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One of the best things about film photography is that the creative process doesn't end in the camera. Processing your images in a darkroom is not only great fun, but it also allows you to exercise complete creative control over the final look of your image.
We cover some of the essentials needed to set up a darkroom in our beginner's guide and have also developed a series of short animations which cover essential darkroom equipment, darkroom safety tips as well as how an enlarger works.
Below, we cov...
Lifelong love of black and white
Growing up in the late fifties and sixties, one of my favourite movies was The Day the Earth Stood Still, a lot of which was shot at night in black and white. That early exposure to film noir inspired a lifelong love of black and white photography, especially at night.
When I first started shooting pictures in 1967, though, the only option for night photography without a tripod was “pushing” 400 ASA film and using specialized developers. While what was essentially un...
Introduction
I’ve been a photographer for 35 years since I was 11 in fact when I first loaded my Zenith 11 with film and set off for a walk into the wilds of South Yorkshire. 20 years later I turned professional and as soon as digital became a viable option I traded in my Nikon F90x and Mamiya 645 pro for a Nikon digital kit. Digital was for me always a triumph of convenience over real quality in those early years and not much else. It wasn’t until Canon brought out the 5D series that I found myself ...
Starting Out
As a relative newbie there is a lot I still don’t know or understand the history of photographic film types and the various process do’s & don’ts. I’m OK with this and let me tell you why. There are countless books, articles and resources to help me learn as well as a very supportive film community. It is important that I do my homework but it is also important I don’t let all this information overwhelm me.
Learning
For me the main and only way to learn is time behind t...
Zone focusing is arguably one of the quickest and most effective methods of focusing your camera. With a little forethought, practice and pre-visualisation of your shot, it's a method that can reduce problems like shutter lag. Ensure your images are sharp every time. And help you take photos more surreptitiously.
It doesn't rely on automation and, in most cases can be put into practice before you've brought the camera to your eye. I believe it's a core skill and a method that everyone who takes photograp...
On Reading — stealing from the best
Nearly all of my photographs organize themselves into loosely defined, open-ended projects that are never finished but often stop at an interesting place for a portfolio, show, or hand-made book.
People often ask; “Where do you get ideas for your projects?” British photographer and educator, David Hurn says; “Our advice to photographers is best expressed by Calvin Trilling: ‘The immature artist borrows; the mature artist steals.’ So steal from the best....
Self-portraiture as Catharsis
My photography is a form of therapy, a personal, emotional and sometimes turbulent struggle with the complexity of emotions. I feel my life and art have become intertwined and to bury this mental state deep within would only allow it to thrive but through my use of photography, I am offered a sense of catharsis.
My self-depictions manifest within the same four walls, my bedroom. The room I believe is the keeper of my trapped and repressed emotions. This often heavily constr...
Earlier this year we agreed to take part in @EMULSIVEfilm community interviews and these are the results.
Over to you #EMULSIVE
Back in mid-May 2016, we invited you all to submit your questions to Ilford Photo for the second in a new series of community interviews here on #EMULSIVE. As with the first, the premise is simple: we collect questions from you, the film photography community, package them up and then work with the interview subject to get them answered and published.
Well, we’...
I’m Anil Mistry and I’m a photographer. I shoot a whole variety of work, including headshots, documentary, portraits and personally initiated projects. Whatever interests me and helps me to improve my body of work.
I’ve been asked to talk about an area of my photographic work that I have a real passion for. In my case, that's the capturing of street portraits.
Why do I take street portraits?
There’s two main reasons I do it, and I’ll try to go through them succinctly:
It’s not easy
...