Wayne Setser

Traditional Fine Art Analog Photography

I am essentially a self-taught photographer working with traditional equipment and materials. I control as much of the photographic process as possible including processing and printing on traditional silver based light sensitive materials. Because of this approach, each print receives my full creative attention and results in every image being unique.

A Little About Me

I was introduced to photography while in high school. I was visiting a friend whose brother was a photographer for the local newspaper and saw one of his black and white prints of a local church lying on a table. That image so intrigued me that I asked him about it. The next thing I knew, I was in his basement darkroom getting a crash course in printing. I saved my money and acquired a used Pentax SP 500 with its standard 50mm lens along with some basic darkroom equipment and began teaching myself photography.I choose to work with traditional methods, using mostly a large format field cameras and black and white film. I love the feel of a hand crafted wood and brass camera built to last a lifetime, and the time spent under the focusing cloth exploring an inverted and reversed composition on the ground glass. I enjoy the mental challenge of taking light readings and determining how I can translate my readings to tonal values on the print. I love the sound of a precision mechanical shutter that’s older than me timing an exposure and the separation between releasing the shutter and the rediscovery of the image on a beautiful 4x5 inch silver negative processed in a home-brewed developer. I look forward to the quiet hours spent in the darkroom creating a silver print, watching the image slowly and magically appear in the developer under the amber glow of the safelight, then holding a fine black and white print that forces you to look at the subject in a new way. I see shapes, forms, and textures often hidden by distracting colors. For these reasons, and many more, I choose to work in this slow, contemplative, hands-on method because it’s what I enjoy.I usually don’t set out with an image in mind, I explore an area looking for things that want to be photographed. I look for things that “speak” to me. Sometimes I hear them, sometimes I may not understand what they’re trying to say, and sometimes I think they lie to me. In any event, my goal is to produce an image that will not just let you see what I saw, but to hear what I heard, and hopefully, to feel what I felt.

A Few Examples of My Work

If you'd like to see more, please visit my Facebook, Instagram, or Flickr pages.

My Gear

4x5 Wisner Technical Field Camera

My partnership with my Wisner, I call it "Little Boy" (yes my cameras have names), dates back over 35 years. After working with a wide variety of types and brands of large format cameras I finally found what I was looking for in the Wisner. Handmade in Vermont from mahogany, brass, and leather, it is a thing of beauty as well as a versatile, precision-engineered and crafted camera that offers features not found in other field cameras. I use a variety of vintage and semi-modern lenses with Little Boy ranging from 65mm to 380mm.

Plaubel Makina 67

A few years ago, with an overseas trip on the horizon, I began the search for a suitable travel camera because traveling with a large format camera, especially by air, just isn't very practical. After much thought and research, I landed on a Plaubel Makina 67, a compact folding medium format camera. "Gadget" as I call it, features rangefinder focusing, a built-in meter, and an amazing 80mm Nikkor lens producing ten 6×7cm negatives on 120 film. Gadget did not disappoint and has become my every day carry camera.

Noblex Pro 06/150 F

In the mid-80s I was introduced to swing-lens panoramic photography with a 35mm Widelux camera. While I loved the results, I just wasn't happy with the negative size. So, with plans to find a medium format swing-lens camera, I sold the Widelux and began my search. Finally, after about 34 years I found a Noblex Pro 06/150 F and I'm once again happily exploring the world of panoramic photography. The Noblex, or "Joe" as I call it, with its swinging 50mm Tessar lens, gives me six 50×120mm negatives covering a 146° horizontal field of view.

Canon VI-L

I started photography using 35mm cameras but quickly developed an interest in larger formats so they soon fell by the wayside. Lately, I've had an interest in photographing people and street events so I'm returning to 35mm. My camera of choice is a late 50's Canon VI-L interchangeable lens rangefinder camera that accepts a wide variety of Leica thread mount lenses. Currently, those lenses include 50mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/2 Canon lenses. I’m looking forward to exploring new photographic opportunities with “Clive”.

The Darkroom

Having been introduced to photography in a darkroom, I haven't been without one since. After almost fifty years, I still look forward to spending time under the glow of the safelight. Over the years I've had darkrooms in spare bathrooms, utility rooms, closets, and a spare bedroom. My current darkroom, for the past 14 years, is the first one I built specifically for use as a darkroom. It's only 6×10 feet, but very efficiently laid out. My enlarger is a 1960s 4x5 Super Chromega D4 using Rodenstock enlarging lenses and is controlled with an RH Designs Analyzer Pro f/stop timer.

Digitizing Prints

Digitizing prints to share online has always been an issue for me and is my only concession to digital photography. Over the years I’ve used several makeshift setups with varying degrees of success. My latest, and I hope last, setup consists of a Sony A7 full frame mirrorless camera with a 50mm f/4 Pentax-M macro lens. It's mounted on a Leitz Aristophot photomicrography camera stand. I made a larger baseboard to better accommodate an old 4-blade easel and allow me to clamp on a pair of LED video conference lights. I also attached a QP Card 101 to the easel to aid in adjusting color balance. It was a major improvement in ease of use and image quality.