Essays and Expressions
56 Art, Thought Experiments, and Stories — With a Film Camera
An Autumn Essay
Illustrated With My Purma Special and Holga Cameras
November 21, 2021
The autumn arrives. The leaves start, slowly and by the hand of the wind blow, falling from the trees. The greens slowly fade away into a pastel brown. The night wins the battle with the sun, sooner than desired. At last but not at least, the temperature harms your finger – close to the shooting button.— Justino Lourenço.
Trafalgar on Deck
May 2021 — London
September 10, 2021
Stepping into London this past May after months of lockdown in the quiet Midlands felt much like I imagine moving from a rural medieval village to the bustling metropolis of Renaissance Rome must have felt like in centuries past. All of a sudden, life and joy met anger and fear in a flash of color and heat.— Nick Frazier.
Snyder Quarry
Granite Aggregate Operations
September 7, 2021
The Snyder Quarry is located in South Western Oklahoma in the town of Granite, Oklahoma. With the nifty Holga 120n and a roll of Ilford’s Black and White HP5 Plus 120mm, a field trip to the granite quarry was going to make for some great film shots. These photographs were taken during the Fall of 2019.— Peter Reilly.
“Happiest Place on Earth”
An Analog Account of Disney World, Florida
July 29, 2021
Even when visiting a colorful place such as Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, one can frame photographs in a way to capture interesting and contrasting black and white pictures. These shots were taken in December of 2019 on an Ilford HP5 disposable.— Peter Reilly.
The Power of Design
And the Contradictions Between Art and Life
April 6, 2021
This article first appeared on L’Œil de la Photographie. Republished on Analog. Cafe with the author’s permission. Learn more about Prof. Dr. Rainer Funke, the author, and Michael Nguyen, the photographer, below. -Dmitri. When will the containers be loaded?— Prof. Dr. Rainer Funke, with images by Michael Nguyen.
.Casa
March 23, 2021
I know now I could have lived with no more world than this. I now know that I made all the world into this house. — José Luiz Peixoto. I was born in a small town of 30 thousand inhabitants in the countryside of Santa Catarina, in the Iguazu Valley. My parents are not from there though: my mom was born nearby, in São João do Triunfo; as close as her town is, nobody in Porto União knows about it.— laura.mariagabre.
Pisgah
March 9, 2021
This place shuns folks who try to claim it, but it’ll shun them with a gracious wonder. So its hills press themselves into ancient creases –hollers and valleys that can only be seen once. If you’re audacious enough to try tracking them down, sooner or later, they’ll wrap you in a coy fog.— Jason Bruner.
Naked Photos
Graphic Experiments Amid Covid-19
January 14, 2021
The winter strikes. The night falls. A blurry window, a keyhole looking out. The cold, desolate street with just one sigh left among the quivering trees. The hellish plague affrights us. Impelling us to choose between the loneliness indoors and the pestilence of outdoors.— Justino Lourenço.
So-So
November 26, 2020
We didn’t know anyone in our neighbourhood, located just south of Southern Avenue, just west of Mill, when we moved in. When I told a friend who lives a mile north of here where we’d moved, she smirked, “Our neighbours call that So-So. ”I learned the ten blocks that make up “Tempe Gardens 2” by walking them, carrying, back then, our infant daughter and now, five years later, our infant son.— Jason Bruner.
N-Po Generation
Film and Vintage Clothes for Digital Natives in South Korea
November 17, 2020
Digital natives, millennials, or the N-po generation in South Korea aren’t as comfortable with modern gadgetry as one may think. We like old stuff and wistfully wonder about the days before the internet-enabled toasters. Some say we’re pretentious. And we may look the part with our baggy pants, plaid shirts, and film cameras.— Sa-eh Kim.
Still Life — With a Chase Scene
Adventures in Pictorialism
September 10, 2020
Stage IV emergency restrictions are in place across the city due to Covid-19. We are confined to stay at home until the virus is bought under control. I am fine with that. I found the round vase in a junk shop. It’s pretty old and is made of the most beautiful green glass.— Mat Hughes.
