Taking My Favorite Portrait on Large Format Film

I haven't stopped thinking about that Portrait with Diablo since I saw it on your IG haha, I went on an expedition with a mate today and shot some LF color for the first time (6 Sheets of the exact same frame to test a bunch of different expired stuff lol) and was telling him about your photograph on the drive.

We both agreed that it's a master level portrait, and the sort of image where you can instantly tell that the person who made it knows very much what they're doing, and has been through a lot of trials to reach that point.

Well done man, that pictures gonna live rent free in my head for eternity haha

First guy even has THE perfect historic Missouri plate

Not impressed

There's a trick and technique to the Paterson tank. To anyone who still watches this:

First of all, the reason that your lid blew up was that Blix when being mixed creates an endothermic reaction that takes some time to fully subside. You need to wait quite a bit after freshly making Blix, or do the following. After mixing, stirring, and waiting long enough, pour the Blix into a flexible bottle. Press quite a bit of air out of it and screw the bottle cap on. Now shake. If the bottle gets hard, there's still gas build-up. Open the bottle, let the gas out, repeat. Once the bottle doesn't get hard anymore, the reaction is mostly over and your Paterson tank won't blow up. It's also much less likely to leak.

As a general tip, the way a Paterson tank stays sealed is through negative pressure. After filling it up, don't just put the lid on and that's it. Put the lid on, then with the palm of your hand(s) you pressure the dent in the middle and at the same time you lift one bit of the cap with your finger tips. Excess air escapes, it makes a slight farting noise. Now immediately press the lid down again. It will get sucked onto the rim by the small negative pressure you created and therefore seal much better.

The technique isn't perfect, you might sometimes leak a drop here and there, especially of the Blix. But it makes a world of a difference compared to when I lost entire milliliters of Blix for each roll I developed. I read about this in a forum post made by some old schooler, because of course it's not in the instructions. Lol. Since I went to university, my sense for practical thinking is not very developed, therefore it didn't really occur to me as a matter of common sense. Haha.

Hope this will help someone, someday

Beautiful work. And, I'm glad you do it for the reason you do. Sharing people's humanity in ways that keeps others from being able to dismiss it is my deepest passion in photography as well. I think getting others to see and care about things they otherwise wouldn't is photography's greatest purpose. Ansel Adams' landscape photography is perhaps the most famous case in point. I hope history remembers your work similarly. :)

Colors on the film is incredible. Ektar 100?

Great portraits. I like the images you share with us. Thanks, Bryan.

great shot

Holy shit!! Those are now MY favorites. Excellent work Bryan. You're your own hashes critiq and it's paid off in dividends. It keeps you improving and not getting stale. Excellent, excellent, excellent!

Hard to choose, but both of those shots with Diablo and Jason are awesome! I really do love the first for the larger environment, and color from the scene, however the second really captures the two of them so well. Amazing job, and you are right to be proud of creating such a timeless photograph! Awesome work as always. Been following your channel for a good few years now, and it’s great to see you grow in your photography, but also the recognition for the work you produce. It’s all well deserved for the hard work you have put in👍

Very well done and inspiring! I'm 60 and just getting back into film a bit! I shot nearly all 35mm back in the day. Now I'm playing with medium format. It great to see so many younger people getting into film! I'm blown away with the work I'm seeing done with large format and may very well give it a try sometime! I'd be happy to get results like you're getting sometime!

An incredible portrait on so many levels. Absolutely wonderful.

Amazing work, Bryan.

awesome video and what a powerfull portrait ( the guy and the dog)

Amazing to have put in all that time, effort and thought, to have raised your skills - and in that moment not to have screwed up one of the many elements that can lead to failure in LF, and to have captured this. You can justly look at this and think "yeah, it was all worth it". Every photographer needs for it all to come together like this at some point. Nothing is more motivating to keep going, and work at it further. Thanks for sharing both the portrait and what went into it.

Beautiful shoots!

aaw man this is so cool

Brian. I just saw your favourite photograph in the UK Guardian newspaper. Fantastic coverage. I am so pleased for you! Ian

These large format portraits are so gorgeous. the tonality, the focus falloff, the neutral colors... I understand why you use that equipment ;). Great photos / content!

