Anyone reading this blog on the construction of our 20x24 Camera at Loughborough will almost certainly have some appreciation of the difference and comparative merits of using large format photography such as the 4x5 or 8x10 and small and medium format cameras that either shoot film or record digitally. In this context performance is important and it almost goes without saying, therefore, that this project aims to produce a camera of outstanding quality that will be joined to some of the finest optics available, namely Schneider 550mm and 1100mm Fine Art Lenses: http://www.schneiderkreuznach.com/neuheiten/fine_art_xxl_e.htm. By doing this we aim to provide artists with the opportunity to produce exceptional images that cannot easily be produced by alternative means.
There are currently countless websites that debate at length the various merits or otherwise of various types of equipment and their appropriate uses. As an example the debate about the comparative merits of rangefinder and SLR cameras and their optics: http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/rangefinder-vs-slr.htm, or comparisons between large format film or medium format digital photography: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/Cramer.shtml. There are well-rehearsed arguments about both the �analog� and �digital� but none of these are of much concern to us as we build this giant of a camera. The interest for us lies in providing our students and academic colleagues the widest possible variety of equipment, materials and processes that can be used for creative purposes. We are convinced that our recent expansion of photography facilities, both traditional and contemporary, [alongside our other workshops such as fine art printmaking] will open up new ways of seeing and recording, and most importantly for the production of the artifacts of art. In particular we wish to breath new life and substance into traditional methods. Making a 20x24 camera is merely the next step in this aspiration.
This October, here at Loughborough University, the School of the Arts and the Design School will be celebrating the opening of a new design school building and a fully refurbished art school in time to welcome the new cohorts of students. In the near future we�ll display on this blog some of our facilities that are currently in development and some of the research projects that they will support.
We hope that, along with other important ventures in large format photography around the world, we will be able to contribute to the development of this field of endeavour.
Professor Terence Kavanagh
Professor Terence Kavanagh
This month�s recommended sites:
20x24 Studio New York
Elsa Dorfman
Phil Bekker
Impossible Project
No comments:
Post a Comment