Large Format is hard. It’s a long and arduous process and most of the time the image does not come out the way I expect it to. I am getting frustrated with being in the studio, especially since street life is my forté. I spoke to my professor about this frustration and we discussed using a Crown Speed Graphic. I was excited to try it because I had just seen the Weegee exhibit at ICP. Weegee mastered the Crown Speed Graphic and used it to take many of his famous photos. Since the Photo Department at NYU provides me with an AAM card which gets me into most museums for free, I go to ICP quite often. The size of the negative allowed Weegee to step back and really capture a full scene. Of course there are disadvantages to using the Crown Speed Graphic, since it is large, it requires time to set up the meter and focus and often times I only get one chance to capture a scene. However, coming from the studio it is a refreshingly quick process. Above is the first photo I took with the camera. Since the image takes a while to set up, I needed to talk to the guy (not something I’m used to, since I usually ‘shoot and run’). I ended up getting his email address and I sent it to him. It is part of the project where I attempt to capture the character of people by what shirts they wear (or don’t wear).