Great video man, loved the photos, especially the fire, really ominous! Also I really like your ethics about the whole RUclips thing, you're an example people should follow.
Thank you! RUclips...I probably sound like a broken record. Gonna try to not wax poetic about it next year so much. I can't do anything about other people's morals.
It's refreshing to stumble across videos like this one. The authenticity comes across very clear, and that is somewhat quite uncommon these days. Congratulations, I really hope you'll keep sharing your work.
Holy shit Bryan! The fire landscape was INSANE! The videography of the darkroom print was extremely impressive and so cinematic. The music on the river gave me A24 vibes and it fit perfectly! In regard to the “absence” I appreciate the quality over quantity. I’ve always enjoyed your work and your RUclips content. I’ve always appreciated your blunt criticism of how the industry works with creatives and this app. I’ve thought or can resonate the same opinions you share here. So long story short, thank you!
Stay authentic man, that's why this is probably my favourite photography channel on RUclips. You tell it all, warts and all, and your struggles show that even though you produce exquisite work; it doesn't just come easily, and that pushes me to try harder. As always, thanks for the video.
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather become a man of value.” -Albert Einstein. Thank you Bryan for everything you do, we’re not going anywhere :)
I've been a subscriber since the beginning and absolutely love your content. It feels true, human and relatable. As a photographer myself, I am always inspired by these videos. Keep going Bryan!
The music in particular was especially well chosen, and the footage from the nicer cameras really gripped me. Regardless of all that, you bring a fresh honesty to your videos and your photography. Keep up the great work. Cheers from Wichita
Brilliant once again. I look forward to every video you post. The progression in your work has been wonderful to experience. The smoke cloud landscape shot was outstanding.
Brilliant video Bryan, great images (loved the fire shot) …. The editing was outstanding, great and complimentary music…..keep up the top quality work - Peter
Love what you did putting this vid together, Bryan--interweaving the shoot footage with the printing footage. Very engaging. On your ending message, what to say except: stay true to yourself. Always hard to balance art and commerce. Keep on keeping on.
A particularly beautiful episode, Bryan! And your ending message was so timely (as of me seeing the video now). I've been discussing something similar w friends lately. Seems social media made us all create more, but often at a creative race to the bottom :/ But there's still good work out there.
I'm more than happy to wait 2-3 months for a Bryan vid with an epic landscape shot. I'm only sad that YT rewards the regular vlogger over the slower release higher production vids. But it is what it is, it'll likely be the same on any platform.
I think it’s some of that and also that my videos are probably not made and edited to be popular and easily digestible. I’m fine with that because I won’t do it any other way.
Great. to see you back! beautiful work as always. It is nice to see you around, with your amazing content, I am really tired of seeing so much crap in this platform... Keep posting please!
Man the video was definitely worth the wait! love the wildfire picture - maybe dodging/burning will do the trick for the different sections in the photo!
Absolutely inspiring. This is one of the few channels I tap for "notifications." Doesn't matter how long it takes in between. What matters is what gets made. Cheers.
I love your commitment to the cause you keep it real, I so appreciate you for sticking to what you believe in, your work is amazing and the fact you won’t support the things you don’t believe in is testament to your beliefs
So good to see. I was there a week before you guys and photographed a lot of the same areas but came nowhere close to this. After seeing your work from here, a lot of my photographs feel very surface level and just a replication of photos you see on Instagram. A lot to be learned here for me. Good stuff, man. Beautiful work.
I think those types of photos are still valid and can be just as good. I just didn’t want them to be in my head as I was trying to make things. I definitely took a phone photo of the Bombay junk yard because why not? But also didn’t want to waste a $5 frame on it because everyone else has and I’ve seen it a gazillion times. You can do both!
man I was waiting for your next video :D and this one is pretty awesome :D Love the story telling and the photos you took :D peace and love from Europe ^^
Just saw this and subscribed. It made me want to roll my own wooden cameras back out to retire the process. I miss it. I need it back. Thank you for your channel and integrity through it.
I'm glad I stumbled on your channel a couple of years back. For sure a good (bad) influence that led me to shooting film and even pondering LF one of these days as well. Very much appreciate the calm, forthright, and earnest candor throughout, especially amidst the banger hype train trends. Also - that dinosaur is probably most famous from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Cabazon Dinosaurs!
With the shots that are more difficult to print, you might want to give split-contrast printing a try. It's been one of the most useful techniques I've used in darkroom printing. Higher-grade filter is great for getting more punch in the lower tones, and a lower-grade filter will let you bring in the highlights and upper midtones with some delicacy, for example. Requires experimentation to get the hang of it, of course, but it's a very flexible technique and you can use 2-3 filters on a single negative without a lot of fuss once you get used to it.
