes, "Age: not quite Medicare yet; location: home, by way of the Newport, Oregon, Farmers Market."  :-)  A beautifully simple photograph that I'll bet is considerably nicer "in person" as a contact print.

John Wyke writes from the North of Spain: "Here's me with one of my recent contact prints. I use the Intrepid Cameras 4x5 camera and I'm quite happy with the way it's going. I've always loved contact printing, and I'm happy to have a plate camera now rather than just medium format. I do my darkroom stuff at the La Puerta Verde photography school in Oviedo, Spain, which is run by my friend Ricardo Moreno (La Puerta Verde—Escuela de Fotografía). Although he offers courses in digital photography by necessity, his first love is analog and there are about fifteen of us who use various analog cameras, from Holgas to Hasselblads.

"I'm in the process of working on dual exposures contact prints like the one in this picture. I'm not quite there yet, but the joy is in the journey, not the destination. I'm also looking at Tintype style images. I do like the idea of a one shot, no copies, just a single object that you produce."

Stephen Schafer, Santa Monica Post Office, California (HABS index card)

Although the call was for contact prints, this is too interesting to leave out. Reader Stephen "Schaf" Schafer, who works all over California and Nevada, makes his living with 4x5 and 5x7 sheet film documenting heritage for the HABS/HAER/HALS collections. This is a sample of the so-called "digital contact prints" he submits along with his original negatives to the Library of Congress, where the work is in the public domain.

HABS = Historic American Buildings Survey; HAER = Historic American Engineering Record; HALS = Historic American Landscape Survey. This is true documentary work, and it's a great way to get out in the world with a camera.

William F. Whitaker, Three Vanities, 2004

Will Whitaker, 61, from Salisbury, North Carolina, says that most of the tools, processes and techniques he uses date back to the early 20th century, a period he especially admires in art, photography and design. "This image was taken with an 8 3/4" Wollensak Verito at approximately ƒ/6.3 (which is important because of the nature of the Verito lens whose character changes as it is stopped down). The Verito dates from 100 years ago, so fits right in with the aesthetic I admire so much."

At first I thought these 8x10 contact prints from reader Thom Bennett's website might be the same young lady at different ages, but it turns out they're sisters. Thom is 58 and lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Currently he works in 8x10 but he says he will soon be acquiring a 7x17, which sounds like something he'll have fun with.

Although an in-camera original and not a contact print, I also couldn't resist including an example of the Tintypes people sent me, and this one's a whopper. Literally. In fact it sounds like Monty McCutchen is "all in": he shoots in 10x12, 7x17, 16x20, and 20x24 and, for the most part, contact prints his work with platinum/palladium, Pt/Pd gumovers, and Ambrotypes/Tintypes. (He did send me several JPEGs of actual contact prints.) He says he uses a lot of Lodima paper from our friends Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee, who you remember from our large format contact print sale a few years back. He writes that he resides in Asheville, North Carolina, "and within the confines of my own photographic geekery."

As they say in New Hampshire, eeyup. One measure of how deep Monty's geekery goes? One of his many ultra-large-format cameras is a 20x24 Ebony with a 16x20 reducing back! Ya gotta love that. He says of it, "I am acutely aware of how silly that sounds. At one time getting a 16x20 reducing back seemed to make sense. As the years have progressed I am having a hard time remembering the conditions in my life that would have constituted that decision being of sound mind and body."

Why "whopper"? The original of the JPEG shown above is a 20x24 (!) Tintype, which must have gobs of presence in the flesh—or, er, tin.

Of all the images readers sent in, this might have been the only Kallitype (an iron-silver alt process similar to Van Dyke brown). Although not his main way of working, Steve Wolfe of Columbus, Ohio, says he still occasionally shoots 4x5" black and white film, usually Ilford HP5+, with his Graflex Crown Graphic. He contact prints them and tones the prints with platinum/palladium.

