INSPIRATION

29 Beautiful Examples of Silhouette Photography

BY BILL JONES

Through My Eyes

Things I see, I am inspired by and like to share. About my life in London, my work and travels. By photographer Gesine Garz

Out of the Darkroom into the Light…

” There are dark shadows on earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast”

Charles Dickens

After a long time of doing only digital photography, I recently went back to the roots and shot my first analog film in about 10 years. I wanted to develop the film myself and produce my own prints in the darkroom.

Shooting with my old analog SLR was a little strange at first as I kept looking for a display to check my settings and initial images…well, and there was none… funny how used I am to having this option.

It felt a bit like I was working without a safety net…which is odd as I used to do nothing but film photography until digital cameras became affordable in the early 2000s.

So, I shot my first film, which wasn’t great, as I took a number of shots in too low light, didn’t use a tripod and had a lot of camera shake. Also, my auto-focus kept focussing on the ‘wrong’ part of the picture (entirely my fault!). I wasn’t used to how dark the view finder can be in analog cameras. But hey, the second film was much more successful and produced some nice black and white images I shoot around London.

I then decided to try another route and had some of my digital images converted onto film by a photographic lab. I sent them the images on a CD, and I received an Ilford Pan 100 b&w film back, which I processed myself in the darkroom. I then proceeded to enlarge and print with very good results.

I printed a series of eight pictures which I had taken in Dungeness and on the Sussex Coast near Bexhill.

Especially Dungeness with it’s bleak landscape and abandoned fishing equipment lends itself beautifully to black and white photography with an slightly grainy vintage feel.

I printed my photos on Ektalure warm tone paper, which is sadly not available to buy any more and has a lovely ivory tone. I dry-mounted the finished images on off-white mount board with a dry mounting press and presented them in a custom-made box.

Why I Can’t Let Go of My Obsolete Camera

Last week, I came across a picture of a crocheted camera case and it reminded me of the quilted case I made for my old Pentax SLR over a decade ago. The case I had was falling apart despite the duct tape and I couldn’t buy a new one because the camera was so old, so I made my own.

The case I made for my Pentax K1000 complete with matching strap.

Looking at my old Pentax makes me feel sad. I stopped using film years ago, so this camera, which I once adored and dressed so lovingly, has been sitting unused in the closet for nearly a decade. I know I should get rid of it. It’s broken. I’m used to the convenience and instant results of digital photography. I’ll never go back to film again.

So why don’t I want to let it go?

My Pentax K1000 has shared my life and recorded important moments since my high school graduation. It’s like a member of the family. It’s moved all over the country with me, traveled in Great Britain and Europe. In the past, I wouldn’t have dreamed of going on vacation without it, and it was present at every holiday.

Back of camera with case closed.

Back of camera with the case flap removed. (The riboons hold the bottom part of the cover on.)

Back of camera with the case flap removed. (The ribbons hold the bottom part of the cover on.)

But there’s more to it than that. Taking pictures with film is an art. You have to pay attention and pick your moments. You can’t shoot at random or take hundreds of photos. It costs too much in film and developing. Only things that are worthy are photographed.

Many creatives recommend carrying a camera to help you to see differently. But digital cameras don’t force me to see the way my film camera did. I take digital shots willy-nilly, knowing I can delete or crop anything that comes out badly, and I often miss the shots I should have taken. I am more likely to experiment with digital photography than I was with film, but the pressure to get it right from the start is gone and my digital photos suffer as a result.

My Pentax was my photographic eye, the one that framed my life thoughtfully and captured important moments or vivid scenes so I would have a better chance of remembering them later. It’s the eye that saw my life and my world as art.

Beat-up and obsolete, but I still love it.

I hate saying goodbye — to people, to places, to eras — but my reluctance here isn’t just sentimental. I don’t want to let go of the vision, of how I saw my life through my SLR.

I’ll have to wait a little longer before I try to find it a new home.

by: Kit Dunsmore

Familial Film Photography by Kazuyuki Kawahara

Kazuyuki Kawahara is a Japanese film photographer, based-in Toyama. He uses the Hasselblad 500CM camera as his main equipment.

Kazuyuki's photos are daily stories of his family that the heroes are his wife, daughter and grandparents "who teach me about life just by standing front of my camera." His photos are all film shots which are rather simple but very emotional.