Streets of Solitude
Photos From the Bordering Triangle of Germany, France, and Switzerland
August 17, 2020
Some may say that streets are social and lively — perhaps, but they are also places of broken dreams, empty selves, and collective solitude. Taken at the bordering triangle of Germany, France, and Switzerland, these images expose the cityscapes’ gloomy, bleak facade.— Michael Nguyen.
Lonelinets
The Loneliness of the Nets
July 23, 2020
The nets that protect the gamesThat maintain the sense of teamThat separate the meeting pointCrosses from the sweaty airThat resist the harsh lifeThat also fool the sunLike usLonelyHit by the sunEntertained by the wind’s blowsSwollen in the facethey fall downbut they never give upSlapped by sure volesShaken by a penaltydecided at the last secondIncest of many dunksLonelyAbandoned like stray dogsIn the cold of the Sundays’ endThey don’t win and they don’t loseNetworks of the fields that have never leavedBetween buildings under constructionBetween a kick-off whistle and a train passingBetween the churches and a childhood memoryBetween the leather and the dressing roomAnd the showersEmptyPitchesLonelyUnder the snowThe loneliness of the netsWhich keeps company with memoriesThat smells of tennisGrassTeammate fatiguesTangled at the timeLike the soulLonelyDid you ever hear the sound of the nets?— Stefano Fristachi.
A Terrace in the Sky
Exploring the Pedestrian Platform, Elevated Over the Bank of Thames River
July 9, 2020
The flâneur’s philosophy is to seek to understand the city by experiencing it on foot. It is an urban exploration that involves embracing serendipity and chance discoveries. A few years ago, I came across a public terrace with views of the Thames located at the back of St.— Danilo Leonardi.
Kids, Cameras, and Landscape Photography
The Adventures of a Haphazard Landscape Photographer
June 9, 2020
With a young family, you need to get out. Of course, you’ll be loaded down with the correct paraphernalia, pushchair, nappies, changing mat, mashed banana etc. Your days out, though tiring, are fun, and of course, you want to document those important years.— andygulland.
Kinesics
Looking Past Facial Expressions
April 13, 2020
“Photograph what interests you. ”A quote that I kept with me since reading it in an article a year or so back. It’s an esoteric quest that will always be hard to satisfy. Sure, one can enjoy different genres of photography. Be it landscape, documentary, street or portraiture; there’s a cornucopia to choose from.— Alastair.
Waterways
Exploring London’s Canals
March 26, 2020
London’s canal system forms part of the Grand Union Canal; a 137-mile-long canal line running from London to Birmingham. I have always been fascinated by life on the waterways — especially since my mother lives full-time on a houseboat herself. A few weeks ago, on a rare day off, I decided to walk the canal route between Kings Cross to Little Venice — a part of London I had never properly explored before.— Jessica Edney.
Night Train
No Sleep in Jakarta
February 13, 2020
Jakarta, modernized. The revitalized commuter train, MRT, and LRT are in. All to accommodate the sleepless people of this advancing metropolitans. Working in a remote district is common in Jakarta. Many people live their lives way past the sunset, taking the last train, usually around midnight, to go home.— Iman Alfarizi.
SkyTrain
Vancouver’s Conspicuous Commuter Train System
December 17, 2019
Some years ago, I got a big, wrapped box under my family’s lavishly-decorated pine tree. It was a German model train set, gauge TT. The 1/120 scale model set is an incredibly detailed representation of the real thing, rolling on DC-powered tracks, fed through a transformer directly from a 220-volt wall outlet.— Dmitri.
Inchindown
An Underground Facility; Two Friends, Their Photograph, and Their Film
December 9, 2019
The photograph, above, is taken at a defunct military storage facility in Invergorden, Scotland. This underground structure used to host a strategic supply of heavy, viscous fuel to power the floating war machines during WWII. Since the ‘80s, this type of fuel is no longer in use; the facility stands decommissioned.— Dmitri.
