Uncle Jonesy's Cameras Podcast #88: It's Hip to Be Square

 by Kevin Lane

As you might expect, I always look forward to the days when Wayne and I get together to record a podcast. Just being with Wayne is an educational experience. When we are together, I always learn something new about some aspect of photography. How blessed I am to have such a mentor to help me in my photography journey. Additionally, Wayne has become a close personal friend, and I greatly treasure our relationship. I feel like I know him pretty well.

Nevertheless, I was greatly surprised recently when Wayne shared with me his most recent photography-related development (no pun intended). It seems that he recently happened to walk by one of the many cameras that he has on display in various placed in his home and had the sudden desire to take it to his workbench and get it working. That in itself did not surprise me at all, but I was caught off guard by the type of camera it was, a Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex twin lens reflex that shoots 6x6 cm frames on 120 film. In all the time Wayne and I have been together, I've never seen him use a TLR. What's more, Wayne famously dislikes square format.

My Rolleicord Va on the left, and Wayne's Zeiss Ikon Ikoflex on the right. 

Soon Wayne had the camera working, and the day we recorded this podcast, we went to the small town of Sweetwater, Tennessee and shot a roll of film in our TLRs (I used my Rolleicord Va, a camera I quite enjoy using). It was a bit chilly and very windy, and the cloud cover influenced our decision to use tripods (Wayne actually used a monopod), but we had a great time looking for compositions that lend themselves to square format. I am fond of square format images, and I have made the point to learn how to compose for them. Wayne actually enjoying his experience with the Ikoflex as well. I'll go on record here that I hope he continues to use the camera and that we can shoot our TLRs together again very soon.

It is true that shooting square format images presents some challenges in how to print and present the prints, and much of the first part of our show is a discussion about this. Since Wayne doesn't make square format images until now, I was really looking forward to getting his thoughts on how his prints will look. There are several options, and I've considered them all, especially those of certain photographers who I follow on Instagram and YouTube. Two of those are Vivianna Magdalena (Instagram and YouTube) and Lina Bessenova (Instagram and YouTube), both of whom use TRLs and make excellent prints.

Next, Wayne and I discussed contact proof sheets - how to make them and why you should. I began to make contact sheets of my negatives about a year ago, but Wayne has just begun to make them. Why? Because these days Wayne is shooting more medium format and 35mm film than before. The negatives are small, and making decisions about which negatives to print and how to print them much more difficult than with the usual 4x5 inch films sheets that he has shot for decades. Wayne knows how to read those negatives and doesn't need a contact sheet. Of course, now that Wayne is regularly making contact sheets, I just had to ask him about his process, and I think you also will find it useful.

Some of Wayne’s recent contact sheets.

With every show we record, we always seem to have some new piece of gear to discuss, This time it's a remote shutter gadget from the folks at Film Oddments. What makes this one interesting is that it uses Bluetooth and works with an app on your smartphone. you can dial in when the shutter fires and how long it stays open. Check it out.

The Film Oddments

We end the show with some great listener email, some thoughts about our next Photowalk with the Shutter Brothers, and one more thing.

During the entire existence of the UJC Podcast, we've never felt the need to ask our listeners for help regarding the financial costs of producing and hosting our podcast. However, our hosting service raised our costs by 33% in 2026, so we feel that now would be a good time to ask for help. So, we have created an account with Ko-fi.com, and if you are so led, you can contribute to the production and hosting costs of our show there. Please know that you don't have to do this, but if you do, we want you to know how grateful we are for you. Wayne and I are committed to making shows worth your time on a regular basis, and your help will motivate us to do so. Thank you!

We'd love to hear from you, so please drop us a line at unclejonesyscameras@gmail.com. You also can post comments on our on Facebook and Instagram pages.

As always, thank you for being a UJC Podcast listener. I wish I could adequately convey my gratitude for each of you. There would not be a podcast if not for you and the kind feedback you sent us. Thank you again and again.

Happy Photography!