Search results for: 'mode'

Why print? When you can get excellent prints from your black & white negatives by sending them off to commercial processing laboratories, why make your own? For many photographers, making a photographic print is as much a part of the process as shooting the image itself. For a start, it is a creative process that is both enjoyable and fulfilling and, much like the role of a post processing tools such as Photoshop or Lightroom in any digital workflow, (although much more fun) a darkroom provides film...

Filters have long been a popular accessory for photographers and offer a number of different functions or effects. In both analogue and digital photography it is possible to recreate some of these in the darkroom or digital darkroom. However there has always been a benefit to getting it right in camera. In black & white photography, colour filters in particular are useful as they can control how the colours in a scene are reproduced as greys. Normal black & white films are sensitive to all wavele...

I’m a passionate film photographer. There are plenty of us about and indeed plenty of reasons for choosing film as a medium. Many of these reasons are quoted ad nauseam by any and every film photographer. One of the biggest problems I have with digital photography is that it's given film photographers a soap box to waffle on about how much better film is… Yawn… I’m going to make some assumptions about the audience of this blog, and as such I’m not going to repeat all of the justifications usually ...

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Photography has always been part of my life Zero Image pinhole camera 4x5, Ilford FP4+ sheet film 4x5 When the digital age began, something happened to me. First, I mourned my photo hobby for about five years, then "gave up" and bought a digital SLR. A couple of years passed and I upgraded to a more advanced model, but soon realised that it gave me no pleasure at all. I was just so bored with my images. About this time I realised that film photography was not at all dead! I found the Lomography societ...

Introduction I’ve been a photographer for 35 years since I was 11 in fact when I first loaded my Zenith 11 with film and set off for a walk into the wilds of South Yorkshire. 20 years later I turned professional and as soon as digital became a viable option I traded in my Nikon F90x and Mamiya 645 pro for a Nikon digital kit. Digital was for me always a triumph of convenience over real quality in those early years and not much else. It wasn’t until Canon brought out the 5D series that I found myself ...

The Start I had previously experimented with photography, but nothing too technical. To my astonishment, I managed to capture some really good images and the bride and groom loved them. Using the positive feedback I received from them, I kept hold of the camera and began to research techniques. I began with my pet dogs (many photographers favourite models), then moved on to young family members and babies, then to asking friends if they could travel to a location with me and let me shoot them. Taki...

 Never too young to learn about film photography At home, one evening last week, I realised that I’d actually finished a full cup of coffee without any interruptions, a feat that happens rarely enough to lead to that moment of horror, (which can only be understood by parents of small children), when I wondered what our youngest (4) was up to. He’d gone upstairs twenty minutes earlier. At first, I’d heard the usual sounds of teddy bear wrestling and superheroes flying through the air. Now ...

Self-portraiture as Catharsis My photography is a form of therapy, a personal, emotional and sometimes turbulent struggle with the complexity of emotions. I feel my life and art have become intertwined and to bury this mental state deep within would only allow it to thrive but through my use of photography, I am offered a sense of catharsis. My self-depictions manifest within the same four walls, my bedroom. The room I believe is the keeper of my trapped and repressed emotions. This often heavily constr...

A black and white film community Since film is no longer the primary domain of professionals, it’s been adopted again in earnest by passionate individuals that produce legitimate work. In this age of instant gratification, infinite dynamic range, and auto-everything, it’s nice to rely on a predictable and high-quality medium. I shoot HP5+ almost exclusively. It’s everything I want in a black and white film. It’s flexible, widely available and fits right into my workflow. I’ve played both...

A little background I was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela.  My chosen field of study was production engineering, but was I taking photography classes in the evenings and began working for a super cool magazine called Urbe, which is a bit like what Vice is in the UK now. I quickly became the chief photographer shooting all kinds of amazing and interesting people, and it was then that I knew that this is what I wanted to do with my life. Looking back it was quite an interesting time - I’d be learnin...

