All posts filed under: Interview

Interview: Han Phan

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“Shooting film feels more immersive and all-encompassing: I can’t just rapid-fire shoot a roll of film; everything takes forethought.  It’s challenging but that’s what makes it fun and when you get a great shot, it makes shooting on film so worthwhile.” MH – Why do you shoot film? HP – I’ve only recently started shooting film about 2 years ago.  Prior to that, I had a Canon 5D Mark II and Sony A7iii and had been shooting digital since high school.  I now exclusively shoot film and made that decision because I absolutely love the challenge of and results from film photography.  Shooting film feels more immersive and all-encompassing: I can’t just rapid-fire shoot a roll of film; everything takes forethought.  It’s challenging but that’s what makes it fun and when you get a great shot, it makes shooting on film so worthwhile. MH – How would you describe your style? HP – I don’t think I have a style yet.  I shoot neighborhoods because these are the streets I walk daily so I want to …

Interview: Jason Hunter

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“I like the tactile feeling of shooting with film cameras. Whether that’s the clamshell on the XA, or advancing the film and cocking the shutter on the RB67. This is something that can not be found with digital cameras.” Jason is a film and digital photographer who co-operates Restore From Backup, a film photography specific hub account on Instagram. Jason first reached out to me out of the blue and started off by saying we had a common circle of photographer friends and he couldn’t have been nicer. Since then, his work has inspired me to see buildings and cars in different ways than before. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. JH – I’m from Chesapeake, VA, a pretty dull little suburb between Norfolk and Virginia Beach. I’ve lived here for the majority of my life and have no plans on leaving. I’ve been married for ten years, and we have three cats and no kids. My life is pretty quiet, and that’s exactly how I like it. Also, I really love Math …

Interview: Florian Guillon

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“[Film] is a medium that allows me to express who I am while doing the things I love: getting out, watching the people around me, and spending time in nature.” Florian is a film photographer in France that I know through Instagram. He and I ordered our Intrepid MKIV-Black cameras nearly at the same time and have gone through the paces of learning large format photography together. His work has always been an inspiration and it has been an honor to get to know him better through this interview. His instagram can be found here along with the Instagram for Les Trois Bains (The Three Baths). JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. This can be anything from what you do for a career or what got you into photography or anything else.  FG – I am a 28 year old attorney living in Paris, France. I started shooting film 3 years ago, and have shot it daily ever since. I have always been interested in art, however I am completely unable to paint or …

Interview: Brian D Smith

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“Film is romantic. It’s timeless. It can be wildly perfect and simultaneously imperfect. I think this last sentiment is what I find most captivating about film.” Brian is a wedding photographer who lives in Charleston, SC. His portrait work is absolutely stunning and clearly demonstrates a lot skill in shaping light. His work has pushed me to try new things with my photography. You can find his website here and his Instagram here. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. BDS – I was born and raised in Ohio. I worked as an engineer for 2 years in Ohio before I moved to Charleston to work for Boeing. I spent 4 years there before I became disillusioned with working a desk job and I began to feel disconnected from my work. It was fulfilling and challenging, but I longed for something that was more deeply personal. Around this same time, I reconnected with photography and began pursuing weddings. I became consumed by photography. This feeling led to a swift realization that it was time …

Interview: Timothy Rhyne

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“I approach all my work with a minimal frame set. Limited to focus on color pallet and simple composition. This framework allows for a exploration of color and specific focal points within storytelling.” Timothy is a film photographer whose landscape work has been a big inspiration to me. The way he conveys movement, scale, and changing light is far and above where I am at with my landscapes. You can find his personal website here and his Instagram here. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. TR – Growing up, my dad wouldn’t let me shoot on his digital camera until I learned how to use a film camera. As a high schooler, I wasn’t into that but ended up taking photography classes through the school. There I learned how to use a camera, develop and print black & white film. When I graduated, I was given a digital camera and didn’t pick up a film camera for a while. About two years ago I asked for my dads film camera (the same one …

