When I Was A Photographer - Capturing Vulnerability
While going through my pictures recently my daughter held up a strip of film and asked; "What's this daddy?"
I had to explain to her that the strip of film was once part of a roll, and that roll was encased within a hard piece of cylindrical plastic which went inside a camera.
Then the film was stretched out and wound around a spool inside the camera, and each time you pressed the button the shutter would open and let light hit the film, after which you would wind the film onto the next frame and repeat.
Once the film was finished, you then wind it all back inside the hard plastic cylinder and give it to a shop whereby they would take out the film in the dark, using a red light and then transpose what was on the film to a photographic sheet.
Her seven year old eyes glazed over long before I got to the end.
One thing did intrigue her though, was how I created a double exposure. She seemed to get the process of taking a picture and then not winding it on so that you could take another pic.
Vulnerable Beauty
I took this picture sometime ago when I was doing a shoot for a clothing label. The shot itself wasn't really fit for purpose as it doesn't show off the clothes in anyway.
However I love it because to me it expresses the two sides of our nature. The outwardly strong and confident one, juxtaposed with the more vulnerable unsure one.
I took many double exposures in the past, and what I loved about them is that there was really no way of knowing how they'd come out until you saw them.
There probably exists a more precise technique that you can use to create a double exposure, however I never took the trouble to learn it, simply because I liked the raw feeling of just guessing where to put the camera next.
Inspiration
As I was taking these shots I was playing around with the idea of strength as an outward force and an inner feeling. I knew I wanted the double exposure to line up in a certain way, but like I said I simply had to guess it.
Sometimes in photography you get what is known as a 'happy accident', and this was definitely one of those times. I took the picture as an afterthought and only tried three different angles, using my last six exposures on the roll.
I did many more double exposures after this, but this was my best one, and I could never quite capture or recreate the emotion of that day.
Of course nowadays you would simply do something like that in photoshop, however I'd like to think that by doing so, you're also taking away a little bit of the magic too.
Technical Details
Camera - Pentax K1000
Film - Kodak 35mm 400 asa
Print - 10x8 Gloss paper - pushed 1/4 stop - yellow/purple highlights
Model - Muji
WHAT DO YOU THINK; IS THERE ANY SPECIAL MAGIC HERE, OR AM I JUST BEING ROMANTIC AND THIS CAN BE DONE JUST AS WELL ON PHOTOSHOP? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
I never had the pleasures of film before I started my photography, so i can't honestly say...
I understand what you mean about this though...
All three lovely pics, but yes that last one catches that moment of introspection that we often feel when we're alone, which ultimately is beautiful. So I can see why she said that; really nice going :-)
Cg
This post had me looking through my old shoots and things, and really got my creative juices moving.
While absolutely nothing to do with photography as such, you are partly responsible for this, sir!
😂😂
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/that-moment-when-you-feel-that-rare-childish-excitement-again
Haha! Good stuff, get those juices flowing, it feels great :-)
Cg
Photographing girls is by far the most rewarding medium for me...
(heads out of the gutter, to anyone else reading this..lol)
Lolz, I know what you mean :-)))
Cg
Oh the days of film. I know some people loved it and some even still shoot it. Not for me. I was always too cheap and always felt held back by the cost, not only for the film but the developing as well.
Yeah it was the developing that killed me, £12 per contact sheet and of course none of my rolls were similarly exposed, meaning I'd often have to get 3-5 contacts for each roll of film.
Then poring over said contacts with a lupe, blow up picture, see a before-unseen blemish, print up another picture. Often the cost would be about £80 just to get one decent shot; I was pretty poor back then as well, it amazes me that I managed to do it for so long!
I remember saying; "film will never die!" Oh LOL oh LOL oh LOL :-)
Cg
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I think those days when films were washed in solution were really artsy. The ease with which amateur photographers could get art into their works these days kills the vibe
Yeah now you can snap 1000 shots for no extra cost, back then I couldn't be so flippant with film.
On the plus side digital saves money, on the minus it could kill creativity whilst giving you a headache trying to edit all of those shots!
Cg
Yeah, with the classic ones you have got to make your shots count....
Thanks for letting me remember my childhood photo sessions....
I was not so much photogenic...Most of my childhood birthday photos are with me having my eyes closed...But I still love those raw photos...
Now the digital cameras have solved the issue but we lost the element of uncertainty.
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Gone are the days when films are still reigning, I hada pocket size camera that I used for taking those special moments too.
I love it then than now, you have to be a classical photographer to use the camera then, because once you make a mistake, you have wasted a film unlike in the digital world where you can easily delete it... Lol
(That's taking away our expertise)
The photo is cool. Though, I've never take any picture like this before... Smile
Yes there was a simple joy of snapping away, although I would say that at least we can see our mistakes and correct them early with digital. I have been disappointed many times before with film, maybe that's what made the good shots so magical! :-)
Cg
Lol...
I love digital too, but when you are conscious of making mistakes, you try to be perfect, once you know your mistakes can be corrected, you don't care about making them.
I enjoyed this happy accidental imagery... filled with intrigue.
Thank you, it makes me smile everytime I look at it and remember :-)
Cg
And isn't that why you did it... Art isn't always for other people, true art is a personal thing for the artist,if others like it... cool.
Nice read. I leave an upvote for this article thumbsup
You aren't wrong. I miss old film cameras. Something about the trouble one had to go to made the pictures more significant. I think this might the reason that I like real books, too.