In the early 1970s I belonged to a group of fine art photographers in Seattle. The realy gonzo ones used 4x5 and there was one guy that used an 8x10. We thought he was crazy becaused instead of just contact printing he enlarged them. His name was Ray Meuse. I think it was around 1988 that I went to a show of Ray's new work. The 8x10 wasn't big enough for him. He had built himself a 16x20 camera. That's the size of the negative in inches. Not only did he do 16x20 contact prints but he enlarged them to something like 5x6 feet. He had to special order the film from Kodak to the tune of about $3,000. Times have changed. He is not alone.

Mamut Photo

First, lest start with the obvious question : What is ULF ? Ultra-Large format photography, at least by my definition, is photography using any camera producing a negative larger than 8 x 10 inches. This includes both classic and modern cameras, and various formats, from the almost small 7x17 panoramic and the 11x14 portrait cameras to the huge 20x24 polaroid cameras. It is the world of extremes, extreme negative size and image quality, but also extreme camera weight, extreme variability and extreme costs. You are stepping in a world where the standards of smaller sizes that we take for granted, like film holder compatibilities, are thrown out of the window. Here everything is hand-made, everything is special order, six months waiting period, here, we're madmen and women playing with very big cameras... Second, and most important question... : Why ? Or as i like to put it : "What in god's name possessed me to get a 35 pounds camera on a 15 pounds tripod out in the woods when i could have brought a nice little techno-digital-thingy that weighs 398 grams ?" And the answer, the only answer i can come up with that's not technical, that doesn't talk about resolution, platinum prints, tonal rendition or scheipflung depth of field control, well that answer is quite simply, because I like it and because I can...

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J&C Photo carries sheet film in sizes up to 20x24. I'm having really bad thoughts. Someone please save me!