In the past few years, Chicago-based photographer Andrew Thomas Clifton has gone from snapping photos of his kids with his camcorder to being a working pro, crafting images for clients like NBC and Ebony. And now, he's on the verge of taking the big step into a digital medium format system.

We caught up with Clifton after a Hasselblad H3DII demo session at our Chicago store. While he hasn't made the plunge quite yet, it's clear that Andrew has put a lot of thought into this investment. We were interested in hearing how a photographer decides that it's time to start shooting with a system like Hasselblad's.

He kindly agreed to share his impressions of the camera and what brought him to this point.

The bio on your website mentions that your photo career began with "self-taught photographic experiments" and over the past few years you've had some high honors and appearances. How'd you catch the bug to begin with?

It seems like the answer should be simple, but I swear it's complicated. My father was a photo enthusiast, and there are pictures of me as a toddler waddling around and playing in his camera kit (but I will never show me running around in a diaper of my own free will). I think it kind of began there, with little fun photo experiments over the years of school and such.

But I think it REALLY began when my middle daughter was born. I went out and bought this funky lil Sony camcorder to try and record like every SINGLE step of her life (boy, can she run now!). It had this nifty "photo" button on it, and I used to randomly take pictures of things around the house, people who would come over to the house and the house itself.

One day I was at the park and having my 22-year-old "midlife" crisis. I had just read something that Walt Disney said: "Pick a thing that you would do everyday for the rest of your life for free, and THAT is your passion." I sat on a swing and started looking over the pictures I shot and realized that this was what I wanted to do. So I did. I bought a Sony DSC-F828 and never looked back.

What's your background with medium format gear?

Absolutely none actively—unless you count me constantly playing with vintage Hassleblad and Holga bodies at vintage camera stores. It's an arena that has always intrigued me but also daunted me. You look at the make of the common SLR and the make of the common medium format body and you realize that you're looking at two completely different forms of tiger: Sabretooth (powerful and agile) and Bengal (powerful and fast).

I started looking at all the movies with scenes featuring photographers and looking at all the photographers I've admired over the course of my life and realized a fundamental difference in those that shoot medium format and those that shoot 35mm.

People always respond to camera size differently, and it's funny how when I add the battery grip to my camera and go shooting suddenly everyone is gawking and pointing.

One time at a wedding, I overheard a few women behind me commenting about it like:

"Did you see the SIZE of that camera?"
"He must REALLY be a professional."

Ha.

What got you curious about the H3DII? How might it solve a particular challenge in telling the story you're trying to tell in your images? Or how might it open up new avenues in the business side of your photography?

Well I've been studying Hassy's since I first started shooting, but back then it was no cheaper than 35K—and there was no way I was going to be able to afford that. I've been keeping in line with them since the H1, H2, H2D, and now the H3D.

The thing I've learned about products in general is that the fourth generation is always the PRIME candidate to be the best, with the H3DII being no exception. It's flawless as a device, ergonomically sound, and fast (relatively, for medium format of that caliber).

Plus there was no way I could afford one before now. I'm only in my fourth active year of shooting and I don't like loans: I am a saver. So I've been saving and waiting for generation four and BINGO, here is Christmas.

And I am the kind of guy that doesn't like to buy more than once, I buy this H3D and I don't have to buy another camera for 5-7 years, investments go a long way to the son of a political science professor.

What are you shooting with now? How do you like it?

Why do we as photographers always feel odd about answering this question? Ha!

A Canon 40D: I love it. The main reason it won out over all my other choices at the time was, for the price, you couldn't beat the dynamic range. Plus Canon has a reputation for the best superfast primes—being a wedding shooter more now than before, I need to have those available.

And don't get me wrong; even after getting the H3D, I will STILL use my Canon for weddings. I just have other aspirations that will require a different beast entirely, and I'd rather not have an SLR with too many pixels jammed into the sensor.

Are there specific advantages that you see the H3DII having over your current gear?

File size and printing size and commercial client base. I am looking to print more posters than ever right now—more EXTREMELY large fine art prints—and extend the range of what I can offer my commercial clients via prints. I also want to start shooting more billboard work and get BETTER dynamic range. That's the big problem with SLRs versus medium format cameras: the dynamic range curve is not as good...but to alot of people that doesn't matter.

But hey, I am NOT most people.

What did you like about the camera that you only found out after getting it in your hands?

Honestly, nothing changed. I was actually disappointed that it wasn't as BIG as I thought it would be, but I'm 6'2" and 235 (smile) so everything looks smaller in my hands. I often feel like a little kid holding cameras because it doesn't look as cool when you're all hunched over and squeezing this little piece of machinery.

Can you share a little more about where you see the dividing line between using a DSLR and a digital medium format system?

Well until they create a medium format camera (which I think they have) that can shoot a whole lot faster, I don't think my political and sports work will be shot on one. I need the speed of an SLR for a lot of my work and the ability to shoot fast is not why I'm buying it.

I'm buying it so that I can CRAFT a shot so beautiful and so large that my mother can see it from space.

Seriously.

Editor's Note: As a follow-up, we asked for a few more details on Andrew's career. They don't quite fit in the above interview, but we think they're interesting enough to share.

Could you tell us a little more about what types of photo work you're currently doing—both what keeps things running professionally and what areas you are testing the water in?

I'm currently a heavy wedding photojournalist, which is odd because the first promise I made to myself was to NEVER shoot weddings. And it wasn't a standard "scared-of-crazy-brides" thing; it was an "I-don't-want-the-pressure-because-pressure-busts-pipes" thing. After my first 5 wedding bookings, I began to realize the truth: "Pressure is internal. They hired you because they trust you to do what YOU do." It's been a wonderful ride ever since that day.

I also dig deep into photojournalism, being that I am both an avid reader and the son of a storyteller (my mother is a historian and professor). I understand the need to tell a story visually in a way that people can both relate to and be awed by, so I focus on the little things.

I also mainly work with smaller publications and newspapers because I want to give THEM a chance to have awesome and mind-blowing photography within their walls because most of them cant afford to pay "top tier" shooters to come by and give them work.

...I'm so not into titles. I still don't consider myself a "photographer" yet, I think that honor will only be accepted by me when I'm long since gone from this world.

I'm currently testing the water in fine art print work. I'm playing around with a whole series about the personal experience in urban America. I grew up in the suburbs with two PhD parents and attended boarding school for a good majority of my schooling, and I think that being on the outside looking IN with awe and wonder gives me a beautiful perspective that most people don't get to see. I am also doing a series of images based on my intoxication with the anger of a woman, because it's something we fear but peer at in the same breath. So I want to get a hold of that moment, magnify it, print it, and buy oatmeal and brown sugar with the proceeds.

And there's my SUPERTOPSECRET "Iron Man" project that I could tell you about, but then I'd have to make you eat a pound of spinach and name all 50 state capitals.