f.i.n.d. Style / Travel / Spaces / People
OLEG OPRISCO issue 1
CAMERA USED An old Kiev 6C INSIDE
Lexia Frank Jonathan Liu Richard Mosse
ATTENTION
All visuals seen in F.I.N.D are created with a film camera. Strictly no digital.
F.I.N.D. Style / Travel / Spaces / People
content
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Contact
7 PREFACE
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FOCUS
42 TRAVEL
Submissions create@findmag.com
64 STYLE
80 SPACES
84 YOU
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the community
preface
Shanice Koh
Richard Mosse
Call Peter Allen a visionary or perhaps, he just had great foresight
Editor
Photographer & Contributor
when he sang and wrote “Everything Old Is New Again”, but boy
Singapore
Kilkenny, Ireland
was he right. Almost everything old is making a comeback, and film photography is no exception.
Jonathan Liu
Sophie Van de Perre
Photographer & Contributor
Photographer & Contributor
Singapore
Amsterdam
Shooting on film again isn’t just some indulgent trip down nostalgia lane though. It snaps you out of the digital malaise and reminds us of what it means
Oleg Oprisco
Hana Haley
Photographer & Contributor
Photographer & Contributor
Lviv, Ukraine
San Francisco, USA
to actually make a photograph. In this age, we’re spoilt by the convenience of digital technology; we obsess over the wrong things: sharpness at 400%, bokeh, having 100 focus points that still won’t focus on what we want, noise performance and the list goes on. However, none of these will make your photographs better, nor make you a better
Lexia Frank
Christina Paik
Photographer & Contributor
Photographer & Contributor
Portland, Oregon
New York City, USA
photographer. After all, the camera does all the thinking for us.
Film photography triumps digital photography in so many ways possible. So, here’s to the inaugural issue of F.I.N.D, dedicated to film photography
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Hannah Moulds
David Frisk
Photographer & Contributor
Photographer & Contributor
Brisbane, Australia
California, USA
lovers all around the world, because film is not dead.
F.I.N.D.
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FOCUS Oleg Oprisco
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Jonathan Liu
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Lexia Frank
OLEG OPRISCO
From Lviv, Ukraine, Oleg Oprisco is a brilliantly talented analog photographer who creates stunningly surreal images in whimsical, dream-like settings, all with a $50 film camera.
Words by Shanice Koh
Tell us a little about yourself. When I was 16 years old, I began working as an operator in a small darkroom. I started taking photos of friends and acquaintances. At age 18, I moved to Kiev, where I became an assistant to a well-known advertising photographer. I was making money, but I lost my creativity. For a long time I thought that was all I was able to do until I tried to shoot on medium format film. That changed my life. I decided to started from scratch at 23, taking my own photos.
Did working in a photo lab when you were 16 make you interested in photography? Yes, that was a very important moment for me. As an operator, part of my job was to adjust all the pictures that the photo lab printed. I had a few buttons to control the color, brightness and contrast. This experience taught me what colors people like. I am using this information to this day.
Where do you find inspiration? We live in exciting times. Everything changes very quickly: the weather, architecture, landscape, people, time. We can see this all happening in real time. There is inspiration all around us. Be sure any artist of the 18th century, the 19th century is very jealous of us. We can live anywhere and create anything and show it around to world. Everything is in our hands.
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You only shoot with film. Why is that? I use medium format film. It’s hard to explain in a few words. It’s a different system. I shoot for 12 frames and enjoy the importance of each frame. I carefully work on each frame. This is a fantastic process. You press the shutter button but do not know what happens. This is real magic. I often hold workshops and it’s very funny sitting in front of many photographers with $2000-$3000 cameras and lenses, and on my table is an old Kiev 6C, which is worth about $50.
Your work is notably dream-like, with rich colours and the juxtaposition of fantasy within an everyday setting. How do you come up with the concepts for each shoot? Each of my photos is a scene from real life; it’s the perfect source of inspiration for me because it has so much beauty to it. On your way to work today, while you were observing the world around you, that might be the scene to inspire my next photograph. Of course, there are my own elements I add to the reality, such as characters, props, location and light. I am constantly involved in a search for inspiration and ideas.
Can you tell us more about your shoot preparation process and the gear you use? I’ve found it ideal to do everything myself. I come up with a concept, create the clothing, choose the location and direct the hair and makeup. I am constantly experimenting. Before shooting, I plan the overall color scheme. According to the chosen palette, I select clothes, props, location, etc, making sure that all of it plays within a single color range. I rely on natural light only. I use a Kiev 6C and Kiev 88 cameras with 90mm/2.8, 180/2.8, and 300/4.0 lenses. My favorite lens of all time is 300/4.0 by Meyer Optik Orestegor.
What advice would you give to amateur photographers? I strongly advise to use your time wisely. Laziness is your worst enemy. Enough looking at photographs taken by your idols. You’ve commented on enough work that you hate. It’s time to take photos. Your best photos. Let go and shoot, shoot, shoot!
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JONATHAN LIU Words by Shanice Koh
From Singapore, Jonathan has an impressive photography repertoire despite being only 22. Emotive and experimental, his images are visually arresting.