By the way, if you're wanting to dip a toe into large format (LF) and contact printing, a Crown is a good place to start. I loved playing with those cameras. Vulch on eBay for a good one, and take your time looking. Great ones at reasonable prices are still being passed around among photography enthusiasts. Use yours for a few years then pass it back.

A lot of LF photographers I know make digital snaps of their setups when they work. (As well of promising scenes when they're scouting for locations.) Although the top picture above is from a scan and thus a bit outside the call, reader Gary Nylander, 59, of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, was kind enough to include just such a documentary record shot, taken with his phone:

With large format, you really do engage in a deep way with your subject—it's usually a relaxed, contemplative, engaged, take-your-time-and-get-it-the-way-you-want-it process. Nothing rushed or lucky about it, usually.

The picture in the picture is called Living the Dream: Stuff, and More Stuff

Since we're stretching the boundaries here (lots of readers sent things other than JPEGs of "purist," or straight, all-analog contact prints), I can't resist including this "selfie" by reader Mike Rosiak. "The print in my right hand was contact-printed from the negative in my left hand, Van Dyke brown process, on paper I hand-coated. The negative is on 8.5x11" Pictorico OHP film, printed from my Epson P600. Original image taken with a Lumix GF1, IR conversion by LifePixel, and using the Olympus body cap lens. Silver Efex Pro to make into B&W, then channels reversed to make the negative. So, the whole thing is pretty much a hybrid.

"The print behind me is another contact print, a Cyanotype. What looks like a print in the big red clip is my first 'negative,' which is positive! Early learning curve.

"Both Van Dyke brown and Cyanotype processes were in existence about a hundred years before I was born. (I'm 75). The Cyanotype print got a second place in a local (Southeast Pennsylvania, Northwest of Philadelphia) art group's Spring show, while the other print was accepted as a finalist in Pennsylvania's annual Art of the State event, and hung in the Harrisburg State Museum from June until September.

"I mostly shoot digital (99+%), haven't had a darkroom in maybe 20 years, but this stuff is fun to fool around with, and requires only a 'mostly dim' room."

Mike has two 4x5 cameras, a Crown Graphic and a (Kickstarter) Wanderlust Travelwide.

And here's Michael Boudreaux, 33, from Austin, Texas. "I shoot primarily a Hasselblad, a 4x5 Chamonix, and an 8x10 Deardorff recently purchased from Blue Moon Camera in Portland," Mike writes. "I'm holding my first contact print out of this (rugged) beauty, shot on Ilford HP5+, developed in Pyrocat HD and printed on Ilford MG Classic FB.

"I sit at a computer all day at work, so I gravitate towards vintage machines like goofy old cameras and quirky British roadsters." I get that.

You've met photography teacher Jeff Dionesotes before—he's the guy who bought my once-beloved SaltHill (made by my late friend Joe Saltzer, RIP) print washer when I moved away from Wisconsin. (Actually, I gave it to him—it was originally a review sample that I ended up paying nothing for, and thus it would have been unethical for me to profit from its sale.) This is a contact print of some of his students made with a Zone VI "Ultralight" 8x10.

...And, for good measure, one more:

Reader Chris Fazio, 61, of Chicago, Illinois took this dignified portrait of his 92-year-old mother this past September, on her birthday. He writes, "I started to get serious about photography in 2005, at the end of the film era! I love making contact prints using the Lodima paper Michael Smith makes." He has recently begun a project photographing people in profile.

•

That's it for this, the inaugural "Baker's Dozen." As I've mentioned, I'm going to try to repeat this feature at two-week intervals—at least for a little while. The next call for work is for smartphone pictures that you wouldn't have made but for the fact that you had your smartphone with you...but please read the call for work before submitting. I'm already awash in submissions (really fun to see them) so it's going to be important for you to follow protocol if you want your submission to be considered. (The amount of email I get is an organizational headache. An assistant, an assistant, my kingdom for an assistant!)