Loved this video and the work you created in it. Also thank you for putting work over product always. RUclips has become a cesspool of people shoving products down our throat. Your videos are always a breath of fresh air and always look forward to them dropping. ❤❤❤
I’ve followed you from near the beginning mate. The times when you had the rz67 lol. How times flies right. I’ve always appreciated your approach. I’ve got a rz67 hence prob how I found your channel. You inspired me to pick up a 4x5! Still in the process of deciding what focal length I like for interior environmental portraits. My 150 is to long. 90-135 is my range. I’m not so hung up on it I’m shooting and then when I find a limit which isn’t my lack of knowledge I address. Moral and values imo are very important and shape the person you are. Brotherly love from uk
Absolute zinger my friend. The cinematic feel across the board was divine and that wildfire image has been living rent free in my head since you shared it. Whatever you put out is always well worth the wait in the end. (I'm sure folks will wait out your prison sentence too once you and ole Vincent get done for arson ;) )
Your b&w work is such an inspiriation Bryan. Maybe if the RUclips thing is feeling difficult to navigate it might be interesting to look into a fortnightly blog or journal or something non-Instagram where you could publish a couple of your latest photos. I'd subscribe!
Thank you! I’ve thought about that but I honestly don’t have much to say most of the time. I’ve said a lot of shit. Haha I don’t know how people continue to talk and talk and talk. I have this platform so I’ll probably just stick to this. However infrequent it might be.
Bryan keep doing what you’re doing. You have a unique channel. I’m always looking forward to your next video but I wouldn’t leave because of the frequency.
Great video, always appreciated, and keep in mind that there are many of us here that easily differentiate between the bs and the quality work. So please don't limit your productions here for those reasons. That fire shot is wonderful and so much better seeing it here then on IG. Too bad about the close-up portrait, as you began the film story I wondered what 'fuck up' it would be... I've done them all. Anyway, that's a shame. I've come the decision to shoot two frames in LF when it's important. I used to do that all the time in 35mm, it's harder to do with sheet film, but... like in 35, it's insurance. Great seeing you here again and hearing your thoughts and ramblings, always a pleasure. Cheers man. PS - Looking forward to that Arch series... hope you're still working on that. d:-)
Definitely going to try and not limit myself based on what others do. Good point. The Arch series is still going on. Will probably keep that one close to myself for the entirety of the project.
Damn it was cool seeing you do this, as a California native I enjoy seeing how photographers I admire capture these areas, I think you did a really great job. I still need to send you that book I emailed you about, apologies, life got away from me. That wild fire was a fantastic find, the photo was just incredible man.
Talking about printing I have to suggestions: 1. Use developers for a different gradiation going from hard to soft. 2. Use a dodge/burn printing with different gradiation filters. These both technniques used to work for me pretty well.
Yeah, I definitely need to study more especially when I have tough negatives to work with. I knew when I was editing the scan that it would be a hard one to print. Good advice with using different filter grades.
Indeed. I always try to get the rebranded lenses if I can. Same quality in my eyes and much cheaper. I'm not a stickler for any one brand. All the same to me!
Great work Bryan . Yep, shit happens with large format . I have a bad habit, pulling out the dark slide, with the lens still wide ass open. Totally agree, I prefer to watch videos on creating photos (compositions) . Don't need folks selling me stuff. Thanks. KB
Thanks for being authentic. I've seen soo many you tubers whom I previously respected - out of no where come out with....."I got a Leica"......you know where that goes. I've headed in the opposite direction. I want the most looked over, most forgotten about camera system that no one gives credit to. I found Konica. They are inexpensive, and have absolutely incredible lenses for 35mm. Anyways - I love the stuff that you do with large format. It informs what I should be looking into when I go out with my Voightlander 6x9. I need to take a deeper look into that camera and what else I can get out of it that I hadn't thought of before. Thanks again for an inspiring video.
