Editor's LETTRE
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hen Ol and I went into the darkroom earlier this month for the first time since lockdown - my first time seeing him in...5 months now - It was an amazing feeling to be in the space again, in the same room as a friend again and although our primary reason for being down at the Bureau, where we’re based, was to sort our space out and make it ready to hopefully start socially-distanced sessions again in September; we couldn’t stop talking about the future of ObscuraZine. The feedback on our first issue has been amazing considering it was online, essentially a photo album on facebook and featured only 15 covers and my first editor’s lettre (I like the french spelling, live with it)
but from that small beginning we’ve had offers from people internationally who are willing to write articles/editorials for it. Mind-boggling! ...but I am extremely thankful. ‘Hidden Treasures’ comes from the idea that we all have those photos we keep coming back to for whatever reason. I didn’t like the idea of putting “favourites” on the front because it sounds plain and looks boring but I like to imagine there are lots of little hidden treasures in our collections that we forget about from time to time but when you go back to them they transport you back to a place or give you a special feeling that hits you out of nowhere. This issue, as with all sequels,
has been more of a struggle than the first simply because there’s more actual content and because of the amazing reaction (people thinking we were a legitimate magazine) we wanted to expand the original idea which is great but for a small team (basically just myself on InDesign for the moment and Ol finding people to submit), a stretch! Going forward, I’m hoping to find the best way to take it to print...so watch this space! This month I would of course like to thank everyone who has submitted work and has put up with messages from me requesting extra little bits of info here and there at all times of a day. There are however two people I would like to say a special thank you to.
The first, cue Oscar speech, is actually my Mum. No, seriously. "Mo" as she's credited, has always wanted to be a copy editor/proofreader because it has forever annoyed her that no one seems to do a good enough job when checking through all the books she likes to read. And she likes to read a lot of books, trust me. At the start of lockdown with nothing else to do for probably the first time in her life she decided to do what she's always wanted to do and found a course doing just that. It's happily coincided with me creating ObscuraZine and gives her "real-world" experience of copy-editing something that hopefully people other than our little cirlce will read. I'm going to apologise now for any mistakes in this particular section because she didn't proofread this - I only sent her the last paragraph and the beginning of the next. Didn't want her to see this until it was out! Sorry Mum!
Above, Portrait of Mum or "Mo" - Copy Editor of ObscuraZine, Issue # 2 Below, Portrait of Faye Lord taken by me back in 2014.
The other person I must thank is Faye, one of this issue’s contributors. Faye is an old friend (10 years now! Who would have thunk it?!) who I told about ObscuraZine just after we’d put the first few posts out. It was then that I remembered she herself is a film shooter and it’s been amazing to see her film photos pop up on my facebook feed every once in a while since 2015. She was the first person I approached about doing a piece and she didn’t disappoint! Beyond delivering her piece nice and early she has continued to be a fantastic sounding board for all of the spreads since. Thank you. I really hope you like issue 2 of ObscuraZine. A lot of hours have gone into curating the content and laying it out. I’ve had many sleepless nights this last week and a half, trying to get this done on top of all the real world work I actually have to do! Here’s hoping this is truly the start of something new and exciting!
Editor-In-Chief,
Scott David Jackson .................................................................
All The World’s a Stage... ...and all the players,
models?
From Sussex to Slovenia, English Actor, Faye Lord, takes her Pentax Super ME body and trusty 50mm f1.7 wherever she goes. Always waiting for that imperfect, perfect moment.
