When I was little my mom used to always dress us kids up and take pictures of us. I remember she would get the pictures developed, color them in and frame them. It was probably because of this that I was first drawn to cameras.
I remember when she got me my first camera; a cheap, plastic film one. I was little and didn’t understand how it worked and would almost always open up the back and ruin the film. Nevertheless, I loved the freedom to take my own pictures.
That love for taking pictures stayed with me through my life. I took a digital photography class in my high school and learned some pretty basic method. I had a pretty cheap Canon, but I could adjust lighting and that was enough for me to experiment with at the time.
I had put some of my pictures in an exhibition held at a local church, got some good feedback, and actually was paid a little money by some good friends to take portraits of their family. Looking back on it, I must’ve looked quite the beginner trying to take nice portraits with a point and shoot, but I learned a lot and one of the pictures I took still sits framed on their wall.
All I use nowadays in college is film. I actually don’t have a working digital camera anymore, but even if I did I wouldn’t really use it. I love film because I feel it makes me be a better photographer. I take time with every picture I take, knowing in the back of my mind that each time I drop my finger I spend some money. I also love the two cameras that I have; a Canon AE-1 and a Lomo fisheye.
I’m mostly influenced by whatever is around me, and by photographers that are better than me, especially Dorothea Lange, one of my favorites of all time. I also had friends like Andy Gohlich whose great shots would push me to better myself.
Nowadays I get inspired by most anything around me. The change from home to college is one thing that has caused me to take a lot of new pictures and look at things in a way that I traditionally would not have. Most recently I have been taking a lot of pictures of people, because I feel many of them are interesting and I’ve been challenging myself to bring that out in pictures.
The idea of a challenge is also another aspect of film photography that drives me. I’m super selective and careful with pictures I decide to take. Different types of film also cause me to think of picture taking in different ways, like color, black and white, different film speeds, etc. Also, I have never edited a picture that I’ve taken on film, so everything you see on my blog or flikr is real.
Photography is something that’ll never leave me. I hope that there will always be a local shop that will develop film for me, and that I will always be able to carry a camera with me.
Links:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/elliotcliffordadair/
http://elliotcliffordadair.blogspot.com/
Great story! Love your photos too – you seem to enjoy photographing similar things to me!
I’m fascinated with film and especially the various looks you can achieve with different films. I have an old Canon AE-1, but in the days when I used it, I never loaded it with anything but standard color or black and white film. The results I see on your blog make me want to get it out and do some experimentation….
thanks guys! yeah i love my canon AE-1. it’s so much fun to take pictures with. in fact, i’m leaving just about now to take pictures of my friends!
wowow you are an AMAZING photographer! i loved the essay + someday i aspire to be as phenomenal of a photographer as you.. you are my hero. maybe even someday you’ll be as good as my best friend EWATTS!
(: keep up the stellar work! you’re freaking great!
Great profile, love the story! I love the bike photo, it’s mesmerising. If you don’t mind me asking, what film was that on? The colours you’ve produced in that shot is stunning! I feel inspired to go home and load up my AE-1!
haha thanks Sarah and Rich! If I’m not mistaken, it was on Kodak Ultramax 400 speed film. The AE-1 is a way fun camera!
Awesome photos! I am a recent owner of an AE-1 given to me by a cousin of my wife. I love film, and would shoot strictly film if it wasn’t so expensive, but it’s my favorite, because yes it makes us better photographers, because it forces us to be aware of what we are looking at, and not taking pictures just to take them and delete the ones we don’t want later.
I love your work. The image above seems very familiar, where is this?