I had about three times as many submissions for this week's feature as I had space for, which is surprising given that traditional LF is such a small niche. It was excruciating to have to leave some of them out. I went for variety and "ancillary interest," you might say, and no judgement of quality is implied for those who didn't get chosen! I really enjoyed hearing from everyone and seeing your work—especially all of those who appended nice personal notes to their emails. Really good to hear from you. Sorry I don't have time to personally reply to anyone. (I really barely have time for email correspondences these days, if you're wondering why you never got an answer to an email. I do read everything that comes in.)

If you'd like to add an image in the comments, TypePad isn't really set up for that, but there's a workaround. First, the image must be on the Web and have a URL; and second, it can't be more than 470 pixels wide or it will get truncated. With those two conditions met, you can use this code in the comment box:

...Where the bit between the quote marks is the URL of your image. Leave the quote marks there.

That it for us for this week—I'm off to work on my book for the weekend. Hope you had as much fun with today's post as I did. We'll be back on Monday, and next week on Friday we'll take another trip Around the Web—I've already gotten started on that.

Mike
(Thanks to everyone who submitted work)

Original contents copyright 2017 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
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Comments

[Maggie Osterberg]

These are all beautiful. Thank you photographers and thank you, Mike!

[Gary Nylander]

Thank you, Mike for including me in your inaugural "Baker's Dozen". Great work that you have featured in this post and its nice to see a wide range of various styles and subject matter. Also good to know that there are still a few of us out there still using traditional large format film!

[Moose]

". . . he shoots in 10x12, 7x17, 16x20, and 20x24 . . ."

7x17 was a "Banquet" camera, designed for that specific purpose. Not my original, and once removed from the contact print I copied, but I thought it would be fun to see what they were primarily used for in their heyday.

A much larger version may be seen here.

This is of Carol's Aunt Annie's wedding. It's technically amazing for the DOF and sharpness right out to the corners. It's also an amazing photo because of the great wealth of characters captured having a great time in Brooklyn shortly after the war.

This sample from about half way from center to corner also happens to feature Carol's parents.

(Tripod on Annie's kitchen table after lunch, books on the corners of the print, 5D and 90mm macro lens.)

[Ken Tanaka]

This is a glorious set of images! Really. Some fabulous work among TOP readers. Wow.

[Denise Ross]

It is wonderful (and very reassuring to us lovers of photographic art and history) to see the diversity and beauty of the work here. Thank you, Mike.

[Huw]

The subject of the first photo is Els Vanopstal, a fine photographer herself: http://www.elsvanopstal.com/ And yes, these are all great - thanks for assembling, Mike.
Huw
PS If it's not Els, please correct me, Johan!

[Dave Riedel]

I really liked this post. It’s amazing what wonderful work is being done by photographers around the world that would not likely be seen but for forums like TOP. Keep up the good work Mike and my sincerest congratulations to the photographers who submitted their work whether or not it appeared in this Baker’s Dozen.

[Anthony Shaughnessy]

Great article, great pictures.
Anthony

[Stephen Scharf]

Wow. What a great series and wonderful photographs.

[Thom Bennett]

Thanks for including me in this post! Nice work by all included.

[Rory]

Any entries from photographers in developing countries?

[Rob L.]

Ufft. I recognized the Ilford/Harmon direct positive paper at a glance - that stuff is weird, wonderful magic, and a great use of it here. Now I want to go back to it...just as the light becomes scarce. A thank you somewhere between very sincere to very sarcastic for making me want to use that 4x5, Mike...

[David Dyer-Bennet]

This is a great beginning (to your planned series)! I do like seeing the images captured by other TOP readers (modern terminology deliberately applied to these large-format contact prints).

I do have contact prints from some of my 4x5 negatives—just like with my 35mm negatives. My index prints.

[Bob Cook]

Great post. Hope you do more of them.

