I'm not sure how I missed this community until now. Wow! Yes, I am a digiholic. I own two digital cameras and the convenience is addicting. But something about digital never feels quite right. When all is said and done, my "good photograph" is reduced to a really big matrix of really big numbers.
One thing about analog that continues to appeal to me is that it feels more tangible, natural, honest and personal than digital. For instance, blur looks more dynamic on film, overexposed areas retain texture (versus being "clipped" and bleach white) and I'll take natural-looking grain over staticky-looking noise any day. Am I delusional?
So I hope to replace (or at least seriously supplement) my digital addiction with analog. As such, I've identified a SIX STEP PROGRAM (!) to get me there. It entails using each of the following in order:
1. Body cap pinhole for my digital camera. [DONE - I knew this would naturally lead into my wanting to explore analog methods of pinhole photography, and it did.]
2. Analog pinhole camera [DONE - I built and continue to use a Quaker Oats box pinhole camera. I set up a darkroom in my basement and develop my paper negatives late at night, maybe with some Respighi or Mingus playing. Life is good.]
3. 35mm pinhole camera [IN PROGRESS - I'm building one now, really enjoying pinhole work.]
4. Toy camera [Dying to get my hands on a Holga or some other Lomo camera.]
5. 35mm compact camera [Olympus Trip 35?]
6. Rangefinder [Graduation is a ways off.]
Anyway, I'm mostly into street photography as well as urban scenes -- architecture, wallscapes, blight, abstractions, etc. I thought it might be bad form to provide links in a first post, but I see others doing it. So here's my Flickr profile which shows some of my digital street photography, but also my pinhole work. I also have a brand new photoblog (Dead Link Removed). I'm still working out some bugs, but the single picture there is an analog one.
Sorry if I went on too long. I'm looking forward to getting my feet wet here and doing lots of learning and sharing.
Brian
One thing about analog that continues to appeal to me is that it feels more tangible, natural, honest and personal than digital. For instance, blur looks more dynamic on film, overexposed areas retain texture (versus being "clipped" and bleach white) and I'll take natural-looking grain over staticky-looking noise any day. Am I delusional?
So I hope to replace (or at least seriously supplement) my digital addiction with analog. As such, I've identified a SIX STEP PROGRAM (!) to get me there. It entails using each of the following in order:
1. Body cap pinhole for my digital camera. [DONE - I knew this would naturally lead into my wanting to explore analog methods of pinhole photography, and it did.]
2. Analog pinhole camera [DONE - I built and continue to use a Quaker Oats box pinhole camera. I set up a darkroom in my basement and develop my paper negatives late at night, maybe with some Respighi or Mingus playing. Life is good.]
3. 35mm pinhole camera [IN PROGRESS - I'm building one now, really enjoying pinhole work.]
4. Toy camera [Dying to get my hands on a Holga or some other Lomo camera.]
5. 35mm compact camera [Olympus Trip 35?]
6. Rangefinder [Graduation is a ways off.]
Anyway, I'm mostly into street photography as well as urban scenes -- architecture, wallscapes, blight, abstractions, etc. I thought it might be bad form to provide links in a first post, but I see others doing it. So here's my Flickr profile which shows some of my digital street photography, but also my pinhole work. I also have a brand new photoblog (Dead Link Removed). I'm still working out some bugs, but the single picture there is an analog one.
Sorry if I went on too long. I'm looking forward to getting my feet wet here and doing lots of learning and sharing.
Brian
