Brian Smith’s 25-year career definitely hasn’t
been dull. His broad range of work was honed during his 10 years as a news
photographer, culminating in being awarded the Pulitzer Prize. “That
was my training ground,” he reflects, “Newspaper photography
lets you shoot a lot - often that means three assignments a day. It was almost
like grad school. But I realized during these years that I wanted to spend
more time with the people I photographed.”
Converting to Digital
He made the move into magazine shooting and advertising, which gave Smith
more time to put into his assignments, while also offering him more resources.
He was shooting medium format film with a Mamiya RZ, Mamiya 7 and Fuji
680.
He recently made the switch to digital, and has
been using a Leaf Aptus 75 for about a year. “I was a tough sell on digital because I wasn’t
a convert to digital until I could get the look I was used to from medium
format film,” he says, “It wasn’t until I started shooting
with Leaf that I felt the same results. You’re back to a shallower
depth of field. The sensor size plays a big part in this.” Smith
finds that Leaf’s full 16-bit capture more accurately matches the
subtle gradations of film. Plus, compared to even high-end 35mm digital,
there’s no anti-aliasing filter so the raw captures don’t start
out as mush. “I actually dial-down sharpening to next to nothing
because the sharpness is amazing.”
