Tales on Film

Today have the wonderful chance of talking with another fascinating photographer from Ghent, enjoy the interview with Frederik Vandewalle.

© Jeroen Mylle

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

My name is Frederik Vandewalle, 22 years old. I live in Ghent, Belgium. I study Digital Design at Hogeschool voor Wetenschap & Kunst Sint-Lucas Gent. I have a great passion for (analog) photography; I also like making music, I play the guitar for a couple of years now.

Why do you like shooting film?

I make photos to capture moments in my life, like a lot of people do. I like to do this on film, because film is something touchable, something we can hold in our hands. There’s also something mysterious, atmospherically about film, like the unique color for every film or the typical analog grain. Also the fact that a film roll is limited tot a maximum of 36 pictures is good thing, I think much more before I try to capture something.

Do you have a favorite camera and/or film?

My favorite camera for shooting 35mm film is the Canon A1. This camera is so cool to handle, there’s a special button for double-exposures and the light meter goes up to 12 800 asa, hooray for grain! For shooting medium format I mostly use my Pentacon Six with Carl Zeiss Biometer 80mm 2.8, because of the great glass. Although I like to work with hardly every analog camera, I also use a lot of plastic toy cameras.

I like to use expired films. Especially black & white films like Kodak T-Max 400/3200 for the hard contrast or color reversal film like Sensia, Provia, Velvia for the vivid colors when cross processed. Also expired Polaroid film like Polaroid 669 and ID-UV for the dreamy blue tones in it. What I like about expired films is its unpredictability. You never know for the full 100% what the colors of the photo are going to be like. The grain and the weird colors that come with the age of the film is also something I like about it. It adjusts a sort of magical imperfection to the photograph, and that’s great because we all have or little imperfections, don’t we?

What is your best analog photo till now and a little explanation about it?

It’s very difficult to choose one photograph, because every photo I try to make has it’s own memory. But if I have to choose, I’m going to pick a photo I made, when I went to Cap Blanc Nez with two of my friends. It’s only an hour and a half driving from where I live, but it’s one of the most beautiful places I have been to. The silence of nature combined with remnants of bunkers from World War 2 created a sort of magical atmosphere.

What’s your vision on the future of film photography?

Film will never die! Analog is hotter than never before nowadays! Think about all the smart phone apps that try to simulate analog effects to your phonographs. There will always be film, because there is too many people who love it, despite we live today in a digital age.

flickr

website

Today we’re talking with a passionate freelance photographer from Ghent, enjoy the interview with Géraldine van Wessem.

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

I am Géraldine van Wessem, 27 years old. I live in Ghent, Belgium. I studied Dutch and English at university and afterwards I studied photography at art school. I work as a freelance photographer and I also teach photography in evening courses. The little time I have left I like to spend on photography and traveling – and in an ideal situation: the combination of both!

Why do you like shooting film?

I love the slow process of working on film: I take a lot more time to think about composition and the right moment. When I shoot a portrait on film, I take my time, but still I usually never take more than 12 shots.

Analog photography also had a distinct way capturing volumes and curves that I miss in digital photography. I also like the atmosphere and colours film conveys. I am very nostalgic as well, and because I take less pictures on film, they all become in a way equally important as ‘relics’ from the past.

Do you have a favorite camera and/or film?

I don’t have a particular preference for film, but my Hasselblad is by far my favourite camera. Especially the fact that I look at the people I photograph not from behind the camera, but from above (since the finder / ground glass is on top of the camera) I think it’s a great camera to shoot portraits with. I want the people I portray to trust me and to feel relaxed. It creates a more relaxed way of working, there is more contact between the photographer and the model then when the photographer is behind the camera, because it is less intimidating for the person portrayed.

What is your best analog photo till now and a little explanation about it?

It is hard to choose one since I believe I still have to grow so much as a photographer. I still need so much practice and developing my own style… But to answer your question anyway: there is one portrait I have always been quite proud of: ‘Sarah’. Because I never captured a moment like this in any other portrait. It is a moment in which the model isn’t mastering the situation. During a session of utter concentration I captured a precious moment of volatility.

What’s your vision on the future of film photography?

I don’t think it will ever completely disappear. The process, the tradition, the results: there is so much magic happening in analogue photography that cannot be replaced nor simulated in any other way.

flickr 

website 

I’m slowly getting back on track with posting, now that the other work has been stabilizing and I can find some more time again.

Today we are talking with another young film photographer, enjoy the interview with Johnny Utterback

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

I’m Johnny Utterback, 23, graphic designer, photographer, and sound artist. I studied Graphic Design at Virginia Commonweath University to get a pretty normal day job and wander around taking photographs in available free time I can get. Currently, I’m a bit obsessed with radio towers and many other commonly ignored monoliths that establish human presence in even the most remote of areas.

• Website: shutterback.com
• Flickr: counterspark

Why do you like shooting film?