Tell us a little about yourself. I was a Photography major studying Visual Communications (now Design Communication) at Temasek Polytechnic Design School, I am currently serving my national service and am also a freelance photographer on the side, I shoot mostly people, fashion, commercial ads and products but also in my free time. And when I travel I love capturing a new place with my rolleiflex.
How did you get started with film photography When the digital revolution hit us, my dad kept his old Canon AE-1 in the store and never really bothered with it, around 2010 when lonography started gaining popularity here with the holgas, I took my dad’s camera and started shooting some expired slides to cross-process it, never really liked the effects though I have to admit. When my grandmother passed away, she had in her possession a Yashica FX-3 and that’s when I started to shoot a little bit of film, I still use that camera from time to time but I have mostly moved on to Medium Format 120mm film now.
What film cameras do you own? Any particular favourite? This is going to be long, let me see if I can remember all of them. For 35mm I have Canon AE-1, Yashica FX-3, Konica C35 (one black, one silver), Nikon F5. For 120mm I have a Yashica 635, Lubitel 2 (one with a Cyrillic Nameplate, one in English), a Mamiya RB67, a Rolleiflex Automat MX 75mm/3.5 Xenar and a Mamiya 7. For Polaroids I have a Polaroid Land 250, a converted Polaroid Land 350 fitted with a manual shutter from a Polaroid Land 110B and a chrome/leather Polaroid SX-70. Lastly, I have a large format 4x5 Graflex Crown Graphic that I shoot 4x5 or Fuji Polaroids with as well.
RoeP Series - I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone
My favorite I would have to say is my Rolleiflex. Best camera to travel with, people love it and that has sparked off some conversations with travellers and strangers.
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How would you describe your photography style? I wouldn’t pinpoint a style exactly as I shoot so much variety in my commercial work but in my personal work I tend to shoot more polaroids, black and white, with heavier moods and emotions. I am still finding my style and experimenting.
Tell us about your “RoeP” and “Solarisation” series. RoeP was shot when I was working on my Final Year Project “FIVE” in polytechnic, the idea was me taking 5 different songs and visually translating it into photos. I expanded the storyline of the song into a narrative and noted down the emotions I was going to shoot; like how I would communicate a song visually to someone who can’t hear it. The song for RoeP is Nina Simone’s I Put A Spell On You, about a girl who cant get over the guy she loves and is going through different emotions - love, hate and anger. The technical concept was me using a projector to project her emotions on her bare, vulnerable body, with visuals like red roses, cracks on a wall, textures and such. This was shot with the Fuji FP-3000B when a rose was projected onto her body. It turned out great! For Solarisation, I was inspired by Man Ray’s book where he had works that featured the Solarisation technique, a photography phenomenon, it was said that he had accidentally discovered the technique with his darkroom assistant Lee Miller and subsequently used it in his works.
Solarisation Series
I wanted to try to incorporate this unstable and almost uncontrollable technique into some of my works. For the composition and idea of the shots I had a friend posed nude for me as i was inspired by a scene in one of my favourite movies, The Dreamers by Bernado Bertoluccci. The shots made her look like a mannequin with no arms and the solarisation technique just adds to the overall mood of it.
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Where do you find inspiration for your work? Everywhere. Anything I see could inspire me, an album cover, a music video or a colour combination of someone’s outfit, right down to literature quotes and words. And of course, movies and music.
What’s your favourite film and why? I would have to say Kodak Portra 400 for colour and Kodak 400TX for Black and White (although I recently used the Rollei Retro 80s and it blew my mind right off). For the Portra 400, its got amazing colour tones, and pretty versitile with all kinds of situations, it works best with people. For 400TX which I shoot most often, it has great contrast and grain even when its push-processed, I process my own black and white film so I love the idea of having just one film but options to shoot them at ISO 200,400,800,1600 and even 3200.
Any favourite photographer(s)? Lara Jade was really inspiring to me when I was 13 and starting photography, nowadays I look up to the old classics like Man Ray, Guy Bourdin, Richard Avedon more recent photographers would be Paolo Roversi, Nick Knight, Tim Walker, Ellen Von Unwerth. Some lesser known photographers who shoots alot of polaroids commercially like Davis Ayer and Aaron Feaver. Locally, I love the works of Chuando & Frey, Ivanho Harlim and GT Gan, also my mentor Geoff Ang.
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Why do you enjoy film photography so much, how is it different from shooting with digital? I started photography with digital and it did not make me a better photographer, film photography did. I took my time with my shots instead of shooting 30 photos hoping for one good shot, I want to make every shot count, and I’m still getting there. Technical wise, film has a greater dynamic range compared to digital, this makes it possible to shoot better photos in all kinds of situations without having overexposure from a brighter light, it balances out. Colours on film are also impossible to replicate even with the plethora of film-emulation editing softwares and plug-ins, they only come close.
We know you love music and own a collection of vinyls, so which band/musician (dead or alive) would you love to have the chance to do a shoot with? I would die to shoot for Led Zeppelin in the 70s. They are one of my favourite bands of all time, and they were also one of the biggest during their time, even up till now. They had everything down, the costumes, the presence, Jimmy Page’s Double Necked guitar. Yes them.
