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Our 57th In Focus interview is with Simon Smars from Stockholm who is a professional fine art photographer. Simon works exclusively with limited edition handmade black and white silver gelatin fiber prints, using traditional darkroom techniques. He creates a mixture of minimalistic scapes paired with a melancholic somber, with scenes often stripped to its bare essence.
SECTION 1 - BACKGROUND
Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD Film and tell us what it means to you?
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International entries
This year we opened the annual student competition up to entries from all around the world. We knew that many educational establishments had still not been able to fully return to darkroom printing but we wanted to give as many students as possible the chance to get involved. We are so glad that we did.
With over 500 entries from the four corners of the world, this year’s competition theme of ‘Natural Light’ was one of the toughest that we’ve ever had to judge.
A difficult...
Decisions. Some are small. Some are life-changing. We make them subconsciously. We make them intentionally. But either way we choose a path. There’s always an upside and always a downside. Most importantly, we look for promise in the upside, and we try and glean some value from the downside, but we can never escape the moment of decision.
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Seize the opportunity
In the fall of 2019, I had to decide whether to say yes to a guy’s trip to Wyoming with ...
“Were it not for the shadows, there would be no beauty.”- In Praise of Shadows- Junichiro Tanizaki.
Blackbird
A universe at our feet
If there is anything the pandemic has taught us, it is perhaps, that everything we need, can be found right where we are. There is something to be said for focusing down on the small things, the seasonal changes, the birds calling, the nature all around us and the people within our local communities. When we take the time to focus down, we can find a whole universe c...
Cancelled Prom Began
Cancelled Prom began as a way to shed light on High School Seniors who could not celebrate their Prom due to COVID-19 concerns in the summer of 2020. Much of the daily news focused on food shortages and the death toll but I was interested in the students and the people of my community. My younger cousin was also scheduled to attend Prom that year. Our family was disappointed that she was not going to be able to celebrate. Then I began to think about the people in my local community. I ...
Distractions To A Minimum
Whether I’m taking pictures of friends, my dogs, travel, a model, or a movie star, my goal is to make the process as simple as possible, and to keep my distractions to a minimum. While on set of a campaign shoot a few weeks ago, I was having a conversation with the talent, and he asked me how I got into photography. A question I’ve been asked before but never really gave serious thought to.
Andrew Garfield. Vanity Fair - Oscars - Beverly Hills.
First Meaningful Interacti...
British Culture Archive
If you go to the Refuge in Manchester, you’ll find an exhibition of photographs by the renowned photographer, Tish Murtha, and a selection of my work from East Manchester. This is the latest exhibition from the British Culture Archive, but there’s more than photographs on show. It’s a commentary that began forty years ago when Tish Murtha took photographs in Elswick, Newcastle. It was taken up twenty years later when I took these photographs in East Manchester and the story ca...
My Relationship With Streetball
I love street basketball. The competition, the intense arguments and the handshakes at the end where all signs of aggression dissipate. I love the environment in which these scenes take place. From the frayed nets, the cracked asphalt, to the uneven rims, there's something compelling about basketball courts that haven’t seen repair since the day they were laid. But the true beauty of streetball happens on the sidelines between games. Here, in the waiting, is the vibrance: ...
Always watchful
As a woman, out and about taking photographs on my own, I try to take care not to put myself at any unnecessary risk. I’m always watchful of anyone taking the wrong kind of interest in me or my gear. I shouldn’t have to worry about things like that but sadly, that’s how life is.
When I go out, I don’t have any expectations of what I’m going to shoot that day because I never know what, or who, will turn up.
Blending In
Through my passion for street photography, I am very inter...
How It Began
When Covid-19 started, I had just made plans to follow the Bristol Roller Derby team around the UK to shoot their games. I suddenly had no focus for my photography and I wanted to make sure that I had a project to work on. I also wanted to do something with the LGBTQ+ community. In Bristol and had been photographing a friend during their transition. I thought, maybe as lockdown lifts people will want to get out and have their portraits taken. And that is how the idea for the project came about...