Small Tools | Big Looks

Barbed Ball,  Knoxville TN 2016 © jwl

I have gone back to shooting 35mm for the past couple of months. It began because I wanted to use my smaller Pocket 35s (Olympus 35RC or Rollei 35, etc), but then the feeling of the cameras took hold and the Way Of Seeing began to show through as I got the film back. IE, what I look at and how I present it varies a little with each camera I use. I always tend to be drawn to certain aspects of my environment, that won't change, it is who I am. Depending on where I am going or how long I will spend making photographs I choose different tools for the job.

Keep in mind that I have been primarily been using either medium format film cameras or a digital camera for my work for the last few years. After seeing the sharpness of the images I have made, I more or less left 35mm film alone. It didn't have the punch that I was used to. However, now that I have been only using 35mm for a few rolls of film, I am beginning to remember the power of the format. It has a compact and personal nature (at least with the cameras I use) that lends itself to the composition and stance from which the photograph is made. For me it is a bit more personal work.

Fence Cup, Knoxville TN 2016 © jwl

These two images were made in the last month or so with my new favorite little camera, the Nikon FM. I have owned 3 or 4 of these cameras in my life and I always sell them or put them down and leave them alone after a while. After a while there's an the occasion when I want to feel that shutter/mirror slap and go back to the basics. It has been a good way to take short walks and look at things. I am pretty happy with some of the new work that I am making. So much so that I bought some more 35mm film!!

These images in particular have been coming into my mind in the last few days. I can't articulate exactly why other than they are very satisfying to me. I enjoy seeing them and I hope to make more like them. I feel good things in the works...

I am working on assembling a new book for Late Summer or Fall, I am getting really excited to get this work out there on some walls and into people's hands.

More From Hell Drive II

 Untitled, Louisville, KY 2015 © jwl

Here are a couple more images that were taken back in May during my trip to Louisville, KY with Matt Hall. Lovingly referred to as HELL DRIVE II.  The common thread with these photos is that we are two photographers in an alley looking at the same subject. How we deal with that subject is up to us and obviously different. While we both have minimal ideas at what to do, the end results have varying degrees of subjective information.

I don't wanna have a class here and analyze what we have created, I simply wanna promote my creative friendship and hopefully show others that Photography isn't always a solo venture. It can be social as well.

Trash Cans © Matt Hall

I wanna take a minute and talk about how this post took so long to be seen.

First off, I don't blog as much as I should. It seems that instagram has taken some of the punch away from this means of communication. If I feel that there is more to say about the images I make, that's when we come here...

Secondly (and more what I need to share), I have several rolls of film moving through cameras at once. Especially in the 35mm cameras. I have cameras loaded and I pick one off the shelf and go to work. Sometimes, it takes years to complete a roll, mostly with 35mm. I just don't shoot it as much with small cameras & I save that format for what I feel are more Pedestrian Moments or better yet Walking Pictures.

Matt was using a digital camera and gave me the files back in May. I got this film developed 2 weeks ago.

I have been considering my format/process choices lately, so I will have more to share on this subject in the next few posts.