Nearly spring As we head towards spring we’re starting to see more outdoor shots as you brave the weather. Here are a few of our favourites from the last week @mrkurtin Elijah | Speed Graphic w/Petzval lens | Ilford Fp4 | Town Park | March 2017 @JoFarrellPhoto Woman with bound feet #china Shot on #HP5 @shoot_analog One of my most physically demanding shoots for both model & photographer. 4×5 Large Format @ILFORDPhoto FP4+ #shootanalog #ilford #4×5 @TagscanRob Restarted my darkroom agai...

A medium for the moment  I always travel with my 35mm SLR and a stack of Ilford HP5 and Ilford FP4 film. I definitely prefer the look and process of shooting film when traveling and photographing on the street and I find my small SLR with it’s 50mm lens is small and inconspicuous enough to capture intimate street portraits. Shooting everything on the same 50mm lens and film medium gives my work a consistent look and feel. I have always found shooting film slows down my process, it forces me to think mor...

One of the simplest forms of photography, there's lots of fun to be had with a #pinhole camera and some film or photographic paper. These are our #ilfordfridayfavourites this week @thisJasonSelf Fountain - shot on @ILFORDPhoto Delta 100 with a @realitysosubtle 6x6 #pinhole camera.   @j_cruttenden Nightmare. #pinhole #ilford #fp4 #studio #ilfordfridayfavourite #zeroimage   @JohnScarbro1 Seaview Farm. Well expired & badly stored Pan F @ 25. DD-X. 1-4. 8 min. Noon Pinhole 612...

Double exposures can be really tricky to get right. Lucy Ridges shares the secrets behind her ship / nude image below. Ship Technical information Shot on: FP4 plus medium format film Camera Mamiya RB 67 Exposure time Double exposure, each exposure 1/60 F5.6 Other equipment With bowens studio flash (1 x large soft box) I shot this image at my photographic studio in Manchester, located within Rogue Artist Studios The story behind the image My work for many years has encompassed a love for mul...

An Interest in Large Format Large format is an immensely rewarding and enjoyable way to make a photograph. It can also feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. This article is for anyone with an interest in large format. I got into 4x5 because I wanted to challenge myself, and to try something new. Over the last two years it has become my favourite way to take a photograph. There’s something special about slowing down and being so deliberate with each...

For the love of it all I’ve always had a love affair with black and white photography. I don’t know if it stems from the excitement of watching my first print emerge under the glow of a safelight, or that using texture and shape can make a barren scene look beautiful. Maybe it’s both. They say love makes you a better person. I think the same goes for the relationship between film and photographers. Trust & Understanding There’s a certain level of trust and understanding that goes on betwee...

I am a wedding and portrait photographer. The following portrait is of Roshni, a jewelry designer. Her designs are handcrafted and have a vintage feel to them. So, when the opportunity came to shoot her I wanted to create something classic and real. One look at her and I was convinced about black and white being the choice of film. Film used:      HP5 PLUS Format :          4X5 sheet film Camera:          Wista Field 4X5 Large Format Lens:                Schneider S...

A recent development Photography on film is a recent development in my workflow , (My black & white solution), and I have been making an effort to shoot film alongside digital on all of my major assignments, as well as for my personal work. It only took one assignment for me to realize that although the use of film was novel it wasn’t offering anything different to my ability to tell a story within a 35mm frame. There are so many ways to achieve a different “look” to your images, usu...

The Outlaw Project shooting portraits with a large format camera The Outlaw Project, was inspired by Edward Sheriff Curtis, the 19th Century photographer, known for his portraits of native Americans, shot with a large format camera. In 2011, Peter acquired a giant copy camera, made by Sidney R. Littlejohn Co., in the East end of London circa 1926. The camera, though having been used heavily in the newspaper industry for copying documents, was generally in working condition. With its inner mechanical str...

Today is the International Day of Peace so in honour of this we asked you to share your #ilfordphoto #peace themed images for this week's #fridayfavourites. @tiboalberny A short moment of #peace for my little guy at the hospital. Can't believe it was 2 years ago. Time's flying... Shot on @ILFORDPhoto #FP4 pushed to 800 #fridayfavourites #believinfilm #analogphotography #shootfilm #staybrokeshootfilm   @alixmatae « Par-delà les nuages » (Népal, 1996 by Matthieu Alexandre) shot on #HP5plus...