You are an artist! great shot on Diablo and his human Friend!

I enjoyed that and have just subscribed. I've just been looking at large format pics 4x5 and came across your site. I thought it was funny the way you described how tricky it was trying to get everything in focus for that colour portrait and the dog just not playing ball. Then bam there it is. It's almost like greatness lives near the edge of disaster.

Congrats for the critics’ Choice 23 so far. Wish you good luck 🍀 for the 19th of April.

Great video. I have recently begun to shoot 4x5 and your videos is a great source of inspiration and knowledge. I like the even slower pace with large format compared to medium format. Looking forward to coming videos from you.

Dude hate to sound like a basic photo bro. BUT THAT PORTRAIT IS A BANGER! so much emotion and feeling in this photo. I adore it.

mate, leaking blix is a nightmare! i found a technique to prevent it in 95% cases. I put the lid in warm water first (my theory is it makes it a bit more flexible/rubbery), then i put it firmly on, lift the lid a little on one side and push the centre of the lid down (like you would try push out as much air as possible). Again my theory is that it acts like a membrane and seals much better. For some reason it happens only with blix. Great content btw

Very lovely pictures. absolutely beautiful. really enjoyed watching the video. was great fun and inspiration. keep up the great work mate.

Wow, this photograph has it all. Unbelievable!!!

Your portraits definitely tell a story 📷👍

incredible work!

what an amazing result! you should definetly be proud!

Hi Bryan. New film shooter here. Due to where I am and unavailability of large format and other reasons I decided to stick to 35mm and medium format black and white only. I started home developing just recently and stirring with the stick gave me better images than inverting the tank. Grain is finder and image quality is great. I’ll keep doing both in batches and see and compare. But that stick works better than it ought to.

Awesome work man!

Wonderfull, thanks so much.

Hell yes! Absolutely stellar photograph!

Unreal. Love your tonality, the pacing of the video, the explicit details of the setup, and obviously the shot. I can tell you put a lot of work into this video. Very well done.

Hey Brian, the bleach releases gases on C41 that makes the lids pop off. That’s why JOBO tanks have a lid you can pop in to account for the gas release and avoid leaks. Paterson tanks are not good for C41 specially with inversion. Try the JOBOS instead

Really wonderful, well done and absolutely keep going. There is luck but then again luck is created by just keep going in the direction you want.

You're a true artist man. Much love and respect

My opinion is emotions are real ! Never apologize for being yourself, for being real ! Beats the shit out of phoney everyday in every way ! Keep it up, I loved every portrait you accomplished and to be honest I like the b&w the best, but I'm an old fart that's just learning 4x5 myself. Just found you today and subbed. Very impressed ! Larry

Bryan, I have a question for you. I have conceived of a personal photo project for myself which is taking photos of my ageing neighbors. I've gotten to know many of them and they are fascinating to say the least. Do you ask your sitters to sign an agreement? I feel that would / could be a sticky subject. I wonder if you have any pointers of insight. If you care to comment, I would appreciate your thoughts immensely. TIA.

This portrait gives me the chills

Film photography just has so much emotion in it! Love it 👌🏼 awesome work!

instead of just explaining why not have someone vlog you during these shoots, just a thought i know some guests may not be cool with it

It has been a while. But like a good friend you always know they are going to be around and that they will have something to say. It is a brilliant portrait. It is a portrait that took time, took consideration and that delivers. Indeed they all do. Love tis channel.

Love this portrait. Just rewatching this again, it’s been amazing seeing your journey. I don’t really share much, I prefer the solitude of doing my thing, but seeing you keeping on persevering with LF is really giving me motivation to do more with LF. I like that you keep things real, show the ups and downs and have an opinion that’s your opinion, not following the latest trend. Keep smashing it!

Have you printed it ?

Beautiful photographs though!!!

Seems like you are using paterson tanks. I never had issues with them, but I am only experienced with medium format. Aren't you a bit too gentle in the whole agitation process? I go much faster with turns, make couple of full turns left/right, then short, urgent left/ right, left/right, then hit the table to remove possible bubbles. Try 30 deg Celsius if you have problem with higher temperatures on C41

Never cease to impress and inspire me!