I have been battling the urge to abandon all of my 35mm digital equipment lately, in favor of more traditional equipment. The main reason is that I find myself wanting larger printed images for sale, and the only solution I can come up with is to move back to large sheets or rolls of film. I have this drive to create more unique images than what I share or post online, and when I look at the requirements to fulfill a certain vision or look, my current equipment doesn't seem to satisfy the end goal. Case in point. How can I create black and white images that can be enlarged to 40x60"? The only thing I can come up with is that I need to go back to shooting with a large format camera. But talk about completely impractical for wildlife photography. I am moving away from the more literal color type imagery, in favor of more moody black and white images. So I have come up with a plan for 2008. I am going to try to think in black and white as my primary driving force behind my images. I have purchased a Fotoman 6x24cm panorama film camera. I am going to shoot both film and digital starting this week in Tanzania. I have absolutely no idea what I am getting myself into with this huge panorama camera, but I think 2008 is going to be fun fun fun. I exposed film for the first time since early 2002, and although I don't prefer film, I can live with it if I am able to yield the results. The proof will be in the final prints that I am able to create. I wasn't able to obtain all of the kit that I need for my safari that begins on Monday, but I do have a Fujinon 180mm lens for the camera. I have a Nikkor 300m lens, but I am waiting on the proper cone to arrive. Looks like the 300mm lens will have to wait until my Botswana and South Africa trip in April.

Lioness yawning on a kopje, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Canon 1DsMkII, 500mm + 1.4x, 1/640 sec @ f/8, ISO 400

A few days ago I decided to test some of the most common films on the market. I purchased four films: Fuji Provia 400x, Fuji Acros Neopan 100, Kodak Portra 400NC and Kodak Tri-x 400. I do envision that all of my images will be in black and white, but I just don't know. I ultimately decided on the Fuji Provia 400X for soft light and Kodak Portra 400NC for contrasty light. My friend Danny Burk is my preferred person for the scanning of these huge pieces of film. 6x24cm is extremely wide, and only 3 exposures can fit on a full roll of medium format 120 film. I will be taking roughly 20 rolls of film, so only 60 exposures in total. I really don't know what has gotten inside my head, but I have a certain 'look' that I am dying to play around with. I also anticipate adopting medium format digital in 2008 if all goes as planned. I am in search of larger file sizes, larger prints and a new look to my images. We shall see. In the end this panorama project may not work out at all. But I will feel better that I at least tried it out. Wish me luck.