London Fashion Week Earlier this year I shot my fifth season of London Fashion Week. I’ve been trying to incorporate new and different styles into my fashion photojournalism work, in order to stand out and also to exercise my own creativity. I’ve been shooting at London Fashion Week for about as long as I’ve been photographing professionally. It’s a great environment, fantastic for networking opportunities, building a decent portfolio of industry standard work, and also for experimenting with new t...

Opportunities Now and again in life opportunities arises that you just have to take. You know, the ones that if you think about for too long will be missed, so you have to jump in with your best foot forward, or in this case with your best film forward.  This happened to me last year as I was casually talking to someone about my work they mentioned that they had access to an old building that had recently been vacated and was to be sold at auction. The building had been untouched for years, and they sai...

Mindtraveller Technical info Film Used: ILFORD HP5+ (pushed to 3200) Format: 120, shot as 6x7 Camera : Mamiya RB67 Pro SD Lens: Sekor 50mm f4.5 Exposure time: 20 minutes Other equipment: Tripod Location: Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, Canada Tell us the story behind this image. What inspired you to shoot it? In the Canadian Arctic, we are gifted with the otherwise-evasive Aurora Borealis on almost a nightly basis.  On many nights, the spectacle is nothing more than a faint gre...

I don’t know about you, but I have a “box of shame”. It’s where I keep all the photographic odds and ends of kit that I never use, but can’t bring myself to throw away. Well I’ve always felt it would come in handy one day, and it seems that day has come! This story really gets going when I decided I wanted to do something fun with my Konica Pop*, an 80’s classic point and click camera I picked up in a charity shop a few years ago. Odds and Ends By utilising some of these long-neglected items...

In the summer of 2017 my friends, novice climbers, asked me to climb Elbrus with them. This is the highest mountain peak in Russia and Europe. The idea sounded great, especially because I have loved mountains since my childhood. But my campaign plan immediately included a large-format camera, with which I have been travelling for many years (mostly, of course, by car with a camera in the trunk). For a while I wondered if I should take a big camera with me too. Would it be better to take a Hasselblad? But...

The Photography Show 14-17 March There's not long to go until this years Photography Show at the NEC in Birmingham and it's going to be a great one. (If we do say so ourselves)! There is going to be a far greater analogue / film presence at the show this year as the organisers have agreed to the inclusion of a dedicated ‘Analogue Spotlight’ area which will include some pods for smaller brands and a spotlight speaker area for those brands to do demos. Come and see us! We will be there on stand B93 ...

These unprecedented times are a call for artists to step up and help deter against feelings of restlessness and boredom. These are just some suggested ideas that you might want to try. Through my modest Instagram presence and blog I've tried to do something for the international arts community and here is something that has worked out quite nicely and is extremely easy to perform. This is just one activity and I know there are a plethora of others out there as well; hope this one may brighten your day an...

Meeting Viktory I fell into dance photography quite by accident. I was a member of a meetup group of photographers in Boston, and one of the people I met at their events invited some of us to shoot in his studio with Viktory, a traveling ballet model. I was shooting landscapes almost exclusively at that time, and I had hardly ever shot with a model before. Luckily for me, Viktory is very experienced and was able to work with our varying skill levels. Little did I know at the time that I would still be shoo...

We recently had the pleasure of turning the tables on one of the stalwarts of the film photography community when we asked Em if he'd be the first of our interviews in the 'Lockdown Sessions'.  We're so glad that he agreed. What made you set up Emulsive.org and what were your initial plans for it? My-first-roll...-Of-35mm-film-Fuji-Superia-X-TRA-400-by-EMULSIVE EMULSIVE started as an idea in early 2015. I thought I should put up a blog where I could post a few photos and blog about stuff that I'd lea...