Written by Faye Lord - @faye_lord on Instagram
My friends and family are the main subjects of my photos. For me, choosing to shoot on film is the first step in the process of capturing a person at that specific time, moment, and place. I find the beauty in analogue photography comes from the fact that when you shoot with film you capture a slice of light - photons bouncing back from whatever is in front of you and then physically hitting a light-sensitive piece of material and leaving a mark mere hundreths of a second after you’ve pressed the shutter release button. There is something so wonderfully organic and raw about the kind of photos this creates; it truly captures an honest moment like nothing else in the world. I shot my first roll of Fujicolor C200 35mm film in 2015 (not counting disposable cameras of course - what 90’s kid didn’t have an underwater camera to take on a Cornish seaside holiday, resulting in around 20 solid grey photos?!). At the time, I was studying at Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds. A group of us called the Hexagon Collective were working on an art installation ‘FoolFilled’ which took place in the gallery space at the bottom of the Leeds Corn Exchange. Our audience would make their way through 3 consecutive rooms, each focusing on different themes around satisfaction and instant gratification. It
looked at the different trappings the human race falls into to fulfill our insecurities. We started discussing how modern digital media had given a much more accessible, fast paced, and potentially detrimental access to quick photography. We can now view our photos instantly, criticise our selfies in a millisecond and take 100 more shots until we get it ‘just right’. At the end of the installation we asked each audience member to hold up either a sign that said “I am satisfied’, or ‘I am unsatisfied’. We captured this moment with a Polaroid camera, and presented the individual with their photo. This left them with a real, physical reminder of their feelings upon exiting the experience. I feel that Polaroids were the first step in the cross over between analogue and instant gratification. Suddenly it was possible to view your photos within minutes, whilst still maintaining a tangibility that is often lost within the digital world. The West Yorkshire Camera shop kindly loaned us two vintage Polaroid cameras (these were free of charge, we only paid for the film, and as poor students we were very grateful!). I remember being in the shop and looking at all the vintage film cameras they had on sale. Suddenly a vivid memory of my Dad talking about his old camera popped into my head. I quickly messaged him (there are definitely many benefits to the digital world!), and he replied saying he still had it! Opposite, self portrait by Faye. Bottom left - one of the Polaroids from ‘FoolFilled’ piece by the Hexagon Collective. Top of this page, Ash Middle, Grandma & Gaga; Dorothy and Mary Bottom, Nick Lord, Faye’s Father.
Two weeks later I visited home, and returned to Leeds with a Pentax ME Super body, an SMC Pentax-M 50mm 1:1.7 lens, and a SIGMA Zoom-E 28-70mm 1:3.5-4.5 lens (which I now rarely use, in favour of the 50mm). The next day, I sat in Roundhay Park, read through the instruction manual and began to shoot.
Imogen & Chris Zreško Jezero, Zreče, Slovenia
I never plan my photos, I like to just grab the moment when it arises. I love photographing faces. Sometimes the light will hit just right or the composition of the background falls perfectly, then I’ll whip out my camera, and try to take my subject by surprise as much as possible. The photos are still somewhat posed - they tend to look into the lens - but when this moment is impulsive, that’s when I find the true beauty of a person is captured. Over the page, Seagulls sit atop the Brighton Pier sign, Betty at Groombridge Enchanted Forest, Dancers Xanthe & Amy, Actor Darryl Hughes sits on the steps outside the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, Portrait of Faye by fellow cast member Shaun Miller
Above, Shaun and George as Benedick and Claudio in Much Ado about Nothing, Below, A Tour boat full of tourists on the canals of Amsterdam.
As an actor I travel a lot with my work, and often take my camera with me. I’ve been lucky enough to have it accompany me across many cities; from Brighton to Beijing and Amsterdam to Zreče.
Most of my friends (and also my sister) work in the same field. Actors somehow know how to instinctively look into the lens the moment a camera appears. They’re also pretty handy to have around, as they always want to have a go behind the camera too, and I’m more than happy to oblige. After all, I like being in-front of the camera just as much as being behind it!
Faye’s sister, Louise Lord. ‘We call it the bluebell woods or the swing rope walk”, Furzefield Wood. Photographed by Faye with their father’s old Pentax Super ME using a 50mm f1.7. Image used for the official front cover of Issue #2 of Obscura
“I try to take just one photo in a moment, then move on. I find the joy in the imperfections of the set-up.
An honest reflection
of real life.�
Faye Lord.
Pentax Espio W
HOM E & S IC K N E S S Hobbyist photographer, Chris Ebin Halkyard who fittingly runs the @bestespio account on Instagram, shares with us his love for the Pentax Espio series of cameras along with a reminder to photograph the ones we love while we can...
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here isn’t much information online about the Pentax Espio W, aside from basic technical specifications, but I’ve become a huge fan of it. This series of photos were taken on my grandfather’s old camera from the early 1990s. He was an avid photographer who sadly died before I discovered my interest in photography. My parents found one of his cameras hidden in a box of his old gadgets years later, and passed it on to me.
