Tag: film photography

There’s Nothing Like Film / Part 2

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? I hope so far you’re having a lovely Friday and that your week has been nice. Lots of good and bad stuff happening right now, huh? On the one side, there’s the world being in literal shambles, dumb politicians and us being stuck at home, on the other one there movements finally changing the world, Taylor Swift releasing a surprise album and us finding new ways to connect. When I look at the world, I often remember what I read online about a month into quarantine – if this never happened, this version of you right now would never exist. And I see that as both something good and something bad. And it makes me wonder a lot, mostly about which version I would prefer. I think it makes you reflect on life, which I think is really important.

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What a philosophical start, huh? But truly, I think taking a good look at the world is so important right now. Which is probably why I love photography so much, because it makes you look at the world, and in most cases in different ways. It makes you see the beauty in things that you never saw before. And now that I have this film camera, that I’ve been carrying around with me basically all the time, I see this beauty in the world in a way where I have the power to capture it in that very second that I’m taking a picture. Including the surprise of not really knowing how the picture will actually turn out. Which makes me feel a bit nervous and super excited at the same time. And it has kinda also made me love imperfection. You know, with a digital camera you can just perfect every shot, because you can change just about everything. But with a film camera, there’s only so much you can do besides just taking the picture. So when a picture turns out to be blurry, that’s just what it is. That’s how you captured that moment. And it might not be perfect in the way we know it, but it’s still that moment in a picture, so full of life and creativity, and that’s what I love about it.

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So last week, I finally got my second roll of film developed and I’m just so happy to share the finished pictures with you all today. I haven’t been photographing with film for that long now, but it’s already been such a learning curve. I’ve been trying out different types of film for now and I think with the roll I’m currently shooting on, I think I’ll try out different stages of light, just to see how the camera really works with that. But so far every shot has been super fun and I love seeing how the pictures turn out depending on how I’m taking them in those very moments – the pictures down below were taken at home, during a holiday, when we went hiking, at all kinds of places.

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I think compared to the first roll you can clearly see how both the type of film and me getting acclimated and more used to the camera have changed the quality of the pictures (here’s the link to my first roll of pictures). Which again is super fascinating. I’m already super excited to see how the next one’s going to turn out and I can’t wait to show the pictures to you once they’re developed. And until then I hope you enjoy the pictures down below. As always, I’d love to hear your opinions, so please don’t hesitate to leave your comments and thoughts down below. As always, I wish you all a lovely weekend and, of course, thanks for reading. x

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There’s Nothing Like Film

Hola everyone.

Welcome back to my blog. I’m so sorry for being gone for so long, but I’ve buried myself in uni work the past two weeks and only just now had a chance to finally peek my head out a bit again. How are you guys doing? I hope you’ve had a great two weeks and are feeling well, despite this way too real horror scenario we’re still stuck in. I’m going to be honest, I’m still locked into my shitty emotional rollercoaster. One day I’m feeling super happy and calm and truly believe that everything’s going to be perfectly fine again, and the next day I feel like a piece of my soul got ripped apart and all I want to do is throw myself off a cliff. I know, this might sound a bit dramatic, but I’ve always lived in extremes and this quarantine has only enforced that even more.

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Anyways, thanks to various new hobbies, I’ve been able to stick to the better, more fun side of the rollercoaster for most of the time. And one of those hobbies is something I’ve been wanting to get into for a pretty long time – film photography. I mean, you all know how deeply in love I am with photography in general, whether with my phone or my camera. So getting obsessed with film photography was just a natural consequence. And finally, for my birthday this year, I gave myself the greatest gift ever to give in to the obsession – a film camera, to be exact, an Olympus XA2, that I got from Depop.

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So far, I’ve used up one roll of film, which I recently got developed and am super happy to share with you today. Obviously, not all the pictures are worthy enough to be hung up on a wall for everyone to see, but some of them are and to be honest, I’m really proud of that. Especially for my first try. Thankfully, actually photographing with the camera is just as much fun as seeing the results. I know that some people don’t like film, because opposed to digital cameras, you aren’t able to see the photo straight after taking it. You can’t check whether the lighting is nice or everything is in focus. Every single picture is a surprise. And yes, it might make it all a bit more stressful, because the chance of some of the pics being throwaways is pretty high, but it is also way more exciting that way. I love how you capture moments and then they’re locked into the camera until you finally get to see them weeks afterward. I think that’s actually what gives the pictures their certain nostalgic and romantic touch. I really really really love it. And so, without further ado, here are some of my favourite pictures that I took during the past weeks while being stuck in quarantine. If any of you are curious, I took all of them on a Kodak Gold film with an ISO of 200. I hope you like them just as much as I do. So, please enjoy.

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And there you go guys, this is it for today’s post. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and are excited for more to come. I’ve already ordered six more rolls of film – 3x Kodak Color Plus 200 and 3x Fujicolor C200 – and I can’t wait to shoot them all and fill them with fantastic memories and beautiful moments. And then to share them with all of you. And until then, I hope you like these here. As always, please don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts and comments down below. And also recommendations and tips for the camera. I’m just at the start of the film photography learning curve and would be grateful for every tip. Besides that, I wish you all a lovely week and hope you’re doing well. And, of course, thanks for reading. x

My favourite photographers

Hola everyone.