So, as you know and probably already agree with, there's Jason at Grainydays, Willem Verbeek, Kyle "McDaddy", Willy Sheepskin... all of which, to me anyways, they all seem like super genuine people. But there's something about you and your channel that takes the word "authenticity" and puts it into a weirdly more accurate feeling folder. If I'm being honest, it's been almost a year since I've seen any of your videos or any of your work (could totally be the garbage algorithm) but as soon as I recognized that this video was from you, I went back, scrolled 2 videos backwards, and hit play. I can't say that I'd do that with Jason, Kyle, or Willem. You seem real. Not for the sponsor. Not for the clout. But to sa, "Yoo, I shoot film. Sometime, I'm inconsistent. Sometime, my shit hits. Other time, I struggle and flat out dont hit the mark. But, here's a moment where I did, and I want to share it with yo, " and this very reason is why I feel like I 100% relate to you. Polished video. Emotion depicted and felt. Glad to see you back. ✌️ Hoping to run into you one day in the field. 🤙
Dude, that’s all I want out of this. I love all the channels you mentioned too. They balance the business and the photos very well. I can’t really do it all that well. But there are some channels out there that truly just seize to be creatives and just turn into straight up marketers. That’s the majority of who turn me off of doing RUclips. But I can’t control them so I just need to do my own thing. Anyways, my brain doesn’t allow me to be any other way so I’m glad you enjoy it. Pop in anytime 🍻
What a brilliant video. I used to shoot slide film in the studio on my Sinar 4x5". I don't even dare to estimate how often I messed up loading the cassettes. Btw, I had no idea that USA towns could be so ugly :)
Put that wild fire neg back in the holder and spend time with it ! Did you split grade print it ? Slick video BTW , way better than anything I knock up on an iPhone 13
Stick to your guns mate. Most, I mean the majority of the You Tubers are a waste of space regarding meaningful photo graphy. Their ignorance that stems from reading from the spec sheet is an affront to my intelligence. You do photography and those sponsors should consider themselves lucky to have you along. Between Fuji, Sony, Canon and even Nikon and in particular as of a few years ago Leica, all are killing the art, skill, craft and joy of photography. Take care.
I just don’t want to act as if the people that watch my videos are dumb or see them as just a metric. There’s a very thin line where you can come off as authentic towards your audience while still shilling and selling stuff to them. I think it’s disrespectful to the viewer but I most definitely think too deeply about it and I know it holds me back with potentially monetizing my channel to the max. I never want to call out any one individual either. I think this is a broad problem that needs to be talked about so we can move on from the materialistic and capitalistic system that others have made out of convenience.
@@BryanBirks Lets put it this way, anyone can promote gear, very very few have the talent to photograph, and if those guys were still talented, I for one would not take them seriously and would not watch them. I am sick of seeing people swear by this gear and that gear( which doesn't impress me in the slightest ) and then the following week show up with the new kid in town given to them for free by sponsors, and make pathetic excuses why the other stuff had to go. Snake oil pushers.
Ansel Adams burned and dodged and used various contrast filters when printing. He said there was an image he made of ice and a rock wall which had been slightly underexposed - it took him he said two days to make a few good prints of this and said he was happy to print a final edition and never print the negative again.
No movements for any of these photos. Sometimes I will correct for perspective but since I’m not doing much darkroom printing I’ll just fix that in photoshop. For portraits I’m always using a bit of tilt or swing to get eyes, face, and hands in focus.
A nightmare story an old pro told me back in the 1980s- he was shooting a wedding in the 1950s with a speed graphic. Note- the speed graphic focuses with a range finder- you do not look through the lens to focus. Assistant improperly loaded a 4x5 holder - film fell out when the darkslide was pulled- film fell against the lens... The rest of the wedding was shot with this film blocking the other exposures. result- 0 images.
Okay but how could you NOT take a picture inside that abandoned house with the girls on the wall - I would have been all over those interior shots, but maybe that's just me style
I thought briefly about it but it would have been difficult to expose since the windows would have been blown to smithereens. Then I thought about just getting the pictures but then it would just be a photo of a photo of nude woman or nude man. Not really my bag 😂 Definitely could make for an interesting composition though. I would have liked to go back with softer light or a flash to fill the actually room.
YOU TUBE : weird relationship = sponsors / censorship ... who pays for " speech " or " expression " and who " censors " speech or " expression " . Follow the money.
Incredible muted colours throughout the video and b-roll footage. I was struck by how thunder stormy the wild fire smoke looked and idly wondered why, perhaps it's pulling up lots of clay particles from the wetlands or something. As much as I love the region's and season's colour, deeply and truly, I was struck by the power of your B&W wild fire banger from atop the van, this is so well seen and made. I'm fast unsubscribing from "AND NOW A WORD FROM MY SPONSOR SQUARESPACE" channels, rolled out weekly where the substance is paper thin, just another watered down video made for ad placement. Very much here for the Bryan Birks beauties, most else pales in comparison. Keep on trucking, my good man.
