Computer geek by day, wannabe photog by night.
Photography has found me late in my life and given me a creative outlet. On the constant exploration of portraiture in an analogue realm.
Like many photographers I began my journey using digital equipment. After years of making digital images I found an old film slr camera and 3 lenses for next to nothing, and so grabbed it. I did some research and found out that film was not dead after all, and seemed like it was gaining in popularity at that. And so, I delved further into it and found I enjoyed it so much more. The feel and sounds of the cameras, the smell of developing chemicals and the fact that I could hold my results in my hands. To me film has a sense of realism, a feeling of involvement, a sense of accomplishment that I was not getting before. To date I have a small collection of various format film cameras and develop my own film. Soon enough I will learn to make my own prints too. I am enjoying the journey that is film photography and will continue the ride as long as there is film.
You can find more of my work here: http://bobkulikphotography.zenfolio.com
Certainly using film, for me, is far more gratifying not only in the end result but from the moment I load film into a camera
Bobby Kulik photographs little pieces of his world in hopes that when you see them from your eyes, you will enjoy at least a small portion of what he was privileged to have seen. Kulik hopes that you will be inspired to get up, get outside, and take “A Walk In The Woods”.
Peace, Serenity, Quiet, Calm, Tranquility. There are many words to describe the woods. For me it is my refuge, my go to place for sanity.
Kelly-Shane Fuller is a creative concept portrait photographer based out of Portland Oregon. He loves shooting portraits with a story especially ones with a cinematic feel. He has found that quite often medium or large format film provides the best look for this style of work and has managed to carve out a niche where he can make film photography work in the high paced world of magazine, commercial, and fashion photography while still producing images at the speed digital demands.
When he's not shooting in studio he's obsessively restoring vintage film cameras, supposedly for resale but somehow the collection continues to grow... 200 cameras isn't a problem right??
One of my favorite hobbies is to talk photo (film photo. of course) with anyone that's as passionate about it as I am.
This time, I had the pleasure of such a conversation with an artist and friend I've come to admire, not only because of his work, but also his willingness to share what he knows.
Without further ado, I present you: Kelly-Shane Fuller.
Interested in a little alternative, reborn-from-the-ashes-of-time process? Don't miss this wonderful step-by-step description of an artisanal process by our own Kelly-Shane Fuller.
I am a primary school teacher who loves photography, with one of my favourite mediums being film. I have used film since I started photography in college over 10 years ago. I have always enjoyed the whole process of shooting without an LCD screen to look at right through to doing a handmade print (taking some several hours due to the infrequency). I often feel much more connected to any work I do on film as I have generally been involved in the entire process.
My favourite thing to shoot are landscapes. I live incredibly close to the Peak District in the UK
which is a beautiful example of the English hillsides and scenery. As an outdoor person myself I love that I can merge two hobbies together seamlessly and that due to this I have seen some of the most beautiful scenes I have ever witnessed. I particularly love shooting landscapes with my Mamiya 645 Pro TL as I love the depth of a 120 film shot and the quality it produces. I have a real affinity for black and white too although Velvia is more often than not too tempting to try!
I enjoy street photography as I enjoy the stress, tension and speed it creates which is so juxtaposed to that of landscapes. I like trying to guess the metering as I walk around and trying to predict people’s movements into an interesting shot. It has taken some practice but I feel the results are worth it.
I hope to continue on my journey of film photography for many more years as I seem to be using digital less and less and with such great communities as the Film Shooters Collective I can foresee this being the case.
Long Live Film.
Website – http://russelljd.co.uk
Facbook – http://facebook.com/russelljdphoto
Instagram – http://instagram.com/russell16688
How well do you know your film? Are able to previsualise how your photo is going to look depending on the stock you used?
Take a look into Russell Jones-Davies mind and find out how film changed his way of making photos.
Hi I’m Bill, a film photographer with a focus on landscape, street, architecture and portraiture. My works have been sold via commission and exhibited in two group shows atSovereign House and in Oakville Camera Club exhibits at the Queen Elizabeth Park Community Cultural Centre in Oakville, Ontario Canada.
I have a life long interest in photography starting with an early childhood interest in my dad’s cameras including a Nikon F and Leica M3. Fast forward to 14 years ago I started getting serious about after receiving a Canon Rebel G from my parents with a subtle hint I was working too hard at my marketing job and needed a creative outlet.
My brother got into photography at the same time and sparked my interest in older film cameras on the cusp of digital photography’s beak out looked to be an odd obsession. I got a Canon AE-1 and started shooting black and white in 2002 mostly with Agfa APX 400, later switching to other films. While some people suggested sticking with just one emulsion and developer I tried different combinations, I am not going to be hostage to a supply issue.
My dad’s passing in 2005 brought me back to his Nikon F and Leica M3, both got overhauled and are still used today.
Along with teaching myself film process and traditional black and white darkroom printing I started collecting cameras, mostly Nikons, Pentax screw-mount, Olympus OM, Leica M mount rangefinder, Canon FD and exploring medium format with Rolleiflex.
As you gather from above, my two formats of choice are 35mm and 6x6 in 120, while black and white is still my main interest, I have been shooting a lot more C-41 colour negative in the past two years.
See more film photography from Bill Smith on his blog.