And welcome to another week. I hope, so far, your Monday has been great and that you’re all doing good. I’m currently sitting in my room at home in London, typing this, while my playlist (link here) is playing in the background. Unfortunately I’ve been ill the past few days, so this is how I’ve spent most of my time. Also a reason why I woke up today not really having a plan of what to write about. But then I remembered this one series that I started a few months ago and I immediately knew what I had to do. So, once again, the time has come to celebrate the amazingness that is photography and all the fantastic photographers behind these works of art that we, as human beings and art lovers, like to hang up in our rooms, look at and maybe even create ourselves. That’s also part of the reason why photography is such a phenomenal art form – it doesn’t exclude. There are no rules that decide what is good and what is bad. Everyone can do anything with a camera or a phone or any technical device that includes a camera. Photography is open to everyone and anyone and that’s why I love it so much.

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Obviously, as with any sector that includes humans and requires them doing something, there are a few people that are especially talented and fantastic at what they’re doing. This also goes for photography. In my past posts of this series, I’ve introduced you to the incredible Brad Heaton (click me) and the unbelievable Will Darbyshire (click me too). Both of these creative minds are artists I look up to and admire with my whole being. And today, I would like to introduce you to another uber-amazing photographer. Today, it is my honour, to introduce you to the fantastic Brittany O’Brien, who I got to know through my love for the awesome band Hippo Campus. Ever since then, I’ve been following her account on Instagram and, let me just say, when it comes to music photography, she’s definitely one of the best out there.

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Her way of catching moments and seconds through the camera lens and turning them into pieces of art is absolutely incredible. I’m especially in love with tour shots, but not from the concerts themselves but from moments besides the gigs. When they are just sitting around, maybe having dinner, lying in the grass outside. Normal stuff. I don’t know why, but they intrigue me the most. Besides that, Brit also does film photography, which I probably don’t have to explain why I’m a big, big fan of that. So, all in all, I’m so, so happy that I get to tell you about this amazing woman and her phenomenal art.

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And so, without further ado, let’s get to the most important part – the pictures. I dearly hope you enjoy them just as much as I do. All of them were taken during the last Hippo Campus tour (I got them from Brit’s official page, all credits go to her, of course). And yeah, what can I say – I just love them. Please enjoy.

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not my picture; all credits go to Brittany O’Brien

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If you want to find out more about Brit or simply can’t get enough of her pics, here are the links to her website and her Instagram. And yeah, please also let me know what you thought/think about this post, so please don’t hesitate to leave your comments down below. And, as always, I wish you all a nice week and thanks for reading. x

My favourite photographers

Hola everyone.

How are you all doing today? First of all, I want to apologize for not posting anything this Monday. I won’t tell you a big, long story of why I didn’t write anything, because, in the end, it all comes down to the fact that in the past few weeks, I haven’t really been that well, emotionally. Which then caused a massive lack of motivation, inspiration and creativity. So, that’s why I didn’t post anything. I just didn’t know what to write. But I’ve been trying to get better, crawl out of the hole I’m in – or was in, hopefully – and I’m sure just writing this now will help me with that. It’s always about getting back up again, right?

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My friend always tells me that I live in extremes. When I’m happy, I’m basically the happiest person on earth. It’s like I’m wearing pink glasses. Everything feels like I’m in a dream and high up in the clouds, far away from any worries or stress. And frankly, it’s the best feeling ever. But I can fall just as steeply and massively once I get out of my clouds. Because when I’m sad, I’m really really sad. The kind of sad where I can just break out into tears at any point, whenever I feel like it. So, I’m either extremely happy or extremely sad. With me, there simply is no in-between. And right now, I’m trying my best to push myself off the ground, out of my hole of worries and angst, so I can get back up to my clouds, where I usually spent most of my life (thank god).

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So, yeah, that’s kind of the project right now. Thankfully, my family and friends have been trying their best to help me as well and I’ve been directing my attention more and more to the prospect of attending Sziget festival in less than two weeks and then getting my new tattoo. I honestly cannot wait to finally get there again. To see Ed and Marty and Ty and Josh and all of these other super amazing bands and artists. For a whole freaking week. Can you believe that? I’m really going to a festival, for a whole week. Seven days of pure excitement and fantastic music. I can’t wait.

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Okay, but now enough of that. My big life story isn’t why we are all here today. No, no. Today, we’ve come together to once again celebrate the amazingness that is photography and the awesome artists behind the lenses. Last time we had the phenomenal Brad Heaton (click me) and today will be all about the one and only Will Darbyshire. Some of you, who’ve been following my blog for a long while now, will probably recognize the name from some of my previous posts. Will has always been one of my biggest inspirations and idols when it comes to photography (I’d actually do quite lots of crazy stuff to get to his level of talent) and he just continues to blow me away with every single picture. So, here’s to Will and the heavens he creates.

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As you can probably guess, Will is a super amazing filmmaker and photographer from London. He works online predominately, posting his pictures on his website and Instagram account and making videos on YouTube, which is also how I got to know him. Basically, his videos are nothing but a short holiday trip for the mind, without you having to even leave your house, and I fell in love with him and his talent the moment I saw his channel. I think, out of all his different videos, the one about his trip to New Zealand has to be my favourite one. I could watch it over and over again and I’d still love it to pieces. And I don’t think I have to add that it always makes me want to travel to NZ as well. I mean, just look at it. How dreamy does that place look? Oh my god.

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But, obviously, Will’s talent doesn’t just show through his clips. I mean, he really is a fantastic filmmaker, but his photos. Just wow. Somehow he manages to make his pictures look both super minimalistic and chill and extremely sophisticated and luxurious. In short, he takes the pictures I want to take. I simply admire his aesthetic. But I’ll just let his photos do the talking now. Please enjoy.

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Obviously, I can just recommend all of you guys to check Will out. For the bookworms among you, he also wrote a book a few years ago, where he collected letters from people from all across the globe. You can probably guess that it’s absolutely beautiful and totally worth to check it out. So, I can really recommend that. And, as always, please let me know your thoughts and I wish you all a nice week and thanks for reading. x