Appreciate that! There’s no rule to who you have to stop watching. I still watch people who have sponsors but I can see who is real and who is just gaming the system. Both are fine but I’m not going to support people who could just get a job as a marketer and make more money. Their egos won’t allow them to do that because they need to be seen and heard from. 😂
@@BryanBirks I know sponsors can enable a channel to keep going and this means the channel owner can avoid a subs model or paywall, and I was certainly glad of gear-related channels early on. I wonder if those who are feeling conflicted about having to make so many sponsored vids could run a smaller personal channel on the side, with less commercial pressure. I think that might take us back towards the paywall model though, eventually. Fair play to you and others who resist this, to keep things accessible and democratic. We're lucky to have you doing this!
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
wow Bryan, beautiful video and thank you for the kind words. Pleasure meeting you in real life
Likewise my friend 🖤
Great video man, loved the photos, especially the fire, really ominous!
Also I really like your ethics about the whole RUclips thing, you're an example people should follow.
Thank you! RUclips...I probably sound like a broken record. Gonna try to not wax poetic about it next year so much. I can't do anything about other people's morals.
It's refreshing to stumble across videos like this one. The authenticity comes across very clear, and that is somewhat quite uncommon these days. Congratulations, I really hope you'll keep sharing your work.
Holy shit Bryan! The fire landscape was INSANE! The videography of the darkroom print was extremely impressive and so cinematic. The music on the river gave me A24 vibes and it fit perfectly!
In regard to the “absence” I appreciate the quality over quantity. I’ve always enjoyed your work and your RUclips content. I’ve always appreciated your blunt criticism of how the industry works with creatives and this app. I’ve thought or can resonate the same opinions you share here.
So long story short, thank you!
Thanks for the kind words. I always want to be open and share my opinion but I don’t want to come off as whiny. It’s a tough line.
I want to say ditto- this is a very powerful image and no doubt reflects a changing climate.
Stay authentic man, that's why this is probably my favourite photography channel on RUclips. You tell it all, warts and all, and your struggles show that even though you produce exquisite work; it doesn't just come easily, and that pushes me to try harder. As always, thanks for the video.
Thank you! Really appreciate that.
“Try not to become a man of success, but rather become a man of value.” -Albert Einstein. Thank you Bryan for everything you do, we’re not going anywhere :)
Wise words!
I've been a subscriber since the beginning and absolutely love your content. It feels true, human and relatable. As a photographer myself, I am always inspired by these videos. Keep going Bryan!
the landscape of the wild fire is mental.
so so stunning.
Another golden video. So cool to be able to go out and capture experiences with pals.
Infrequently or not, keep the content flowing!
Appreciate it, glad you enjoy 🖤
The inner cutting between you making the print and you taking the photo was a genius great work, Homie. Sorry I missed you when you came out.
Thanks, dude! There was too much going on that weekend. I ran out of time for things. I will be back sometime for sure!
@@BryanBirks yes plz
The music in particular was especially well chosen, and the footage from the nicer cameras really gripped me. Regardless of all that, you bring a fresh honesty to your videos and your photography. Keep up the great work. Cheers from Wichita
Appreciate that, thank you.
After 3 minutes watching this video on my 13' laptop I had to stop. This video deserves to be watched on a big screen. Fantastic images as usual.
Brilliant once again. I look forward to every video you post. The progression in your work has been wonderful to experience. The smoke cloud landscape shot was outstanding.
Thank you! I’m glad the progression shows because sometimes it’s like I’m standing still.
Brilliant video Bryan, great images (loved the fire shot) …. The editing was outstanding, great and complimentary music…..keep up the top quality work - Peter
Love what you did putting this vid together, Bryan--interweaving the shoot footage with the printing footage. Very engaging. On your ending message, what to say except: stay true to yourself. Always hard to balance art and commerce. Keep on keeping on.
Thanks for the encouragement!
A particularly beautiful episode, Bryan! And your ending message was so timely (as of me seeing the video now). I've been discussing something similar w friends lately. Seems social media made us all create more, but often at a creative race to the bottom :/ But there's still good work out there.
I'm more than happy to wait 2-3 months for a Bryan vid with an epic landscape shot. I'm only sad that YT rewards the regular vlogger over the slower release higher production vids. But it is what it is, it'll likely be the same on any platform.
I think it’s some of that and also that my videos are probably not made and edited to be popular and easily digestible. I’m fine with that because I won’t do it any other way.
Merry Christmas Bryan!!! Thanks for making my weekend!. Work has been crazy busy so I'm glad you gave me a nice video to relax a bit.
Merry Christmas to you too. Hope you have a good one!
