Toronto Star goes retro for a shoot. Does it make sense?

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easyrider

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The Toronto Star devoted two pages today to black and white images of couples attending the prom at a local high school. The very talented photog, Lucas Oleniuk, used film in a 4x5 camera. They look nice but one has to wonder whether the same results could not have been achieved with a high end point-and shoot.
Please take a look and post your thoughts.



As he tells it:
"In late April, Star visual editor Taras Slawnych assigned me to produce a series of 4x5 Polaroids that featured a graduating high school class on prom night.
With Polaroid film long discontinued, getting the film itself posed a serious challenge.
I sourced 40 sheets of black and white Polaroid film, which I bought at an exorbitant price and then tested. The film had expired in 2007 and was useless to me. Dry development pods had robbed the endangered prints of their ability to develop after exposure.
It was time for Plan B.
With the objective of producing a classic image, I offered to shoot the 4x5 negatives on location at the Paradise Banquet Hall in Vaughan where Runnymede Collegiate Institute was having its prom. I then processed the film and printed it back in my custom darkroom in Leslieville."


The full story:
http://www.thestar.com/living/artic...medium-prevailed-in-the-era-of-digital-photos
The photos:
http://photogallery.thestar.com/1202392
 
I think a good photographer can achieve good results artistic results with whatever camera they get.

As to the technical quality, it's hard to judge from those rather small images (and I bet they're low resolution scans too), but I'm pretty sure if we could put our eyes on a contact print from one of those 4x5 negatives we'd be floored.
 
stratcat said:
I think a good photographer can achieve good results artistic results with whatever camera they get.

As to the technical quality, it's hard to judge from those rather small images (and I bet they're low resolution scans too), but I'm pretty sure if we could put our eyes on a contact print from one of those 4x5 negatives we'd be floored.
Click to expand...


Excellent point. They are fairly large in the newspaper but they look no different from other shots in the paper. The photog does not mention what lighting he used.
 
On the non-technical side, I like the ethnic diversity, the multi-ethnic couples, the tall girl with the shorter guy, the geeky guy, and the guy with 2 girls, shots.
 
Just say "yes." You will get great assignments. :))

Remember the Robert Capa story. He first peddled his pix, saying he was the assistant of Robert Capa.
 
Nice reminder that before half-tone reproduction was far enough improved by the late '50s to allow the use of smaller formats on newsprint, 4x5 was the universal format used by newspaper photographers.
 
FrankS said:
On the non-technical side, I like the ethnic diversity, the multi-ethnic couples, the tall girl with the shorter guy, the geeky guy, and the guy with 2 girls, shots.
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Lots of nice little stories on those youngsters included with the shots which give a real good impression of what life is like for them and what choices they make.

Made me enjoy the pictures even more, and I'd like to see real contacts for detail indeed...

Thanks for posting that link!
 
He's a friend of mine and has been shooting LF for some time. He's been using it primarily for personal, ongoing projects so it's no surprise he used it here. The Star has a new photo editor (last one was a gatekeeper with no interest in the dept therefore, wouldn't go to bat for them) and he's trying to bring morale back up. Regardless, Lucas is an incredibly talented photographer who I believe could work anywhere but he's happy where he's at and he has that great darkroom as well.

I also had MEM's project in mind when I saw this work.
 
There is no info which Polaroid camera was used. In most the lenses are rudimentary. Could be it 110 ?
 
timor said:
There is no info which Polaroid camera was used. In most the lenses are rudimentary. Could be it 110 ?
Click to expand...

If I read the story correctly, he ended up shooting on 4x5 film. He found some Polaroid film but it was no longer usable so he switched to film.

There are no further details posted -- like what camera, or lights.
 
smaller format and better lighting setup would have produced better results for newsprint. I don't doubt the negs are stunning, but it was the wrong tool for the final output. The lighting was just too flat and putting people up against a wall does not help. The little stories about the kids are what make the project work
 
I just wonder what's the point of using a 4x5 for a newspaper article? Just seems such a waste of potential that a 4x5 is capable of. If the final output was to be large prints then that would make some sort of sense to me. As for the photos themselves, it show just how much our society has changed and for the better I would add.

Bob
 
rxmd said:
The point is being retro. Isn't that what this is all about?
Click to expand...

I suppose so but still was it worth the effort? You could likely get a retro look for a newspaper article with any number of 35mm cameras too. All in all it was a neat idea but...

Bob
 
The photos look very poor, at least on the web. I wouldn't expect great sharpness or detail from Polaroids anyway. Why use a 4x5 camera, then dumb down the IQ using instant film? I could see proofing w/ the instant film, letting people see the shots right away, and all that. The newspaper had to run scanned files of the Polaroid positives, so another drop in IQ. It doesn't make sense.
 
While you get a different look and quality from LF, it's not the only reason to haul out the big boy. Sharp, sharp, sharp is not everything when using 4x5 and up. The way one works and interacts with subjects while using one is very different and can lead to some very honest portraits imo. I use my LF camera on certain assignments as well but those are few and far between and pretty well only for portraits.
 
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