I've been recently reading and absorbing the wonderful work of Peter Lindbergh in this book buy Taschen 40th edition and I've got a whole series of books just like this but for different photographers and different art genres as well.
This is the one l picked up and I wanted to delve in and learn more about photography. Understand how we can create photos which are real, moving and represent really essentially how and what we see around us today. Something that’s an accurate representation of what we can see.
As I was reading through this book. I found three things that have struck me so far about what Peter Says about photography.
I want to go through this today in this video and hopefully in combination with the shoot that I did with Amy recently. You’re going to see some wonderful pictures, a little bit of BTS footage but also my reflections on what I'm actually doing here and what I've learnt so far in this very short period of time from Peter about photography as a whole.
The first thing that came up for me was that he says larger formats are like a presentation and that really struck me because this is really true.
This is something that I have been doing in the last year on YouTube. I've been shooting a lot with my Bronica Zenza ETRS, the 6by45 camera and more recently as you've seen from my videos I've been trying to work with my Fuji GSWiii 6 x 9 camera.
What are the reasons why I've been shooting on larger format or in this case on Medium Format? The size of the image itself on Medium Format, you can see a lot more detail, there's a lot more depth and you can see it right out the back from the development process itself with slide film. For me, I really couldn't agree more with Lindbergh that larger format is for presentation work.
As you can see through the images that I'm going to be putting up here that really you've Gotta think through what you're shooting and why are you shooting those particular images. I think often we get distracted by the volume of photography, so we shoot lots of things without really thinking about what we are presenting.
Who is it that would be interested in looking at these images? Why would they be looking at these images? What might they find interesting about it?
So I certainly agree with Peter's representation here about the fact that large formats in particular are really for presentation work and so with that thought in mind I think, certainly if you are shooting or want to shoot with medium format then think about what you're shooting? Why are you shooting it? and think carefully about who you might be shooting with.
Make sure that you put in all the other elements that go into creating an image a lot more thoughtfully before you shoot with medium format because I think it's very easy for us to use the digital landscape, you know, go out Machine gun a whole load of shots to see what you can get, spray and pray that you might get that image that you're looking for.
How to get started with Medium Format Photography
I think we should treat medium format photography as a way to use this tool to create meaningful work which is something that you are passionate about and create a body of work for you which you can share with others through perhaps your portfolio or perhaps you're trying to communicate a certain message or tone through it. So think about those things very very carefully before you start shooting on large formats.
My recommendation would be to start off by shooting with whatever you can get. Now, there are lots of different cameras you can start with when it comes to medium format.
You might be starting off on a tight budget, then start off with something like an Ikon Zeiss which is a wonderful handheld camera that you can use, they really don't cost very much. Maybe 20 or £30 at most and you can stick a couple of rolls into that and you get a 6x6 framed image.
Particularly if you are shooting landscape photography it's really all you need to be able to create some wonderful landscape images.
There is also the Ikon Zeiss 6 x 9 camera which has a much larger negative size. If you're looking for larger negative landscape images then you can shoot with that.
If you're looking to shoot something which will give you a lot more negatives but still in medium format and you want to present yours and show it then certainly start off with an Ikon Zeiss 6 x 6 camera.
Alternatively, if your budget slightly different and you can afford to pay for a little bit more, The next step up really would be something like the Bronica Zenza ETRS 6by45 camera. You've also got the Bronica GS range which will give you 6by7 negatives.
These cameras you can pick up for about 2 to £300. It is slightly more investment however it does mean that you can control the lenses you are going to end up using in your photography.
That way you can have a little bit more control when it comes to shooting, particularly if you're shooting portraits you'll have a lot more control. It is a little bit challenging to shoot with Ikon Zeiss I would say, especially if you're new to Medium Format Photography. The old lenses and making sure that you're in the right distances between your subjects. So the Bronica Zenza is a good one.
Again if you want to step up to another level then you've got the Mamiya 645, another great camera. It is slightly more expensive than the Bronica, I think mainly because of the name rather than what the camera can do.
Then you can move up onto obviously the Pentax 6 x 7 there's lots of different versions of that you can use and then if you want to and your budget allows it you might want to consider the Hasselblad 500cm which is a very popular camera.
However, I don't know whether shooting with a Hasselblad it's going to get you different images compared to a Bronica or even a Ikon Zeiss 6 x 6.
It’s always about the pictures, never the camera
Ultimately and this brings me onto the next point which Lindbergh raises is that photographers are often always talking about the camera and then never talking about the pictures.
This is something which is struck me a lot and for me anyway it comes down to the fact that we have so many different options available to us when it comes to shooting that we get lost in the semantics of things, thinking about i should shoot with this because it's a particular label of brand, without really thinking about what we're going to be using that tool for.