Great. to see you back! beautiful work as always. It is nice to see you around, with your amazing content, I am really tired of seeing so much crap in this platform... Keep posting please!
Brilliant video Bryan. Love that you’re doing it for the right reasons. I always get a lot out of your videos and leave feeling inspired
Great to see you back ... love your honest videos ....
Your video is a real creative gem! Happy I found it!
Thanks for the kind words. Really appreciate you watching!
Great video. Love how you can swap between portraits and landscape shots, nailing both. Really great work. Onwards to an amazing 2025.
Thank you! Hope you have a good New Year.
Man the video was definitely worth the wait! love the wildfire picture - maybe dodging/burning will do the trick for the different sections in the photo!
Also loved the darkroom sequence, really good!
Yeah I need to level up my darkroom game. So time consuming though!
@ man don’t worry about it, I’m sure you’ll get there considering how fast you became got at 4x5!
Also more money consuming than time consuming lol 😅
Big congrats, especially for your wildfire landscape and your words in the last two minutes! Keep going!
Thank you! Will do!
Absolutely inspiring. This is one of the few channels I tap for "notifications." Doesn't matter how long it takes in between. What matters is what gets made. Cheers.
Happy to hear that. Thank you sir
I love your commitment to the cause you keep it real, I so appreciate you for sticking to what you believe in, your work is amazing and the fact you won’t support the things you don’t believe in is testament to your beliefs
Thank you. Really appreciate that!
So good to see. I was there a week before you guys and photographed a lot of the same areas but came nowhere close to this. After seeing your work from here, a lot of my photographs feel very surface level and just a replication of photos you see on Instagram. A lot to be learned here for me. Good stuff, man. Beautiful work.
I think those types of photos are still valid and can be just as good. I just didn’t want them to be in my head as I was trying to make things. I definitely took a phone photo of the Bombay junk yard because why not? But also didn’t want to waste a $5 frame on it because everyone else has and I’ve seen it a gazillion times. You can do both!
@ True, I totally get it! I appreciate the advice, man!
Great Bryan enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing your passion.
This channal has been a unique stand out. The channel is almost art itself for me.
Really nice to hear that. Thank you
man I was waiting for your next video :D and this one is pretty awesome :D Love the story telling and the photos you took :D peace and love from Europe ^^
Glad you enjoyed, man. Getting out to Europe next July for a wedding. First time out there. Excited!
@BryanBirks oh where about if I can ask? I could advise for where to go for nice places may be.?
@@BryanBirks If I can ask , where about in Europe are you going? I could may be recommande you some places to go ?
Wedding is in Marbella and we hope to travel west towards Seville and make our way to Lisbon!
@@BryanBirks oh so far down I don't know much around there :( .. I'm more from "mid - north" Belgium. Well have fun. I hope you'll have a good time
Just saw this and subscribed. It made me want to roll my own wooden cameras back out to retire the process. I miss it. I need it back. Thank you for your channel and integrity through it.
Not retire… REVIVE! Stoopid robots…
I'm glad I stumbled on your channel a couple of years back. For sure a good (bad) influence that led me to shooting film and even pondering LF one of these days as well. Very much appreciate the calm, forthright, and earnest candor throughout, especially amidst the banger hype train trends. Also - that dinosaur is probably most famous from Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. Cabazon Dinosaurs!
Thanks for the kind words. Really appreciate the support. RIP Pee Wee
It looks like you had a great time in California with your friends…as always, the images are great.
Appreciate that! It was a good trip.
Just found your channel, great work! One instantly noticeable thing is how nice it is to have some generic LoFi beats playing over the video.
I messed around with LoFi beats for about two videos before I realized that I hate LoFi beats. 😂
so great meeting you in person finally, my dude.
Likewise, my friend. Great to see you.
Nice work! Nice to see fresh art!
Appreciate that, thanks for watching!
This was a Great Video and also greatly enhanced by the music! I enjohyed eveery minute of it!
Thanks for watching! I’m glad you liked it.
With the shots that are more difficult to print, you might want to give split-contrast printing a try. It's been one of the most useful techniques I've used in darkroom printing. Higher-grade filter is great for getting more punch in the lower tones, and a lower-grade filter will let you bring in the highlights and upper midtones with some delicacy, for example. Requires experimentation to get the hang of it, of course, but it's a very flexible technique and you can use 2-3 filters on a single negative without a lot of fuss once you get used to it.
Yes, definitely. Need to study and watch a few videos on that. Or just print digital and be done with it! 😂
Loved this video and the work you created in it. Also thank you for putting work over product always. RUclips has become a cesspool of people shoving products down our throat. Your videos are always a breath of fresh air and always look forward to them dropping. ❤❤❤
Appreciate you watching!
