Large-format photography yields big results: size does matter. Even as the art world has embraced digital imaging, traditional large-format photography is experiencing a renaissance, spurred by its ability to capture a visually rich world with clarity of detail and subtle nuances of light and shadow

Art Business News, June, 2003 by Laura Meyers

For three decades, Shelby Lee Adams has been photographing relatives and friends in the Appalachian Mountain "hollers" of eastern Kentucky, including Perry County (where he was born) and Letcher County (where he grew up). His portraits of the Appalachian mountain people reflect his deeply-ingrained respect for, identification with and avowed love for his subjects, from their deeply-lined faces to their proud poverty. "Everything he does is large format," noted New York gallery Owner Yossi Milo, who represents his work. "Everything Adams does is staged. These photographs may look documentary, but they are designed, and the people sit for Shelby, sometimes for hours at a time."

Another artist Milo represents, Katherine Turczan, uses an 8 by 10 camera to record life in today's Ukraine. "Again, everything is staged," said Milo. "She places people into the location. But she loves the clarity of the large-format camera and the ranges of tonality. When you have a large negative, it gives you more to work with--you are able to get hundreds, or thousands, of shades of whites and grays. Katherine prints her images in 20- by 24- and 30- by 40- inch sizes. The clarity is amazing, and the fact that the work is printed so large gives it a modern look."

Large Format in the Marketplace

Gallery owners agreed that collectors are increasingly drawn towards larger photographic prints--and often these are made using large-format cameras. "People want large prints, and they love the intense detail," said Susan Spiritus, a gallery owner in Newport Beach, Calif., who has exhibited large-format color landscapes for the past decade. Among the large-format photographers she presents are Michael Johnson, Patrick Alt, Robert Turner and Chris Burkett. "But collectors don't necessarily know the images were created in large format. They don't ask for large-format photography. But the truth is, when a landscape is printed large, you really can't do it well without a large negative."

Photographers Chamlee and Smith agreed. "Some of the finest photographic prints in history are contact prints, which have a long tonal range and a deep, glowing quality," said Chamlee. But collectors know about contact prints, not necessarily the large-format system from which they are derived, added Smith. "We actually know collectors who go into galleries and ask for contact prints," he said. "There is nothing in photography quite as beautiful and glowing as a large-format contact print on special contact print paper."

SOURCES

* Clyde Butcher, Big Cypress Gallery, (239) 695-2428

* Michael Johnson Photography, (815) 684-5411

* Large Format/Alternative Photographic Processes Symposium July 17 to 19, Santa Fe. N.M., (505) 474-0890

* Yossi Milo Gallery, (212) 414-0370

* William Neill Photography, 800-575-4604

* Andrew Smith Gallery, (505) 984-1234

* Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee, (610) 847-2005