This week I almost sold my Hasselblad kit. It’s caused me so much grief, but I think when I consider how hold it is – over 20 years old, It’s just really needing a good service!

Nisa Bost, Isle of Harris, 2012

I think what’s swayed me from dumping the entire outfit, is that the compositions I’m doing in square are very enjoyable to make, and I think it’s led me to do thing that are a little bit different from how I would approach a landscape with a 4×5 aspect ratio camera.

This is a big talking point on my workshops. I detest the 35mm 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s far too letter box, and either too narrow and wide (landscape), or too tall and thin (portrait mode). I love 4×5 because it works so well for distributing objects around the frame. I’ve said it here before – the Mamiya 7 camera is not a 6×7 camera – it is a 6×7.5 camera – so the aspect ratio is exactly that of a 4×5 camera.

But square… ahhh, I love it. Although it is not for every single composition and I sometimes find myself grappling with a particular location because I know it can’t work, won’t work with the aspect ratio of the camera I have in my hands: which goes back to what I’ve been saying for a long while – walking around with a dodgy aspect ratio is going to kill your compositions. I believe that many of us, if we were given a 4×5 or 6×6 aspect ratio to work with, would do so much better in our compositions.

Well I’m rambling now. I really intended to show you the above shot of Harris, it is one of the first images I made on this beach, before I reached what I felt was my ultimate composition:

Storm at Nisa Bost, Isle of Harris, May 2012 Workshop

I just find myself never stopping at one composition on a location. I’m aware there are always other ways to view the same story, different points of view of the same scene. But I do love the first image you see in this post. I think it’s ok to have many different views of the same scene, some that are more dramatic than others, and to love them all.