For the second of our Lockdown Session interviews we cornered another well known face in the film community, Hamish Gill. (We're just glad he could fit us into his hectic schedule)! Section 1 - The Beginning Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? Image by Hamish Gill shot on HP5+ That’s a tricky question. The above image is the one that immediately came to mind. I don’t darkroom print myself, but I did print at a workshop at AG Photographic a few ...

The future of photography The year 2020, it sounds very futuristic to me. So, what does that future look like for photographers? Well, no doubt technology will be getting more advanced than ever and we will see huge leaps in digital development this coming decade as the megapixel war continues. There will likely be be new initiatives and more collaborations with smartphone companies. Will the digital SLR camera start to disappear? Will mirrorless take over? Or will there be a new hybrid on the market...

We've been following Dan Rubin's photography for a while now so were really pleased when he agreed to take part in our Lockdown Sessions. SECTION 1 - THE BEGINNING SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU?   Shinagawa Station, Tokyo, 2016. Ilford HP5+ @ 400, Leica M6, Summicron-M 50/2 (Scanned by Canadian Film Lab) This was my first full day in Tokyo, on my first visit to Japan in 2016. The memory of wandering through the station during rush hour...

Early Experiements Many, many years ago I experimented with uprating HP5, I was a student and it fitted the look I was after at the time. In those days, information was difficult to find and I relied on advice from friends. As a student, the mysteries of film and processing were fascinating and strange. I tried all sorts of things, but didn’t know what was really going on. I knew that uprating meant setting a higher speed (ASA in those days) on your light meter and then giving it a longer development tim...

Introduction I often see echoed this absurd idea that somehow film photography is more “pure.” Anyone who has ever been a part of a film photography Facebook group has surely come across a post along the lines of “how much editing in post do you think is OK with film?” And, without fail, there will be at least one response from the analog bourgeois which goes something like “if you’re going to edit *that* much, you might as well shoot digital. Why are you even shooting film?!” Sadly, we of...

Shooting Infrared film Infrared photography has always been a unique and niche art form, allowing a photographer to capture images seemingly from another dimension. I say niche because capturing that "perfect" image requires a different approach to pre-visualizing your scene, an understanding of the limitations of infrared and the ability to adjust your settings effectively for changing conditions.  For these reasons many photographers are reluctant to give IR film a try. This article will not only demo...

My dream camera I was introduced into photography when I was just a teenager by my uncle Massimo —· AKA zio Max. That’s how I have acquired basic knowledge about film photography, and developed the skills that helped me to start a career as an independent —  and self-taught — filmmaker. Filmmaking and video production became my main occupation, while photography remained a deep passion, which kept coming back from time to time in my professional career. In the last few years I have been too...

We taking a closer look at Brett Hillyard this week who was nominated by Robbie Jeffers in our Lockdown Sessions back in week 12. BACKGROUND Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? One of my favorite images over the last couple weeks is from a portrait session I had with Jeff Yokoyama. He goes by“Yoki” and his retail store “YokiShop” is located in Newport Beach. His shop is filled with eclectic art and cool custom clothes that he designs in the bac...

Summer of Photograms My end goal with my photography, at least for as long as I can remember, was to make darkroom prints. I love the thought processes in darkroom printing, the excitement when I manage to find the combination of burning, dodging and other printing techniques that turns my imagined image into a print that I can share. Preferring the tactile nature of darkroom craft, I never cottoned on to digital photo processing or printing. Then in the spring of 2019 I developed a long term illness th...

For interview number 18 in our Lockdown Sessions / In Focus series we are delighted to introduce you to Shima Rastin, a passionate film photographer from Iran. BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? © Shima Rastin, Ilford FP4, Hasselblad 501C, Lavasan, Iran If we have not confronted the Covid-19 pandemic, and this question was asked before this era, it was probably a hard choice to make. Although, now that I experienced such an idiosyncrat...

We love Sandy's beautiful large format shots, they always seem to have hidden depths. We are excited that he agreed to take part in the In Focus / Lockdown Sessions series and become our 20th interviewee. BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? There’s a few I could post that I feel encapsulate the sort of feeling or thought process I have when I’m working on photos, but for me, so far? It’s this image. Photography means a lot of di...

