Heirloom portrait sessions

Sit for a 4x5 large-format portrait, watch your negative develop if you like, and collect a finished print made to be kept.

How to book: send an enquiry and we'll agree a time for your sitting.

A finished 4x5 black and white portrait of a seated man with a surfboard, guitar and chessboard behind him

Heirloom Portrait Session

This is not a workshop. It is a private, one-on-one session where you commission a finished, physical portrait. I photograph you on 4x5 large-format film, you can stay while we process the negatives together and watch your own image appear, or come for the sitting only and leave the processing to me. Either way, you collect everything a few days later.

2 sheets of 4x5 Retropan 320 exposed
Both negatives processed, with you watching if you stay. You keep one and the lab keeps the other
1 contact print
1 fiber-based silver gelatin hand print, 8x10

R1,500per session

One person per session
About 2 hours for the sitting, up to 4 if you stay for the processing
Ready within 3 business days
Signed consent form at booking

Send an enquiry

Two visits

1. The sitting

About two hours of shooting. Then stay for one to two hours to process the negatives together and watch your portrait appear, or head off and I'll process them for you.

2. The printing

While you're away, your negative dries and I make a contact print and a fiber-based hand print of the final image.

3. Collection

Tell me when you're coming by. Your negative, contact print and hand print are ready within 3 business days, Sundays excluded.

Examples from the sessions

A 4x5 black and white portrait negative on a sheet of white paper

A second 4x5 portrait negative, shot on Retropan 320

Portrait prints pegged on a line in the darkroom

A finished 4x5 portrait of a man standing with one foot on a chair

A finished 4x5 close portrait of a man in a cap against a black background

Want a portrait that lasts?

Send an enquiry and tell me who it is for.

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