I enjoy the look and feel of wide-angle lenses, and the 28-56mm lens on this one suits me well. It’s got a practical range from wide landscape to individual portrait focal length. The aperture isn’t the brightest at f/4.5-8.6, but it’s not beyond the bounds of mid-range 90s zoom compacts. Its real strength is how sharp the lens is. I’ve got half a dozen film point and shoots, including a Nikon L35AF, a Canon Autoboy/ Sureshot Tele, and several other Pentax Espios, but the Pentax Espio W gives results as sharp - if not sharper than anything the others can come up with. It’s also got a ‘panorama mode’, which blocks out the top and bottom
of the frame to crop the picture into 16:9 ratio. I initially wrote this off as a gimmick, but it became a fun feature that I really appreciate. Another important aspect of my love for this camera is its sentimental value. As it was my grandfather’s camera, I chose to take it with me on my trips home to New Zealand while living overseas in France. This was the camera I used to document some beautiful and emotionally difficult times there, knowing that several members of my family would not be alive the next time I visited. People who I loved and lost along the way.
My Dad and my Uncle Colin, putting the engine block back into Colin’s pride and joy, his 1966 Lotus Elan. He crashed it into a ditch in the 80s, but held onto the parts for a few more decades until he retired and restored it back to flawless condition. This was the last time I would see him, and we knew it at the time. This afternoon spent in his garage is one of my most cherished memories of my uncle.
Granny and her three-legged best friend, Aislin. They were two more members of the family who I wouldn’t get the chance to see again. Granny was adventurous, eccentric, resilient and empathetic. We miss her very, very much.
Found deep in the hills of Otago.
Leaving New Zealand FujiSuperia 200
Pentax Espio 120Mi As I mentioned, I lived in France
for 4 years, and for much of that time the Pentax Espio 120Mi was my main camera. I never left the house without it, so many of my favourite found shots and party photos were taken with this little point-and-shoot. It was also the first Pentax Espio in my camera collection, and the one that started my interest in the series. It was merely a coincidence that my parents would later find my grandfather’s old camera and that would also be a camera of the same make and from the same series.
With all the attention that cult-favourite compact cameras get, I’ve seen the Espios go relatively uncelebrated. That could be because the series has so many different versions with such a wide range of designs, or because on paper the lens specifications don’t look very exciting, but I’ve been consistently impressed with the sharp and dynamic photos it produces. They’re great little cameras that deserve more recognition than they get.
This Pentax Espio 120Mi has a 38120mm lens. No, it’s not fast at f/4.812.5, but those numbers don’t tell the whole story. It’s sharp, quick to focus, and its ability to stretch out to 120mm gives you all the range you could ever want from a compact camera, plus it has the most explosive built-in flash I’ve seen! It’s all packed into a tiny case too, so it lived in my jacket pocket and was always on hand.
It’s an old clichÊ that the best camera is the one you have with you, so for most of my time in France, this was undoubtedly the best camera. Here are a few favourites from that time, of rowdy parties, underground shows, outdoor adventures, unexpected finds, and friends who I miss very much.
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I hope you like them.
WHY I
LOVE F I L M.
by Holly Gilman
Pentax ME Super "From my first roll of film, ever!"
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ertainly, the world was still shooting film when I was very young, in the ‘90s, but by the time I came to photography it was all digital. My best friend of 20 years was the influence that brought me to photography as something more than just documenting holidays and outings. Even as a teenager she owned a DSLR which blew my adolescent mind. Her father is a professional photographer and digital artist; his work is spectacular, what he can achieve in Photoshop is out of this world. Growing increasingly frustrated with the limitations of my compact camera (followed by the most useless bridge camera) I bought a DSLR with my first full-time pay check. I went wild for photography. It was the first time that I had a hobby that so completely consumed me. That purchase was in 2011 and I was just about to turn 19. In 2014/15 I signed up to an online photography course with the OCA, it was just a foundation programme as I wanted to test the waters on more involved courses.
“I’m almost ashamed to admit it but I’m young enough to have grown up with digital photography.”