Infamous on Twitter for his enjoyment of biscuits as well as being a well known name in the film photography community, this week we talk to Sandeep Sumal for our 22nd interview in this series. Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? This shot was taken in Covent Garden, London back in 2016.  I had just recently started my film photography hobby.  It was an art installation and it was there over the Christmas period.  My early photos were a r...

Rocking the tray! My journey with photography began as a child while spending wondrous hours with my father, a gifted portrait photographer, in his darkroom in the amber glow of the safe lights. It was astonishing to watch an image blossom to life in the developer, sometimes I even got to rock the tray! The magic of making a photograph had a life changing impact on me and when gifted a Brownie Hawkeye on my 7th birthday my destiny was etched in stone... I'd become a photographer! Later I was privileged ...

It's week 25 in our In Focus interview series and this time we set our questions to Arkadiy Shlein who was nominated by Lina Bessonova back in August. Arkadiy is a Russian large format photographer and analog printer with a classical style. BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? I’ve got so many favourite photographs that I don’t have a single one hanging at home (yes, couldn’t decide :). This is one of them. I photographed this beech gla...

It's been over 6 months since we launched our first Lockdown Session and in that time we've spoken to many fantastic photographers and darkroom printers. Continuing in that vein, we're thrilled to share this week's In Focus interview with Nashville based, music and portrait photographer Laura E Partain. Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you. This photograph is now about 5 years old and I’ve shot many, many images on Ilford films since. Howeve...

An Englishman in New York As an Englishman in New York, I have always been in awe of the city I now call home. You could be uptown at a swanky Park Ave dinner party one moment and in a raucous Lower East Side dive bar sinking $3 PBR lagers the next. It is just so easy to get around this magical island - a major part of its charm and thrill. The stereotypes of New York’s profound energy, diversity and unrelenting drive are all true. This has provided daily inspiration me to pick up my Contax and go shoot ...

It’s weird, if not taboo to tell someone that I learnt to shoot digital before learning how to shoot film. I guess this may be the case for many of us in the digital era of photography. My journey into photography is what I like to call a beautiful accident or a series of fortunate events. When a photographer cancelled last minute for a charity event organised by a close friend of mine in 2017 I found myself stepping in to fill the spot. I knew absolutely nothing about photography, how to use a DSLR or ev...

We have known Keith for a long while and admire not just his photography, but his enthusiasm for all things film and darkroom and his willingness to share his knowledge and inspire others.  We're glad he agreed to take part in this series and become our 28th In Focus interview. We hope you enjoy finding out more about him. BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? I shot this image in La Boqueria Barcelona with a fuji 645 camera. What makes it sp...

A bit of history I am now 51 years old and have been faithfully using ILFORD film since first being handed an ILFORD Sport 120 roll film camera from my father. He had used it during National Service in the army in the 1950s and I used it from age 8 onwards and which is what I learnt with. Throughout my professional photography career over the last 18 years, I have regularly used ILFORD film - HP5 Plus, FP4, Delta 100, 400 and 3200 and XP2 Super. Subsequent cameras have ranged from the ILFORD Sport to 35 mm...

We're heading back to October last year when Arkadiy Shlein nominated Oleg Kasko to take part in this series after following his Instagram feed. Oleg is a photographer and passionate darkroom printer and advocate from the Ukraine. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? I like this one because when you look at the photo you see a boat surrounded by white like milk, water. Although in fact it was taken at night. I decided I would leav...

Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction There was a lot of interest in this shot when it was shared, so we asked Andrew Orr to tell us a bit more about it. Technical info Film Used - Ilford HP5+   Format - 4x5 Camera - Chamonix F-2 Lens -  Rodenstock 210mm f5.6 at f/8 Exposure time - 2 hours Other equipment - Sirui Tripod, shutter release cable Location -  Arizona Firstly, tell us the story behind this image. What inspired you to shoot it? I was inspired to take this photo after...

