The Bombastic Proposal: the marriage of digital photography with social media has fundamentally altered the nature of the photograph for most Americans — to such an extent that this combination of technologies has resulted in the metaphorical death of the amateur photograph. During the 20th century, photographs taken by amateurs had two primary purposes: documenting […]
Category: Opinion
Thoughts, musings and opinions on traditional/film photography.
Posted inOpinion
Over the hill or here or there: My adventures getting started in a large format film photography wonderland
It’s mid-December 2020 and a bearded, touqued figure stands silently on the side of a frozen lake looking off towards the rising peak of a distant mountain as the sun begins to rise. A wooden camera stands atop a carbon fiber tripod waiting for the film holder to be slid home and its shutter to […]
Posted inOpinion
Nishika & The N8000: A seedy history of telephone scams, lawsuits and fake parts
Did you ever hear the tragedy of the Nishika N8000? If you haven’t you’re going to learn all about the seemingly seedy history of this camera; from fake LCD screens to telemarketing scams ahem, creativity…
Posted inDeveloping Film
My approach to Rodinal semi-stand film development
My film development workflow shifted in 2020 and became almost entirely based around semi-stand methods. Previously I had used ILFORD DD-X and taken great care over timings and chemistry – including for stand dev, but as I’ve found more of my projects start to come together I have not been able to dedicate myself in […]
Posted inOpinion
Seasonal Reflections of an Analogue Photographer
“It’s Christmas Theo, it’s the time of miracles” Hans Gruber, Beloved Christmas Terrorist Christmas is a piece of family-orientated theatre, rich with idiosyncratic traditions that only exist within our own eccentric little bubbles, along with the shared, large scale infectious hysteria of a nation psyching itself up for some overly indulgent festive respite. The glittery […]
Posted inOpinion
Working inside the ‘limits of your equipment’
When choosing to use a certain camera one must come to terms with the limits inherent. Speaking in respect of my Rolleiflex MX, there are things one can do very well with a TLR. There are also things that you’d be mad to shoot with a TLR (but do anyhow). What is a Rolleiflex excellent […]
Posted inOpinion
Working the Scene from Four Different Perspectives: Protest Photography – by New Exit Photography Group
Expressions of civil unrest have provided many opportunities for photographers to capture the energetic, emotional scenes which are the byproduct of demonstrations, protests, riots, and other manifestations. Crowds offer such a dynamic set of possibilities that I’ve even heard some describe protests as being “cheating,” or “too easy – fish in a barrel.” While it’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Reframing The Question: a response to Clay Daly
Back in early January, CW Daly posted an article here on EMULSIVE asking, ‘Where to from here?’. The article generated a fair bit of discussion both here and on social media, with more than a few answers I bought my first SLR towards the end of the 1970s. I’ve kept going with photography ever since, […]
Posted inWet Plate
Visualising the Unspeakable: Exploring Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder with wet plate photography
Even when the camera is focused on a single subject, photographic portraiture rarely, if ever, speaks with just one voice. It is this multifaceted layering, be it intentional or otherwise, that generates intrigue and keeps us coming back for another look, drawn to some inexplicable detail that refuses to sit quietly on the page. Historical […]
Posted inOpinion
Stop cross processing your slide film: #Saynotoxpro
That’s right I said it, stop cross-processing lovely slide film. Slide film was designed to produce lovely true striking colours, with great contrast, sharpness and fine grain. It allowed photographers, artists and printers to see exactly what they were getting. Yet you want to xpro it to make it grainy, blurry and a complete smorgasbord […]
Posted inOpinion
Kodak Tri-X 400 follow-up: Does it even really matter? – By Simon King
I wrote an article here on EMULSIVE in April 2019 where I discussed some of the steps I made early on in my film photography process. I covered my earliest roll in 2016 to my then most recent work on Kodak Tri-X 400. I had sampled almost everything on offer by ILFORD, quite a few […]
Posted inOpinion
If sharpness truly mattered Cartier-Bresson would be a joke – by Simon King
White teaching a recent workshop I joked that street photography was the only genre where people would buy £3k worth of cameras and lenses and then deliberately use them to make out of focus, grainy, imperfect images. This led to a pretty interesting discussion about the merits to imperfection, and I think some of those […]
Posted inOpinion
Living with GAS, one film photographer’s story so far…
GAS doesn’t necessarily kill you, but as a “syndrome” there are steps you can take to live as normal a life as possible with GAS.
Posted inOpinion
“Photographs” are not “Photography”
The idea I’d like to unpack in this article is based on some of the thoughts I’ve had while reflecting on my role when it comes to making photographs. I think that most of my recent writing has been produced in an effort to untangle preconceptions and assumptions that I seem to have been carrying […]
Posted inOpinion
Anecdotal Evidence: Tools to help you see photographically – by Fred Rosenberg
I’ve been photographing on the street for years and have been keeping notes. They cover everything from the…
Posted inOpinion
Why shoot black and white film for documentary photography?
I’ve already written about using film in general to achieve specific goals in the genres of Street and Documentary photography, which is my chosen pursuit. However, I haven’t gone into much detail on the specifics of why black and white film specifically appeals to me currently for storytelling imagery. The association of black and white […]
Posted inOpinion
The role of film snapshots in my work
For a while now, my photography goal has been on capturing a more energetic, or emotionally resonating type of moment than my earlier style, which was a little more withdrawn, involving distant figures and light architecture. The shift to film allowed me to constantly concentrate on finding the next “worthy” scene to work, as opposed […]
Posted inOpinion
Essay: It’s all been done before so why bother taking photographs?
I’m constantly getting back to this thought and feel it’s about time to share something with you that comes very close to my inner monologue. You have been warned. I highly doubt that we all have the same motivations to take photographs but it is interesting to explore my own situation and hear your experience, […]
Posted inOpinion
Using the language of minimalism in film photography
I am usually hesitant to assign labels on my photography, I think out of concern that a definition may limit my mentality, and…
Posted inOpinion
Lessons learned from 828 frames of 35mm film shot in India
During my recent trip to India, where I had 9 full days with which to shoot, I shot 23 rolls out of the 44 I had chosen to take. I am usually frugal with my shutter, and try and make my images in as few actuations as possible. I gave myself a little more leeway […]