As I worked through the material and the assignments there was a feeling of underwhelm. And not just from me, the course tutor clearly didn’t think all that much of my work. It wasn’t that my images were bad; technically they were executed well, but there was something missing and it’s really only as I was preparing to write this piece and reflecting on my photographic journey so far that I realised what the problem was. My images and projects lacked substance. At the time, I had next to no life experience with which to really say something with my images and, don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all images have to have a political message but they do need to have some depth. Whether that depth is to do with beauty or documenting a war
or anything else there needs to be something more to it. At the time, I was 22, I had never lived alone, I had barely travelled and I had never suffered any real trauma in my life. I had a comfortable job, friends, was planning a wedding and I benefit from the privilege of being a white, cis-gender, heterosexual. I feel this resulted in me having nothing of meaning to say when faced with an assignment. I had no photographic imagination. Shortly after my wedding in 2015 I pulled out the camera my father had passed on to me and dipped my toe into film photography.
Pentax ME Super "From my first self-developed roll of film in 2015"
It was a Pentax ME Super and had unfortunately been stored with a battery in it which had leaked and gummed up the battery compartment. With my father-in-laws’ help I got this open, a new battery inserted, and lo and behold it worked! I opted for some Ilford HP5+ as this was cheap and available in my local Boots store. There was something about this that immediately caught me. No, not something, everything. The sound of the shutter; the feel of the focusing ring and the film advance lever; slowing right down to compose, focus and think about the shots; it
was revelatory. And this was before I even saw the results. I took the film to my local camera shop to develop. A word of praise for good local developers, they helped me discover interesting accessories, check my cameras over and provided great advice. I’ve since moved and I miss them! The images that I got from that first roll were a mixed bunch. Some were great, some weren’t but it was enough that I was hooked. For the next two years I went a little crazy trying out all sorts of cheap cameras of varying quality and a few different types of
film. I now have a fairly large collection of cameras, not all of which work and just a couple which I turn to regularly. It was here that my hobby, my passion, was put on hold. My discovery of film photography very much coincided with a dramatic turning point in my life. I was deeply unhappy at work; although at the time I didn’t realise the extent to which it was damaging me. In 2017 I had my first child under incredibly traumatic circumstances, I’m still left a little breathless when I think of how close we came to losing myself and/or my eldest. Post natal depression followed that trauma but by the time he turned 1, I was ready to do it again and my second came just before my eldest turned 2. Certain health issues meant that I had to have my second 3 weeks early which was followed by a scary 10 weeks before I underwent abdominal surgery. Shortly after I had recovered, we found ourselves in lockdown. And now, here we are. I have a 3 year old, a 1 year old and I am a very different person to the one I was in 2015 when I picked up the Pentax. Please don’t think this is a “woe is me story”, or that I in any way see myself as a victim looking for sympathy. I simply wanted to provide context to the change that has happened between me being the naive 22 year old submitting shallow images for a photography
Pentax ME Super Kodak Portra "Handheld shot!"
course, and the woman I am today exploring and experimenting with a very different understanding of the World around me. The person who has emerged from this, had the strength to breastfeed through intense pain and abdominal surgery, cares more about social justice issues and politics, wants to make a difference to the deeply flawed education system and wants to raise socially responsible children. All of this has had a massive impact on my photography. Again, I’m not saying I’m suddenly a brilliant photographer but now I have more of a creative imagination than I did; I have more to say.
Part way through lockdown I sought help for depression and started working with an amazing therapist. It was her who helped me to see that I needed to prioritise myself and find something that was just for me. Having told myself for the past 3 years that I didn’t have time for photography, I finally picked up my cameras once more. The ones I use most had partially exposed film in them, so I finished the rolls and sent them off for developing and scanning. That bubbly excitement came back, I started to feel like me again, and I was off. Talking to a therapist has helped me to put into words
what photography gives me. As someone who is prone to getting lost in her own mind, photography brings me back to the present; it gets my thoughts on track and my eyes looking around me. It’s meditative and peaceful, and often a solitary activity which I need when I’m usually surrounded by noisy boys. It’s an outlet for creativity, exploration and experimentation. The majority of my cameras are 35mm. My most used 35mm camera is a Canon 1N which I acquired after my much loved Canon EOS 600 died (a £12 camera off ebay). Both the 600 and the 1N take
Exa C - "A broken camera that overlaps images."