Creating starts before Shoot
In the shoot here today, I was shooting with the Fuji 6by9 but I want to talk about the images obviously I'm shooting with film. It's a 6 x 9 camera, the negatives are obviously much much larger.
The key thing is how do I actually go about creating the scene? Let's have a look here with lovely Amy and we're in this park area.
Earlier in the day we had some very overcast weather. As the day progressed the sun started to come out. We were shooting here in the late afternoon, probably around from what I remember about five or 6 pm.
We did a couple of hours here and the thing was, before you even get to the subject of shooting. You've got to think about what you're shooting? Who are you shooting with? Why are you shooting with them? Why are you shooting that particular place? What are you hoping to get out of it? What are you hoping to create?
Because the imagination that goes into creating that image, is far more important than the camera that you're going to be using or the films that you might be using on the day itself.
I had a lot of communication with Amy in advance and for me looking at her profile and looking at the work she had done before. I needed to find somebody particularly, with the image that I had in my mind of this beautiful summer's day. I wanted to capture something floral, something which had a lot of colours in it.
I knew from the get go before I even got that that that's what I want to create. I also knew that I wanted to create something that would be a presentable piece of work. Now, I could've easily shot with my 35mm Nikon FA but I decided to focus on shooting in larger format because I'm producing presentable work.
I knew that in this particular area there would be a bloom of flowers and I could use that in the foreground or the background, however I decided to place Amy in the frame. Having that idea in my head before I went out was critical in what I ended up creating.
I'm going to show you two different things. one here we can see the image. First of all we got started at the scene to get an idea of what we could create here.
Actually to be honest with you, what I was trying to go for here was that I could see the hedge disappearing out into the distance and then you got the flowerbeds on the left-hand side not not very colourful on the left hand side and so here what I'm thinking this is something that would often happen when you starting off.
You can get a feel for your surroundings but actually do you need to do this? I don't know, I don't think it's necessary for you to do this. I think what you can do instead is go straight to what you want to shoot and that’s kind of what I ended up doing. So I took a couple of these nice shots and I think these also look great in black-and-white once converted over. I was shooting on Provia 100F.
One of the key things here is always take the time to communicate with the subject whether it is a model or is a client that you're shooting with. Describe to them what you're doing, how you are trying to capture the scene because then they feel part of the process.
Again remember as Lindbergh says it's not about the camera, it's about the conversations that you have with those that you are, have the privilege of taking the images for. It really is a privilege because ultimately someone is giving a piece of themselves to you and you want to be able to represent them in the way that you feel shows the best of them but also the best of the quality of work you produce too.
We moved away from there and decided to move into this area here. Beautiful pinks, blues and purples rising from the flowerbed. Now in the background, what I was thinking was okay, we've got a lot of strong light coming through here and trying to control that on film as you have seen in my previous video with Luise is quite challenging.
Particularly on slide film, it is very temperamental. You have to carefully think about how you will capture it so it's rendered on the film in the way that you are seeing the scene as is.
This brings me onto the next point which Lindbergh talks about, which is, photography has to happen in the camera itself. You have got to think about what is it that you are seeing from the frame that you've created in front of you.
Again it's about communicating something which is really real I mean it depends on what you are shooting obviously. In this case we're having fun shooting in this wonderful summertime scene and what I want to do is, I want to capture not only the foreground but also Amy with her wonderful blue dress and capture all the details not only in the foreground but the details in the dress also the details in her hair, posture, the way that she poses to create an element of that wonderful British summer vibe today.
I had my friend Lucas who graciously came along and helped to assist with all the lighting and this was really, just a step out here for a second, I want to give him a massive shout out because he just gets into the right positions and here what we did was we had the light. We had the Profoto umbrella just hovering above from Amy and we are using the Profoto A1 here which is in comparison a very small light source and it packs a real punch.
When it comes to tools, think about what you're going to be taking with you and what is it going to help you create. I didn't want to carry loads of equipment but I did want to carry equipment that would help me get the shot that I was really looking for.
Could I have shot this with natural light, yes, however what I do know in in hindsight, shooting slide film in particular is if I shot Amy with strong sunlight as is using the natural light the highlights would've been blown off and if I had compensated for that the shadows would certainly have played a much more bigger role.
So I wanted to create that level of drama and excitement in the colours in particular and the only way that I knew that I could capture that was by using the tools that I had to my best ability.
So I've got the Profoto Umbrella and Profoto A1 with Lucas holding it up just above Amy. The images that have come out from this are just incredible and I love how the light is falling on Amy in this particular shot.
You can see from the from the light here coming down you've got also the light from the right-hand side which is a natural light which is falling on Amy but also from the Profoto Umbrella you can see the lovely fall out of the light across not only her but also across the foreground and you can see the colours have really popped out here too
I love the way that Amy is holding her hands looking through the barrel of the lens of the camera itself and it's almost as if she's got a part of this magical scene that's in front of us.
