I was introduced to this site by Stephan Dietrtich when I was looking for Wollensak Verito examples.  Wow!  Finally found a site that reflects my interest. By way of introduction, I'm a computer architect working at nothing really important. 'Nuff said about that. I started off in the music biz as a composer. Got tired of that. Then I found film photography with LF equipment. Much more interesting and rewarding. Although I have sharp lenses in the kit, I've found that the classic lenses work better for me here in the east coast rain forest. Especially in winter when there's less clutter. The challenge of east coast landscape photography is that there's just so much stuff in the way. Grand west-coast visions just aren't available here. Yes, we have mountains (what the west-coasters call foothills), but you need to be in a balloon or a cherry-picker to see them through the brush. Thus, I'm left with pointing into the forest instead of around it and that's where the classic lenses shine. IN the forest, it's all about shape and pattern -- seeing the forest instead of all those trees. Sure, you can get the effect by shaking the camera or just blurring things with bad focus, but it's not the same. Classic lenses, especially portrait lenses, allow one to narrow down the plane of sharp focus just so much better and with more control. Within that plane, petzval formulas will even allow selective focus on the same plane. And, that's just what's needed in the forest. 

Add to that the glow that can be obtained with an old rapid-rectilinear shot wide open, or the graphics effect that happen with a single meniscus and on and on, and the possibilities sometimes become overwhelming. 

And so, I offer some efforts that show where I am in the journey. What I love about this site is that I no longer need to feel cowed by what the 'contemporary' world is doing. Very gratifying to find wide-open to be a more interesting direction.

George

This is in Watchung Reservation, NJ in March 2008. I used a Voigtlander Heliar 300mm at around f/6 with the focus on the lit up tree. It was evening and the sun was just above the horizion.

Light Source

Here are two new ones from my series "magic forest" made with a P&S VQ No. 3 on 8x10"

stefan d

This is my last still life to date w/the Semi-Achromatic.  It's a long tall slender glass flower vase lying on its side on brushed aluminum.  I didn't set out for it to look like this but after setting up the shot, I looked through the groundglass and this is what I saw.  This was shot w/the SA wideopen @4.5. 

I called this shot 'Chemical Focus' because I focus on the rim of the glass closest to the camera, but more was in focus that what I saw on the groundglass. 

I gotta comment on what Steve Nichols said on one of the forums, I like what you said, and will say it here.  You inspired me to go out and get a Raptor w/your Raptor shot of the foundry.   I think these lenses do have a distinctive quality that can be exploited and expressed and they do have a definable 'personality'  when everything works right but it doesn't work out that way with  every single shot.  I think that's what some folks are missing, you can't just slap on the lens and have the lens put its personality stamp on whatever you're shooting just because you used that lens, you gotta make it work.

Same w/the Semi-Achromatic, I've shot quite a bit, including tests, you'd be surprised how much I've shot, but the shots I'm happy with from this lens you can count with the fingers on one hand.

Take care

This is a monochrome version of my first portrait w/the Semi-Achromatic.  It's entitled 'Tenebrism' for the painting term which suggests 'emerging from the darkness'.  I have my daughter Danielle looking up, and the lightsource coming down at an angle which seemed to give me the greatest amount of modeling and contour to her features.

I've found that my Profoto strobe 250 watt modeling lights in their light modifiers are perfect for the Semi-Achromatic for portraiture(so far) as the actual strobes are useless and their light so intense that  they simply blow everything out beyond recognition using this lens @F6.  This combination resulted in a shot w/out the signature glow that these lenses sometime exhibit.  As I've said before, these type lenses are different lenses depending on the light.

Take care

This is a portrait I shot recently of a friend of mine who I recently introduced to LF photography. Ervin is a sculptor and kind enough to sit for me. This was taken with the front element only of a brass portrait lens wide open. Well no waterhouse stop fitted. Shot on 5x4.