These shots are all from my first attempt at using my Speed Graphic hand held. I think my Speed Graphic is from the 1950’s, it’s a 5×4 large format camera that was used by press photographers and made famous by New York photographer Weegee. As a first attempt I’m pleased to see that there are images on the film especially as I was rushing to make these shots on a really windy cold day. The focus is quite a way off and that’s because I didn’t have the lens parallel with the film – something I only noticed when putting the camera away. Lesson learnt for next time. I’ve scanned the whole negatives so you can see the entire frame.
[Tech info:] Speed Graphic with Ilford HP5+, processed in Ilford DDX for 9mins at 20c.
Art students visiting from London. The girl with the scarf in the front was very excited to see my camera.
This gentleman was my first shot of the three here and he was very patient while I got set up. Thank you.
It's such a shame that the focus is out on this shot. This gentleman looks quite French in this shot but he seemed very English to me.
I think your tilt was a little off on the shots. Good job on hand-holding the Graflex though, I’ve never seen anyone do that! David Burnett uses a Graflex with a Kodak Aero Ekta (~178mm f2.5) a lot as well.
Thanks, Mike. I think I accidentally had some front swing applied because when putting the camera away I noticed the left (as viewed from the back) standard was slightly behind the infinity stop whereas the right hand side was up to it.
The Aero Ektar lens is one of the main reasons for me getting the Speed Graphic. More on that coming soon 🙂