Much like a good portion of people(including myself) that cannot part with their vinyl record collection, I find the aesthetic of analog has lot that could never be replaced by the advances of the digital age. The “clunk” of the shutter, the satisfying resistance of advancing the film, clicking of the mechanisms, the unpredictability of the results, loading the film, the anticipation of processing, film grain, the production of an actual object… oh– the list goes on!

Do you have a favorite camera and/or film?

Favorite camera… Currently, the Hasselblad 500C/M, for it’s sensory overload with tons of cool noises and impeccable engineering and design. It took some time, but that camera slowly has taken the lead as far as quality and results are concerned. With my 35mm cameras, the Nikon F100 has always been held dear to my heart.

Favorite film would be this batch of Kodak Gold 100 speed film I received from a mentor of film photography. Terribly expired, the film is only brought to life on super long exposures that create this painterly-like grain. I have one roll left, it’s sitting in the fridge right now for when the mood strikes me.

What is your best analog photo till now and a little explanation about it?

My best?! That has yet to be taken! haha! I sometimes feel as if it changes with every roll that I get back from the lab. One that has stood out to me for quite some time, and is definitely one of the most striking of my images, would be the shot taken from the ‘Towers’ series I am working on. I would consider a lot of my ‘Towers’ series to possess some of the best out of my work, simply because it has a defined meaning and direction behind it.

What’s your vision on the future of film photography?

It will be around, just like vinyl records, because I think analog photography could really never be replaced. The whole “faux-nostalgia” movement is definitely doing a good job of keeping it afloat as well in these hard economic times, making vintage cameras a hot commodity and keeping them in circulation.

I know I have been slacking a bit with posting the last couple of weeks, but I’m working on something very time consuming in my professional life. So bear with me for a while, until I get back on track with posting 5 times a week. In the mean time, I give you the tuesday interview with Ana Cabaleiro

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

Hi, my name is Ana Cabaleiro, i live in Vigo (Galicia), the North of Spain

You can find me on the internet at:

• cargocollective.com/anacabaleiro
• Flickr
• And i also have a blog about music (film, photography, films,..) for six years now named Microphones in the Trees

Why do you like shooting film?

Because I just love how it looks. The amazing colors are my personal way to approach to the 70′s feeling that I love. I also only have a pretty basic knowledge of the technical side of photography and for me it’s much easier than digital. I observe, choose moments, play a little with light and just frame inside my viewfinder. The results are always unpredictable.

Do you have a favorite camera and/or film?

Yes, I’m very fond of an old praktica bc1 because of its imperfections and its texture. When i shoot with it I always use expired films like ferrania solaris fg plus…the pictures just look so special and different from my other cameras.

What is your best analog photo till now and a little explanation about it?

i don’t think this is my best photo but i really like it. the color came up exactly how i wanted, and the scene was so evocative. It was taken last summer in San Sebastian (Basque Country, Spain)… It looks like a 60′s french cruise to me…the tipical old white-haired millionaire man, the elegant woman with a broad-brimmed hat reading a fashion magazine…a lot of light, pure summer.

What’s your vision on the future of film photography?

I hope it will look promising thanks to for example Lomography and the Impossible Project

I don’t get a lot of young female film photographers who respond on my request for an interview, Sarah Abraham however said she was honored to be featured on the website. So this week I’ll give you her interview

Can you introduce yourself in a few words?

I’m currently a 24 year-old senior in college (a few detours later), nearing the home stretch and it feels good, though scary, to almost be done. I started shooting film at a young age—I believe I was 9 when my parents bought me my first camera. As the years progressed, digital became the norm and I cast aside my “childish” outdated cameras, only to rediscover a deeper love for film in the winter of this past year.

You can find my photos at: Flickr

Why do you like shooting film?


There’s something undeniably satisfying about film, about the loud click and subsequent twist of my thumb as I advance the roll, about knowing that I’ve only got one shot at this, so I’d better do it right. Film reminds me of life in that regard. We don’t often get second chances to create something beautiful. I try, to the best of my ability, to capture memories as they happen, and film is the best thing I’ve found for that.

Do you have a favorite camera and/or film?


My Canon AE-1 is my first love, the one that brought me back over to the film fold. My Minolta X-700 is a very close second. Ektar 100 & Portra 400 are both vying for my affections as my favorite film. Eventually I’d like to get into medium format.

What is your best analog photo till now and a little explanation about it?


I don’t think I really have a favorite, but this photo has a lot of meaning for me. It’s called “The Road”:

This was an absolute mistake. It came from one of my first few rolls with my Minolta and I literally had no idea what I was doing—ruining 2 rolls of film in the process & feeling like the biggest failure, until I saw how this turned out. It was then that I realized that not everything was lost, and I just needed to have patience, and work a little harder, plugging through. We all get frustrated and uninspired with our art, whatever form it might take—but I learned that pushing through those times as a photographer has slowly made me a better one.

What’s your vision on the future of film photography?

I see it always having a place in our lives. People like us will pass our love of film onto our children, and though they might fall away from it for awhile, there’s an air of nostalgia and timelessness to film that will ultimately bring them back. I have faith.

Thanks for the honor!