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