Interview: Victoria Oliver

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“I long for tangible connection and the creation of physical art from my heart and hands.  This is why I love film. It is magical, chemical alchemy.” Victoria is a film photographer living in the Blue Ridge mountain area. Her work is beautiful and often inspires me to get out, explore, and shoot more often. Her instagram dedicated to her film work can be found here and, in addition, her instagram showcasing all of her work both in front of and behind the camera can be found here. JM – Tell me a bit about yourself. VO – I live in the Appalachian mountains, just below the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, in a small town surrounded by forest service and national forest areas.  I have always laughingly called myself a Jill-of-all-trades, because my mind never wants to settle with only one project. I am always restless and ready to go. Seeking to reconcile my day job with my desire to be a gypsy born in another century. VO – Want to hit the open road, …

Interview: Monika Murren

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“I like to document moments and places that feel both intimate and otherworldly and magical.” Monika is a photographer that I met on Instagram like many of the other people I’ve interviewed but her body of work is uniquely personal. The work that she publishes on her instagram is inspiring and she even sells some of her prints on her website. JM: Tell me a bit about yourself. MM: I am was born and raised in Poland but have spent most of my adult life now in the US.  I currently live in the Hudson Valley, about an hour north of New York City.  I feel lucky to live in such a beautiful place, surrounded by incredible nature and yet so close to a big city.  It inspires my photography daily.  I have always been curious about the world having grown up in back-then communist Poland and not having access to the rest of the world.  I knew there was a greater world outside and it motivated me to learn to speak other languages and …

Interview: Ioana Lungu

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Ioana is a film photographer from Bucharest, Romania currently living in Ethiopia. Her work has a great personal touch that inspires me. Her instagram can be found here. JM: What got you into photography? IL: I’ve always been searching for moments that feel like home, and tried to make them stay. Mostly these were times spent with my friends, we were all a bit lost and trying to reconcile our full-time jobs and studies with a deeper yearning for moral and aesthetic ideals. This, and urban spaces or light-soaked afternoons spent at home, reading, talking or making food for loved ones made me want to reach out for the camera. There’s a quiet, muted poetry in mundane moments and I wanted to capture that in images.  JM: Why do you shoot film? IL: I got my first film camera as a gift and started using it because buying a digital one was, to put it simply, too expensive for my broke student life. The first rolls of film I shot were a disaster – getting …

Interview: Carl Fehres

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” I absolutely love the process of shooting film, not seeing the results for days or even weeks.  I love the slower pace of manually focusing and the limit of photos per roll causing me to really think about every frame, every image before I press the shutter button.” Carl is a really talented portrait photographer out of Houston, TX. His polaroid work is the best I’ve seen and his other incredible work uses several other cameras including a Mamiya RZ67, Pentax 67II, and Leica M6. His website can be found here. JM – Why do you shoot film? CF – Man, how do I answer that… There’s so much I love about shooting film.  I love that I’m getting the look I’ve been wanting with almost no editing after I get the images back from the lab. I absolutely love the process of shooting film, not seeing the results for days or even weeks.  I love the slower pace of manually focusing and the limit of photos per roll causing me to really think …

Interview: Nevin Johnson

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“I want to make photographs that inspire people. I want to be an inspiration for those who have 9-5 jobs and can’t be travel photographers.” Nevin’s work is an exceptional example of just how beautiful the east coast can be. His work includes film photography, digital photography, as well as some drone work. If you didn’t know he was just recently get into film, you would never know. His instagram account can be found here. JM – Why do you shoot film?  NJ – This is a tough question to answer. Like most people my age, I learned the basics of photography on digital cameras. It wasn’t until later on that I picked up my first film camera. By that time, I had seen a lot of really good film work. The tones, the colors, and the variation between film stocks is what really got me interested in film. The added challenge of shooting a finite number of shots mixed with the style that one can achieve using film is what attracted me to shooting …