Then Amy held up some flowers and mysteriously looked into the flowers themselves, again that sense of longing, or that sense of seeking for that loved one you miss.
The light has fallen down, you can see the illumination behind the hair and the fall off on the left hand side but also the light visibly having a positive impact on the foreground but particularly on Amy.
Good use of the light here, her blonde hair has been really well illuminated, you've got a good use of details, particularly with the hoops that she's wearing and great tonality across her skin as well.
I got her to stand up and you can see here we got her to put on a hat and I think it would've been very difficult to shoot this shot with just her hat on her head using the natural light because that would have been lost in the shadows.
The light falling down from the right-hand side so Lucas has moved across here and again you can see well illuminate on her hair but also on her arms and actually down her dress, legs and a hat itself too.
Reflecting On Peter Lindbergh
Now coming back to what Peter was saying again photography has to happen within the camera itself and we can interpret this in lots of different ways and your interpretation of how photography happens in the camera may be completely different to how I see it.
And the way really for me that stands out is that when you’re shooting and when you're shooting with the subject or maybe even a landscape you've got a look through the lens, look through that lens, look through what is it that you can see within the frame that you are shooting in.
What could you include, what could you add to that scene. it could just be that that particular person may need to add some Maybe something which adds to what day they are doing in the frame itself. It might be that they might be holding something as you can see from these images Amy is holding some flowers. Or maybe use a prop like that the hat that Amy has put on her head. She could be holding it, resting with it. There’s lots of different reasons for what you could use the hat for.
Peter Lindbergh, particularly if you look at his work, a lot of his models are holding a cigarette. Now obviously cigarettes are a bit faux pas in our generation but he uses that as a way to represent reality in his time.
So think about how you can place a subject. Think about how you could put them in as I as you can see in the images I've put them in front of the flower bed.
How could you move something? What do you not want to include in the image? what could be left out? What is not important in this frame? Which you're shooting.
It's not always about cleaning everything in it and often it's very easy to get distracted with trying to do everything in one frame.
focus on things which are the most important. Think about why you are representing this image. Who is it for? What is it trying to communicate? Are you creating something that when you're looking at it you're going to be proud of it and the person whose photo has been taken, would be overjoyed by the image too!
We've gone through my reflections briefly and Peter Lindbergh and what he says are the three things; firstly, large formats are like presentations so think about using your tools that you have at home with you to create presentable work. Who would you want to present this in front of?
Number 2: photographers are always talking about their cameras and not about the pictures so get out there and think about what you are shooting.
Talk about your pictures, talk about the pictures with the subject that you're shooting with, talk about it with your friends, photography friends, your family, whoever is willing to give you an ear for an interest in what you love doing.
Talk about your images more. I think if you reflect and talk about the more you look at other peoples work and I strongly recommend that you look at someone like Peter Lindbergh, particularly if you enjoy fashion photography but even if you don't enjoy fashion photography.
Really it's about trying to find a way to capture people in their authentic selves, right? So once you've got that in mind, think about how you know when you are with the subject, when you are with that person how is the photography happening in the camera itself!
If you are standing there like I said in the first two shots that I did. You’re standing there looking at the subject, it's ok, then do you really need to shoot that scene? I don't think so, if your initial thought is I’m not sure about this, don't shoot.
If something doesn't resonate with you don't do it because you as an individual have the eye to look for things in the way that resonates with you best and overtime will also resonate with others too.
So move away, focus on what can you see through your frame. If it’s a 6by6 camera, 6by9 camera, even if it's a 35 mm camera think about what you are putting in the frame!
Conclusion
I really hope that from my brief experience of learning from Peter Lindbergh, I hope these things will help you to think about how you're shooting and why you are shooting.
It's not about machine gun shooting, it's really bad thinking about what is the purpose of shooting, who am I shooting for and I really hope that this video helps you because for me anyway I've been reflecting a lot about photography.
I've been thinking well about the purpose of what I'm doing. Is this helping anyone else and I think through this video these three things in particular will help you to really think about what you're shooting become more perhaps, if economy is important for you economical with are you shooting, but also that you are creating pictures which are worth Talking about.
I think that is what photographers, the best photographers are able to do. I really hope that this inspires you to go out, learn from other photographers and to create some wonderful images.
Let me know your thoughts about this topic in the comments below. I would love to see what your thoughts are about Medium Format photography.
Do you think it's important? Do you think that Lindbergh is right or wrong about medium format, large format, 4 x 5 or 8 x 10 is purely for presentation work? Or do you disagree? Do you think that it has other purposes? In the meantime here’s another video to help you on your photographic adventures!