Idyllic Summer | Katya Rowny

As Autumn finds itself again in the Pacific Northwest, I find myself daydreaming about summer days gone by. For this open call, I was looking for photos that represented the embodiment of summer. I loved seeing summer in different countries and environments, and the common threads that weaved throughout these photos. Thank you to all that participated and submitted. We absolutely love sharing your work and your vision!

Tommaso Carrara

Cassie McCoy

Amber

Barbara

Kristina Olekshy

Gabi Roozee

Maya Estrera

Fabian Reu

Nick Ragaz

Pierre Banoori

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Katya Rowny is an analog photographer based in the PNW. You can find her work on her website.

Beauty and the faulty batch of Kodak | Olivier S. Meier

The thing about film photography is that it bares reality in its rawest, most uncontrollable form. It soaks up 'life moments' like a parched earth in the aftermath of a storm. There's a primitive quality, untamed and genuine, stripped of the glare of digital perfection.

But if it's really all that, why does it feel like it's been lying on its deathbed for nearly two decades? Why did the digital image drown the analog?

Is it the immediacy? The ability to seize a moment in time and examine it right there and then.

Is it the certainty found in each pixel of an image. The very pixels you're staring at right now?

Does it matter that "digitality" doesn't replicate the thrill of shooting blindly, not chimping, not knowing... did you nail it? Did you shoot what your mind's eye saw? Did she blink or did I catch that sparkle in her eye? You're left in the dark, at least for a while.

There's a magic there. In the faulty batch of Kodak. In the misfired shot of Velvia. In the uncertainty & suspense. In the anticipation of having your exposure, expose itself to you. Something digital precision misses and almost ironcially is painstakingly doctored back into it pristine perfection.

Why all the hassle? Why not just shoot film?

It can't just be a fear of imperfection. I don't think.

Yet, often it seems we, humans, are drawn to normalization and generalization.

And while this paves the path for progress, it is in the beautiful chaos of imperfection, the uncertainty of a captured moment, that one of the souls of photography truly lives in.

Whether you shoot digital or film... it pays to remember, the beauty of the world, much like the charm of film, is not in perfection, but in the unique quirks that make each frame, each moment, irreplaceable.

Because more often than not, it is in the world's irregularities where beauty is aplenty to be found.

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Film photographer Olivier Meier is based in Switzerland. See more of his work and connect with him on his website, on his YouTube, on Instagram, and on Twitter.

Spring Polaroid Week Roundup | Urizen Freaza

Dear FSC friends, this is Urizen Freaza.


I dislike riding a bike, I can't climb a wall, I hate the idea of bungee jumping, skating sounds counterproductive and the concept of jumping from a plane is the closest I can imagine to a living nightmare. At some point in my life I realized I like to keep my feet touching the ground. Why? No clue. Does it make any sense? Probably not.

In these times of AI synthesized images lurking around every corner, of contradictory misinformation everywhere, of infinite gray areas: there's no one dogma to follow, there's no path in front of us, just a million possibilities. There's somehow comfort in shooting a Polaroid, in looking through the viewer and turning that scene into an object, something in your hands. A Polaroid is evidence, a Polaroid is reality, even if that's just in a tangential, embedded way. It's a link to now or to then, and definitely something certain, that is or was there. Even if manipulated, scratched, painted, lifted, even when that's not even part of the message or relevant for the intent, Polaroids are real.

I like my Polaroids just as I like my feet touching the ground.


Here's again a respectfully imperfect roundup of the photos tagged with #fscpolaroid on instagram during Spring Polaroid Week 2023. Please go check the artists’ profiles, and if you like what you see, follow them and show them love. And most importantly, check out the Polaroid Week pool on Flickr, on Twitter, and on Instagram .

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Urizen Freaza was born in Tenerife in 1982 and is since 2010 based in Berlin. He's a self-taught photographer and film-maker. Self-taught meaning that this is a path he's still walking, while hoping there is always more path to walk. He's a member of the Film Shooters Collective and part of the team behind the analogueNOW! festival in Berlin. See more of his work on his website and on Instagram.