I can’t quite remember when I got my first Spotmatic, it was a SP1000, screwmount version of a K1000 minus the hot shoe over a decade ago, I have my brother Alex to blame for enabling me. I later picked up an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic F from the Henry’s Clearance Centre when they were located on Queen St. in Toronto just west of the flagship store. Much later in 2013 on I grabbed a Spotmatic SP and II off Leica repair tech Dan Goldberg ‘s site when the Canadian dollar was at par.
Efke 100 was an old school single layer silver rich black and white film from the 1950s made in Croatia by Fotokemika. Production ended in 2012 when the factory closed after an old coating machinery broke down and couldn’t be repaired. Fast forward five years, I was hanging with fellow members of the Classic Camera Revival Podcast, and Peter Lee told me there was an Ebay seller with bricks of Efke 100 in 35mm expired in 2015 for sale for about $75 Cdn, shipping included. How can I say no to that? I bought two bricks a few weeks apart.
Canon FTb, a workhorse loved by die-hard Canon FD mount fans, is one camera that gets overshadowed by the A-1 and AE-1 with photography enthusiasts.
I own a lot of Nikon cameras, yes, I collect a lot of manual focus bodies but there’s one autofocus body in my kit I picked up years ago off Ebay. Recently I decided for kicks to run a roll of film through it, I’m talking about the Nikon N90s (in the USA) and F90x (rest of planet Earth), it is a very sophisticated sleeper of a camera that in it’s day was considered a pro body, today you can buy for peanuts.
Film photographer Bill Smith makes a convincing case for the worry-free practice of acquiring durable cameras to tote on vacation.
A nice review of a time-proven system, along with some useful tips for purchasing and maintaining you growing collection: The Olympus OM-Single digit system.
Hi, my name is Simeon, I write and perform electronic music, produce and play bass for other artists, and take an old Leica camera from 1938 everywhere with me. I’m a bit of a hoarder. As well as an old camera collection and crates full of vinyl, I also have a weakness for guitar pedals and designer toys.
I’m really passionate about social justice and personal development, both my own and other people’s. I’ve learnt so much in the last few years, and love watching others learn. Luckily for me, I work at a University.
I can’t really swim. I mean, I can stay afloat and thrash about until I get somewhere, but I can’t do any proper strokes.
I grew up Spain, but haven’t been back there for 7 years now. I was homeschooled by my fundamentalist Christian parents and still struggle with a weird concept of God. I punctuate my sentences with “y’know?” and catch myself doing it all the time. It drives me insane, y’know? I find it hard to forgive myself. I’ve been trying to read a Noam Chomsky book for about 6 months.
I have flat feet and double jointed thumbs. I’m terrified of harsh fringes, and can’t look people in eyes if their eyebrows are obscured by a fringe. If I’m bored, I eat.
My wife is the coolest person I know, and our three kids are the most fun-loving people I’ve ever met. That said, I’ve been tired for 8 years now. We have a pet tortoise, his name is Shelldon Koopa, and if you get both cultural references there, you’re a massive geek.
I spend too much time on Twitter and Instagram, on both of them I'm @_simeonsmith and my website is www.awonderfulkindofimpossible.co.uk
However much we discuss the value of an artist's work, we often seem to lose sight of a debate that I think is equally important - Can art even be valued in monetary terms at all?
My introduction to photography was in 1999 when I studied it as an extra activity in the high school. Since then I have taken some courses, but mainly I have been self-taught. Late in 2002 I get my title in direction of film and TV. Since 2010 I have been living in Berlin where I work as a photographer. The last two years I have comeback to my roots and I shoot mainly just analog.
See more from film photographer Ignacio Linares at his website.
On last January I found a Polaroid Land SX-70 camera from a private vendor. I was getting acquainted with it before but, as it is a bit expensive to shoot a Polaroid nowadays, I didn´t really get into this world up until now.
Lilly Schwartz is a documentary and street photographer based in Europe.
Capturing human behaviour and interaction is what drives her to prowl the streets, especially when these facets become odd, disturbing or outright ridiculous. In her search for the common everyday madness more often than not the banality of our daily human existence shines through, which of course has its own inherent oddities and absurdities.
Beyond her work on the streets, her long-term documentary projects often hinge on a personal connection, where her own experiences expand into themes of more generalised interest.
"I have been using film for 3 years now and shoot exclusively analog at the moment. In a world where cameras are so easy to use in automatic mode that even a monkey can take a selfie I like to slow down and use fully manual cameras without a screen and unlimited storage. There is a lot more craft involved in film photography and I like that. On some level the process of developing film is also rather therapeutic for me, because it usually gets me through those boring rainy winter months when nothing much is happening out there on the streets.“
See more film photography by Lilly Schwartz on her website.
This month we celebrate Red Oktober with a series of reviews and articles about using “commie cameras”.
Tango is so much more than a dance. It's a whole culture which can be found in cities all over the world. The social events called milongas at which the tango is danced can spring up in unexpected places, and it's always a good idea to carry your dancing shoes. Come along with Lilly and her camera as she explores this exhilarating and surprising world.
For years I used to say that my brain works mostly in monochrome. Then one day I decided to go to a Joel Meyerowitz retrospective and as I stood open-mouthed in front of stunning dye transfer prints and large colour prints behind acrylic I suddenly felt reminded of that day when my parents bought their first colour television set. It was as if I finally found a hidden switch that activated the colour mode of my brain. Suddenly I saw colour everywhere when before I only saw tonality, structure, light and shade.
Botanical: Bobby Kulik curates this week's Photostream.