I’ve followed you from near the beginning mate. The times when you had the rz67 lol. How times flies right. I’ve always appreciated your approach.
I’ve got a rz67 hence prob how I found your channel. You inspired me to pick up a 4x5! Still in the process of deciding what focal length I like for interior environmental portraits. My 150 is to long. 90-135 is my range. I’m not so hung up on it I’m shooting and then when I find a limit which isn’t my lack of knowledge I address.
Moral and values imo are very important and shape the person you are.
Brotherly love from uk
Oh god. The RZ days! Actually kinda miss that camera.
135mm is a good all around lens imho
Incredible work Bryan, that’s so refreshing in that sea of “fast food” photography
Glad you think so. Thanks for watching 🍻
Always inspired by your videos/work Bryan
Car roof can be fixed is a small sacrifice for a shot like that, love the portrait at the end too. Great work mate.
"It'll buff out." Haha
YES!!!!! Also Happy Christmas to you and hope you've a lovely holidays surrounded by family and friends!
Christmas is the best time of year for me. Thanks for always watching!
1:79 gives amazing results @@BryanBirks
Absolute zinger my friend. The cinematic feel across the board was divine and that wildfire image has been living rent free in my head since you shared it. Whatever you put out is always well worth the wait in the end.
(I'm sure folks will wait out your prison sentence too once you and ole Vincent get done for arson ;) )
Amazing video Bryan. That shot of the wild fire was mind blowing. I'm curious what you decided on for the print time for that one.
Your b&w work is such an inspiriation Bryan. Maybe if the RUclips thing is feeling difficult to navigate it might be interesting to look into a fortnightly blog or journal or something non-Instagram where you could publish a couple of your latest photos. I'd subscribe!
Thank you! I’ve thought about that but I honestly don’t have much to say most of the time. I’ve said a lot of shit. Haha I don’t know how people continue to talk and talk and talk. I have this platform so I’ll probably just stick to this. However infrequent it might be.
emjoyed this very much Bryan! Looked like a great trip with good people :)
Glad you enjoyed it! 🖤
Wow! I thought I was the only one that screwed up with large format. Love your honesty. Love the photos.
Beautiful stuff Bryan!
Thanks, appreciate that!
Bryan keep doing what you’re doing. You have a unique channel. I’m always looking forward to your next video but I wouldn’t leave because of the frequency.
Appreciate that. Thank you!
Love the process. Keep on keeping on Bryan.
Great video, always appreciated, and keep in mind that there are many of us here that easily differentiate between the bs and the quality work. So please don't limit your productions here for those reasons. That fire shot is wonderful and so much better seeing it here then on IG. Too bad about the close-up portrait, as you began the film story I wondered what 'fuck up' it would be... I've done them all. Anyway, that's a shame. I've come the decision to shoot two frames in LF when it's important. I used to do that all the time in 35mm, it's harder to do with sheet film, but... like in 35, it's insurance. Great seeing you here again and hearing your thoughts and ramblings, always a pleasure. Cheers man. PS - Looking forward to that Arch series... hope you're still working on that. d:-)
Definitely going to try and not limit myself based on what others do. Good point.
The Arch series is still going on. Will probably keep that one close to myself for the entirety of the project.
3:30 aye man I did the same lens too! fantastic rendering, and much better on the edges
Damn it was cool seeing you do this, as a California native I enjoy seeing how photographers I admire capture these areas, I think you did a really great job. I still need to send you that book I emailed you about, apologies, life got away from me. That wild fire was a fantastic find, the photo was just incredible man.
Thanks dude. No worries on the book. Busy over here as well! I look forward to it whenever you get the chance.
Talking about printing I have to suggestions: 1. Use developers for a different gradiation going from hard to soft. 2. Use a dodge/burn printing with different gradiation filters. These both technniques used to work for me pretty well.
Yeah, I definitely need to study more especially when I have tough negatives to work with. I knew when I was editing the scan that it would be a hard one to print. Good advice with using different filter grades.
Nice photos. Your new 90mm Caltar 6.8 is a rebadged (Calumet house brand) Rodenstock Grandagon-N which is a pretty nice lens.
Indeed. I always try to get the rebranded lenses if I can. Same quality in my eyes and much cheaper. I'm not a stickler for any one brand. All the same to me!