[Michael Perini]

Thanks Mike, for a great Idea.
Thanks to all doing the work, it's wonderful, and inspirational.
I keep saying I'm done with film......
....but I can't get myself to dismantle the darkroom nor sell the cameras
from 11x14 & 8x10 deardorffs B&J 8x10 5x7 & 4x5 and beautiful Zone IV 4x5 as well as a few crown graphics
Every time I see work like this I get the bug.

I'm grateful to all who participated. Thanks

[Douglas Chadwick]

I wish there were some way of seeing the difference between a contact print and a, what do you call it? a non-contact print? on a computer.

Digital seems to have erased most of the difference between large camera and small camera images in technical terms. I've made my living selling contact prints because my customers appreciated that there was just so much more to see. You can almost walk into the image.

Now I can replicate the image with digital, it's complicated to make them look the same but it can be done. I just flipped through a stack of prints on the counter next to my computer, and it's easier to tell a contact print from a digital print by touch than from how they look. Yes, they feel different, but if they look the same.....?

[Mani Sitaraman]

This is superb!

Thank you, Mike, for your creativity in thinking of it and making it happen.

[Patrick Dodds]

@ Moose - how did the photographer ensure that everyone (bar possibly one woman) has their eyes open?!

[Del Bomberger]

I'm sure this is a "Top Ten" post, thanks so much. Kind of liberating for me personally.

[Eamon Hickey]

Loved looking at all these pictures and processes — thank you to all who submitted.

And Moose, thank you for posting that wonderful wedding shot — just fantastic. I was on that block of Flatbush Ave. about a year ago — a friend lives in a house around the corner, on the same block as the studio of the photographer who took your picture back in 1947. So your shot gave me that sense of wonder I always feel when photography reveals the layers of time that attach to a place, or a building, or even a person, and the change that time brings with it.

I also love learning new things about how professional photographers worked in the good ol' days. The banquet camera concept was new to me, but, of course, it makes perfect sense.

[bruce alan greene]

Thank you Mike for posting these beautiful and inspiring images from the TOP readers!

This has me longing for the large format and ancient processes :)

Good work everyone!!!

[David Comdico]

Love this post. I have a Crown Graphic and have always wanted to try contact printing LF, but felt that 4x5 was too small to do so. I may need to rethink that....

[Moose]

"@ Moose - how did the photographer ensure that everyone (bar possibly one woman) has their eyes open?!"

"And Moose, thank you for posting that wonderful wedding shot — just fantastic."

I'm not THAT old. I was 3 1/2 at the time, and living on the other side of the continent. Not my shot; I'm just another appreciator, passing it on.

What tricks of the trade got everyone looking at the camera with eyes wide open and lit so evenly, I don't know.

I am glad you folks enjoyed it and that I got a chance to copy it.

[John Scarbro]

This is a breath of fresh air. What a great idea Mike. I am looking forward to the rest of the series.

[MikeR]

Mike,
First, thank you for including my submission into this inaugural gallery. I am both surprised and delighted.

But second, and more important: I am impressed by the other works presented. So much so, that I would like to try to do some things as good and as unique. Been on eBay several times today, looking for the right 8x10 camera. I'm afraid you might have unleashed a demon.

[Darlene]

"@ Moose - how did the photographer ensure that everyone (bar possibly one woman) has their eyes open?!"

I will jump in here to help a guy out. What worked for me was to ask everyone to close their eyes, then count "one, two, three, open!" I would take three exposures which was adequate for getting the shot. As a photographer you need a little personality (I am happy when I shoot), be a bit of a director, but not the center of attention (people appreciate a little direction at special events), be quick (get in and get out), and know the capability of your gear in the environment. Easy peasy!

[Johan Verhulst]

@Huw:
You are quite right. She's a wonderful phtographer who works primarily in 6x7" MF.
Thanks for pointing this out.

[Robin Dreyer]

At the risk of "outing" Monty McCutchen, whom I admire as a photographer, a teacher, and a person, you and TOP readers might enjoy knowing that he's also an NBA referee, and generally considered to be one of the best. Type his name into a Google image search to see him in action.