Pentacon Six "The reason I fell in love with Kodak Ektar"
all the lenses which I have for my DSLR which is perfect. As I continue to experiment, I’m falling more in love with my Sigma 105mm macro paired with the Canon 1N. I also use my father’s Pentax ME Super for the joy of the experience. Finally, I have a Chinon CX which I will pull out if I need an extra camera, for example if I have rolls of film in the first two but really want to shoot something specific. My preferred format though is 120. I shoot 6x6 images with my Pentacon Six. This camera slows me right down as it’s fully manual and not that easy to focus. It’s heavy in my hands and the clunk of the shutter curtain is so satisfying. I also find that I much prefer the limitations of 12 or 13 images per roll (it’s also far quicker to digitise 12 images than 36!). Becoming accustomed to the Pentacon Six is like be-
ing in a serious relationship; I’m having to learn what it likes and what it doesn’t and how to manage the situations when it’s not happy; delicately cocking the shutter; discovering it’s pitfalls and the areas in which is it wearing out (1/125sec doesn’t fire correctly!). But I just adore it. What more can I say?
all, my husband has his garage! 3. Try large format photography. With how much I love the limitation of 12 shots on medium format, I think large format would be right up my street. I’m looking into the practicalities of building my own large format camera using open-source designs.
I have a few goals with my photography in mind: 1. Continue to experiment and explore including alternative photographic processes. I’m currently looking into the use of prisms as I’m fascinated by the way light travels through them. 2. Build my home darkroom. Hopefully in 2021 we will be converting a bedroom in our house. It was originally going to be another space for my children but I feel it’s a really powerful act of self kindness to earmark it for myself; after
I also have some projects which I’m excited to be working on and hope to be able to share in the not too distant future. I am not a professional photographer; but I am madly in love with analogue and will continue to experiment.
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Going forward, Holly will be a regular contributor to ObscuraZine and is already working on her next piece! You can find more of her work over on instagram; @learningfilm
PI N HOL E PHOTOGR APHY AND
A B A N D ON E D PLACES
By Samuel Valadas
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hen I first heard about pinhole photography I thought it so surreal that you could build your own camera and take photos. Until the time arrived to start working on my high school final project. My analog teacher, who knew about my interest in film photography, suggested that I try my hand at pinhole photography. At first I was really skeptical, but as I started researching the topic, I found a new passion! The concept of my work, as the title suggests, is ‘pinhole photography in abandoned places’. I chose to focus on this for three different reasons. First of all, I wanted to photograph abandoned places mainly because I’ve always had a fascination about these places. I recall exploring some of these places with my friends when I was younger, taking photos with my Nokia Lumia and editing them on some app. So the desire to make this, the theme of my final piece, was the natural outcome.
Secondly, I chose abandoned places because I think blackand-white film, and the huge viewing angles pinhole photography affords you along with the detail my cameras produce, would make for some really interesting results. And lastly, to show that anyone, even with a shoe box they have at home, can build a camera that produces beautiful images, to force people to get out of their comfort zone and explore something new. Honestly, my camera designs aren’t very good, but I think that’s one of the most interesting things about my work. My cameras aren’t practical, nor pretty, everytime I want to shoot a picture I need to cover the camera with black duct tape, but they produce really sharp images (or they do when they work!). These cameras and all the work that has gone into them has taught me that photography and especially pinhole photography requires patience, time and passion. I’m really happy with the results. As a photographer, I’d never focused on making a project from scratch. Seeing the resulting beautiful images from the pinhole process, it gives me a lot of hope for the future as an artist.
You can’t imagine how happy the idea of having my own exhibition made me. I just finished school 2 months ago, and after finally finishing my work, having the opportunity to do an exhibition is amazing. Even before it’s started, seeing that my photographs have made people feel something, hearing the positive feedback about my work after 8 months full of anxiety of not being sure if it was good or not, really makes it all worth it. The exhibition will be happening in Huelva, Spain at the Bellavista Social Club, from the 21st of September until 21 October. There will be a collection of 25 prints, 5 of which are self portraits. All this is thanks to my teacher and professional photographer João Ribeiro, who was my main inspiration for the works you see here. He saw my work and the potential in it and has guided me through this process.
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I can’t thank him enough for this opportunity.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF SCOTT DAVID JACKSON @scojacks COPY EDITOR MO CHAPPELL-FINLOW CONTENT ASSISTANT FAYE LORD CONTRIBUTORS HOLLY GILMAN @learningfilm CHRIS EBIN HALKYARD @ebinito_photo FAYE LORD @faye_lord SAMUEL VALADAS @naohaluznomeuquarto @buraco.de.agujero .................................................................
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