Great photo with the wildfire smoke wall - with regards to the darkroom print, did you try split grade printing? Love the work! cheers
I have never done a split grade before. Need to watch some more DistPhoto and learn how to do it properly. I just used a filter for the first time 😂
@@BryanBirks Practice makes perfect and distphoto will definitely help haha. enjoy the darkroom process!
Great work Bryan . Yep, shit happens with large format . I have a bad habit, pulling out the dark slide, with the lens still wide ass open. Totally agree, I prefer to watch videos on creating photos (compositions) . Don't need folks selling me stuff. Thanks. KB
Love what you do. Thank you man.
Appreciate you!
Thanks for being authentic. I've seen soo many you tubers whom I previously respected - out of no where come out with....."I got a Leica"......you know where that goes. I've headed in the opposite direction. I want the most looked over, most forgotten about camera system that no one gives credit to. I found Konica. They are inexpensive, and have absolutely incredible lenses for 35mm. Anyways - I love the stuff that you do with large format. It informs what I should be looking into when I go out with my Voightlander 6x9. I need to take a deeper look into that camera and what else I can get out of it that I hadn't thought of before. Thanks again for an inspiring video.
So, as you know and probably already agree with, there's Jason at Grainydays, Willem Verbeek, Kyle "McDaddy", Willy Sheepskin... all of which, to me anyways, they all seem like super genuine people. But there's something about you and your channel that takes the word "authenticity" and puts it into a weirdly more accurate feeling folder. If I'm being honest, it's been almost a year since I've seen any of your videos or any of your work (could totally be the garbage algorithm) but as soon as I recognized that this video was from you, I went back, scrolled 2 videos backwards, and hit play. I can't say that I'd do that with Jason, Kyle, or Willem.
You seem real. Not for the sponsor. Not for the clout. But to sa, "Yoo, I shoot film. Sometime, I'm inconsistent. Sometime, my shit hits. Other time, I struggle and flat out dont hit the mark. But, here's a moment where I did, and I want to share it with yo, " and this very reason is why I feel like I 100% relate to you.
Polished video. Emotion depicted and felt.
Glad to see you back.
✌️
Hoping to run into you one day in the field. 🤙
Dude, that’s all I want out of this. I love all the channels you mentioned too. They balance the business and the photos very well. I can’t really do it all that well.
But there are some channels out there that truly just seize to be creatives and just turn into straight up marketers. That’s the majority of who turn me off of doing RUclips. But I can’t control them so I just need to do my own thing.
Anyways, my brain doesn’t allow me to be any other way so I’m glad you enjoy it. Pop in anytime 🍻
You are a bad ass photographer! Keep going and make your art brother.
Thank you! Really appreciate that!
there will be blood soundtrack-esque
Top 10 all time. Love that movie.
Portrait is great 👍
In LF your 1st sheet is usually your best 😅
Wild fire image is Beautiful 🖖
Thanks, Stuart!
Stellar images as always man.
Appreciate that!
Great video and that wildfire photo is stunning!
Thank you!
Among other things of course, I really like your unusual music choice 😊
Very much worth the wait kind sir.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What a brilliant video. I used to shoot slide film in the studio on my Sinar 4x5". I don't even dare to estimate how often I messed up loading the cassettes.
Btw, I had no idea that USA towns could be so ugly :)
The US is very diverse. I found it to be quite beautiful!
Great Images and excellent editing
Smoke picture might benefit from split grade printing
Flames as always
Edit: no pun intended
How could it not be flames with Vince in your group?
@loganguybaker When are you coming back to YT?
@ very soon 👀
10/10 Bryan. Great video, fantastic shots.
Thanks dude!
Netflix documentaries eat shit compared to this video and also the portrait at 9:30 is incredible, thanks for sharing!
Haha all thanks to my talented buds.
I think you got lost at universal studios lol
Not leaving.
Put that wild fire neg back in the holder and spend time with it ! Did you split grade print it ? Slick video BTW , way better than anything I knock up on an iPhone 13
I’ll take a fresh look sometime soon.
Stick to your guns mate. Most, I mean the majority of the You Tubers are a waste of space regarding meaningful photo graphy. Their ignorance that stems from reading from the spec sheet is an affront to my intelligence. You do photography and those sponsors should consider themselves lucky to have you along. Between Fuji, Sony, Canon and even Nikon and in particular as of a few years ago Leica, all are killing the art, skill, craft and joy of photography. Take care.
I just don’t want to act as if the people that watch my videos are dumb or see them as just a metric. There’s a very thin line where you can come off as authentic towards your audience while still shilling and selling stuff to them. I think it’s disrespectful to the viewer but I most definitely think too deeply about it and I know it holds me back with potentially monetizing my channel to the max.