What would you say to those who’re thinking of trying their hands at film photography? Don’t be too afraid to shoot, try out different films and find your favourite one, you dont have to buy expensive film to shoot great shots. Try not to rely too much on photography tutorials about how to shoot a certain stuff, but read all of them and understand how everything works and add your own twist to it.
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Words by Shanice Koh
Lexia Frank From Portland, Oregon, Lexia Frank shoots weddings with a film camera instead of digital. Weddings are notoriously challenging to photograph, and to do it with film, certainly is awe-inspiring. Lexia’s work is riveting, raw, real, emotional and artistic, just plain beautiful. Ron Howard, a world famous director, chose one of Lexia’s images to inspire his next Hollywood film titled “When You Find Me”.
Tell us a little about yourself I’m a fine art wedding film photographer, but I also shoot lifestyle portraits and birth photography. But mostly I am a mother of 2 beautiful boys, ages 4 and 2, and married to an awesome man who supports me in what I do, a very necessary thing in our line of work! Of course photography is my passion, and I carry my camera with me wherever I go.
How and when did your love for photography begin? Even when I was a child, I’ve always known that I would be an artist in some capacity. When I was in high school, my dad (an incredible hobbyist photographer in his own right) showed me how to use his Nikon film camera. He loaned it to be on the premise that is must ALWAYS stay in Manual mode. If he ever caught me with it on automatic, it would no longer be available to me. He wanted me to fully understand the camera and the science behind how to create the image I had in my mind, and never let the camera do the thinking for me. There’s also abit of luck involved; the first darkroom printing class I had in high school, I actually successfuly developed an image at my first attempt! This spurred a little bit of condidence in myself to keep working at the craft.
How would you describe your photography style? Quietly emotive. Sometimes I find myself taking my clients away from the hustle and bustle, bringing them down to a more peaceful place and actually whispering. Then again, the ruckus of real life is also a favourite of mine to capture unobtrusively.
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Share with us the gears that you own and use. I’m not a brand specific photographer. I shoot with what best fits the given situation. I usually shoot with a Contax 645 medium format camera with an 80mm lens or a 35mm lens, a Rolleiflex sl66, a Nikon f4, a Polaroid 66SE and the list could go on. My wishlist also never really ends.
How or where do you find inspiration? I will tell you that I don’t follow wedding blogs. I stopped that about a year ago and all of a sudden my work took a huge jump forward. I felt so much pressure to do what was supposed to get published with these wedding blogs that I kept seeing those shots over and over, thinking that they were ‘must haves’. And if I didn’t have those shots I wouldn’t get published. Sometimes I think we, as photographers, can be clouded by wanting to be featured on certain blogs that we forget what is REALLY important to photograph. Was I photographing for my clients? Or for me? Or for other brides to gain inspiration from this wedding? Where did my priorities lie? I began following fine art photographers again, vintage old hollywood photographs, watching art movies and finding visual inspiration, and (as strange as it may sound) interior design journals. It’s amazing how much interior design influences weddings.
Weddings are notoriously challenging to photograph. And it really is incredibly inspiring that you do it with film! What is the most challenging thing about photographing weddings? I think my biggest challenge now is balancing the need to shoot both stunning portraits and beautiful details but also giving the same amount of care and attention to the photojournalist aspect of wedding photography.
What would you say to aspiring photographers? Try to start and stay with one camera body, one lens, one film stock and one lab until they know it like the back of their hand, before switching or trying a new equipment. And educate yourself over, and over again.
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Travel Morocco
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Nepal
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Congo
Photography by Hannah Moulds
morocco Pentax K1000 // Ektar 100 film
Photography by Shanice Koh
nepal Nikon F3 // Ektar 100 film
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Photography by Richard Mosse
Congo
The Kodak Aerochrome is a false-color infrared film originally intended for aerial vegetation surveys. It was discontinued in 2009, and since then has become somewhat of an underground-internet-film-phenomenon. Mosse took advantage of Aerochrome’s unnatural colors to create a unique and uncomfortable juxtaposition with his subject matter, resulting invibrant yet haunting photographs.
Large Format Camera // Kodak Aerochrome Infrared film
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style Sophie Van de Perre
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Hana Haley
Sophie van de perre Words by Shanice Koh
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hana haley Words by Shanice Koh
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Spaces Daniel Frisk // Arrested Decay
Submitted by Daniel Frisk
arrested decay Location // Bodie, California
Bodie is a ghost town located in California, USA. It was once a gold mining town founded in 1876 before its decline and subsequent shut down in 1942.
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Today, it’s an authentic Wild West ghost town. The town was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and in 1962 it became Bodie State Historic Park. A total of 170 buildings remained. Bodie has been named California’s official state gold rush ghost town. Visitors can walk the deserted streets of a town that once was a bustling area of activity, including one of the once operational gold mills. Interiors remain as they were left and stocked with goods.
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Dedicated to those who concur that film is not dead
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