Thank you, whatever your views. Whenever I see square images, I do sometimes question whether I should switch. But the feeling does not last long, because I like both formats. I am almost acculturated to the rectangular format and thus see in that format. At the same time I do appreciate other formats, especially the square format. I once owned a Yashica twin lens reflex camera. Only shot slides with it. Amazing quality and resolution. But do you know what 6x6 cm, slide projector cost back then? And no one else used it either. And so I stayed with 35mm format.
JR
I've been thinking about that one a bit.
I don't think that I usually see anything in terms of a format
unless I happen to be carrying a camera, where the option is no longer mine, but depends on how the format of the camera with me fits the subject once a subject has been selected. Then, when I go to shoot it, it becomes a vertical or horizontal decision depending on what fits the moment best. I take far more horizontals than verticals for one simple reason: I find verticals difficult to frame accurately when
hand-holding the camera.
This, of course, applies to amateur photos; for pro stuff it was all about the final shape of the layout I had to fill. That was one reason why I liked the 6x6 cameras: you had more leeway if the final image didn't have to fit a perfect 2:3 shape, which unless it was for something intentional, and of my own design, was usually the case. For many vertical things that 2:3 was just too tall and thin, and on 135 format, ever square mm. counted!
But yeah, as I have said before, I think square gives a very different feel to pictures when they fit that shape perfectly; obviously, you can't just crop every shot square and hope to make it fit nicely, which I know is not what you are suggesting.