I never want to call out any one individual either. I think this is a broad problem that needs to be talked about so we can move on from the materialistic and capitalistic system that others have made out of convenience.
@@BryanBirks Lets put it this way, anyone can promote gear, very very few have the talent to photograph, and if those guys were still talented, I for one would not take them seriously and would not watch them. I am sick of seeing people swear by this gear and that gear( which doesn't impress me in the slightest ) and then the following week show up with the new kid in town given to them for free by sponsors, and make pathetic excuses why the other stuff had to go. Snake oil pushers.
Ansel Adams burned and dodged and used various contrast filters when printing. He said there was an image he made of ice and a rock wall which had been slightly underexposed - it took him he said two days to make a few good prints of this and said he was happy to print a final edition and never print the negative again.
Lovely and honest vid. I just came out of the darkroom, wrestling with fiber based warmtone paper. You make large format look easy ;))
The act of large format is easy but getting three results you want are tough. Fiber is a different beast. Lots of washing!
Я всегда с большим удовольствием смотрю твои выпуски и меня это очень мотивирует всегда. Дай Бог тебе здоровья. И всем нормальным пацанам.
Great fire photo. But please get a better cable release. 😊
All three of my cable releases work just fine!
Tell me about your use of camera movements... It looked like you don't use any...? Great to see someone out there keeping Large Format alive.
No movements for any of these photos. Sometimes I will correct for perspective but since I’m not doing much darkroom printing I’ll just fix that in photoshop. For portraits I’m always using a bit of tilt or swing to get eyes, face, and hands in focus.
A nightmare story an old pro told me back in the 1980s- he was shooting a wedding in the 1950s with a speed graphic. Note- the speed graphic focuses with a range finder- you do not look through the lens to focus. Assistant improperly loaded a 4x5 holder - film fell out when the darkslide was pulled- film fell against the lens... The rest of the wedding was shot with this film blocking the other exposures. result- 0 images.
Great work!
Thank you! 🙏
I can see how you would get lost at disneyland if you found the back to the future ride
Okay but how could you NOT take a picture inside that abandoned house with the girls on the wall - I would have been all over those interior shots, but maybe that's just me style
I thought briefly about it but it would have been difficult to expose since the windows would have been blown to smithereens. Then I thought about just getting the pictures but then it would just be a photo of a photo of nude woman or nude man. Not really my bag 😂
Definitely could make for an interesting composition though. I would have liked to go back with softer light or a flash to fill the actually room.
😂 so true. It does happen. Enjoy your work and content Bryan
Great video!
Greetings from Germany
Thank you very much!
YOU TUBE : weird relationship = sponsors / censorship ... who pays for " speech " or " expression " and who " censors " speech or " expression " . Follow the money.
Not sure I follow this comment but if you are implying to just do what makes me the most money then I wouldn’t be on RUclips period.
good contents! I like!!
You mean BTTF ride at Universal Studios not Disneyland.
Yes.
👍
🫶🏻
is the audio weird or just me
15:15 stunning.
🖤
keep creating for you and others! Not to sell items for others.
Always!
Incredible muted colours throughout the video and b-roll footage. I was struck by how thunder stormy the wild fire smoke looked and idly wondered why, perhaps it's pulling up lots of clay particles from the wetlands or something. As much as I love the region's and season's colour, deeply and truly, I was struck by the power of your B&W wild fire banger from atop the van, this is so well seen and made. I'm fast unsubscribing from "AND NOW A WORD FROM MY SPONSOR SQUARESPACE" channels, rolled out weekly where the substance is paper thin, just another watered down video made for ad placement. Very much here for the Bryan Birks beauties, most else pales in comparison. Keep on trucking, my good man.
Appreciate that!
There’s no rule to who you have to stop watching. I still watch people who have sponsors but I can see who is real and who is just gaming the system. Both are fine but I’m not going to support people who could just get a job as a marketer and make more money. Their egos won’t allow them to do that because they need to be seen and heard from. 😂
@@BryanBirks I know sponsors can enable a channel to keep going and this means the channel owner can avoid a subs model or paywall, and I was certainly glad of gear-related channels early on. I wonder if those who are feeling conflicted about having to make so many sponsored vids could run a smaller personal channel on the side, with less commercial pressure. I think that might take us back towards the paywall model though, eventually. Fair play to you and others who resist this, to keep things accessible and democratic. We're lucky to have you doing this!
How uncanny. I too got lost at Disney when I was 8 years old but it was Disney World not disneyland.
We both had stellar parents I see!
It looks like you guys had an awesome trip