About a year ago a 35mm film camera reached my faculties and, although I didn't know it at the time, this would eventually lead to elapsing sweeps of color-blindness in my vision. The doldrums, right? You guessed it--no. When you first look through a 35mm camera's viewfinder, the what-you-see-is-what-you-get mantra cinches to your expectations about photography without thinking because of how familiar that little world seems. That is, you don't think about the tonal gradation, pay attention to what the borders cut out or the excess that flows in. And of course, we never envisioned the way light could dance (or sit flat) in our scene. I know I didn't.
Needless to say, the first time I pressed the shutter release, my shot turned out perfect shit, but disheartening didn't have time to settle in because the following weekend I caught something on film that was simply magical and since, I have not wanted to do anything more than witness the world through the camera's eye, knowing no prior human has or will in times to come consummate the act the way I would.
I'll share work of my own and more on the subject this fall but for now, I leave you with this image which can be enlarged by clicking over it--
This photograph was shot on film by my none other than my greatest inspiration, the riveting, and boundlessly talented Ragnar Axelsson. He hails from mystical Iceland, a land I plan to visit one day, and when I need awakening , his work enlivens me without fail.
http://rax.is/