AARON DICKSON
A Journey to Minimalism Aaron has tinkered with old film cameras on and off over the years and always liked the simplistic nature of them; photography was pared down to the bare minimum, no bells or whistles attached. Aaron describes his interpretation of a minimalist aesthetic in the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico.
White Sands #01 White Sands National Monument in New Mexico is a fascinating place to photograph; pure white gypsum dunes gently undulating as far as the eye can see. Having come across a collection of images of them in a photographic competition a couple of years ago, they had been on my mind ever since as a place to visit. It took me until April of this year to finally make the trip, but as I look at my finished collection of images I’m glad that it took so long to get there; had I made the trip sooner, I don’t think I would have been ready to photograph them and be satisfied with the results.
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“Working with a manual film camera proved to be a steep learning curve” A couple of years ago I made the conscious decision to use only film for all my professional work. Having used digital for over 15 years I was starting to feel weighed down by my equipment - too many lenses, camera bodies and all the trimmings that go with it; it was beginning to get in the way of my photography.
I had tinkered with old film cameras on and off over the years and always liked the simplistic nature of them; photography was pared down to the bare minimum, no bells or whistles attached. I also liked the slow process involved, from developing my own film to working in a tiny dark room. The effort required to get just one good photo was often Herculean compared to the relative ease of digital, but it also felt incredibly rewarding.
Landscape Magazine Spring 2020