Nashville born Joseph Patrick or Photojojo was nominated by Laura E Partain back in October of 2020. Known for his creative shot choices and great use of light, we're excited to find out more about him. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? This is one of my favorite shots. Here it was a combination of a few things coming together perfectly to create an image that perfectly aligned with my vision. The model is a friend I met the ye...

Why Film? Since 2016 I’ve messed around with film casually alongside digital. Early 2020, COVID-19 forced me to return a year early from a mission trip in Colombia and completely restart my life from zero. I couldn’t afford a digital camera like the one I sold to go on the trip but, my good experiences with 35mm SLR cameras in the past led me to pick up an Olympus OM-10 for $40 and I haven’t shot digital since. Where it began As a photographer this was my first venture into making physical art....

Urban Lives and the Natural World I've been living in some of the giant Asian metropolises for close to a decade now, and it has oriented my recent photography work towards exploring the distance between our urban lives and the natural world. One way I have found to express this has been through film double exposures where I try to blend portraits and plant textures. After 2 years of work on this, it became the Photosynthesis project. There's a little bit of history in this direction with work from grea...

After a 25 year hiatus of shooting stills, I returned to pushing on with my personal photography in 2016 and more recently using film once again. Part of that process has involved a scanner which led me to revisit some of my 1980s images which had never before been published. 1987 In 1987 as a nineteen year old, I volunteered for an occupational therapy department in a Psychiatric Hospital, leading weekly ‘photo therapy’ workshops for a small group of patients. The aim was to encourage the group to ex...

Taking Risks Through a series of what felt like small and inconsequential life choices I have found myself recently in positions where the logical course of action involved putting my health and even my life at risk, in service of making photographs. I, like many others I'm sure, want to be a great photographer. To me this means that I look with a respectful eye over my own body of work, and accept it for what it is: (hopefully) the absolute best I can accomplish. A retrospective This is something I r...

Earlier this year in our interview with Walter Rothwell, he nominated Kris to take part in this series. We're so glad that he did. Enjoy! Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? One of my recent favourite images is this portrait of 3 young men taken on the streets of Birmingham UK. It was one of the first outings in the city post-lockdown and I wanted to really get back into a stride with my personal photography on the streets. With ...

Perhaps best known for his engaging YouTube content and Instagram channel, this week we talked to Ribsy about his film photography SECTION 1 - BACKGROUND Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? London South Bank on FP4 This is my favorite image shot on Ilford film (FP4). This shot was taken during a lovely Saturday afternoon on the South Bank in London, the week the final lockdown was eased. Immediately I think about the joy of walking around in the su...

A scene that screams colour Have you ever been out with your camera, loaded with your favourite black and white film stock and found a scene that screams to be shot it colour? Of course you have, we have all been there! Today I am going to introduce you to a new 150 year old process called Trichromy also known as the three colour process or more recently Trichromes (by Jasper Fforde). As with all early photographic techniques it's difficult to say who coined the process first as there were many people w...

Get ahead of the class Here you'll find links to lots of helpful information that will help you get a head start in your film photography studies. We've collated links to blogs, product pages and shared some educational videos from our YouTube channel too. So, you've got your film camera and now you need some film. Many schools, colleges and universities will lend out cameras to their students and these generally take 35mm film but, there are other options available and the type of camera that you have wi...

We hope that you are enjoying learning more about some of the film shooters that we have working here at HARMAN. This week's interviewee (our 5th) is our MarComms Manager Matt Parry. We think he has a bit of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) what do you think? Who are you? What is your job title at HARMAN technology and how long have you worked here? My name is Matt Parry and I’ve been the Marketing Communications Manager at HARMAN technology since June 2016. Tell us a little about your day-to-day role. ...

I like to press the shutter and I take a lot of black and white photos simply because I like it. These black and whites I take on Ilford materials. My favorite negative is xp2 super, I also use Delta 100 and 3200, but rarely. Why ILFORD XP2 Super? I am a hydro engineer by profession - I traveled a lot, spent a lot of time away from home, so carrying a tank, chemicals, thermometer, bottles, containers, etc. with me was a bit troublesome. Never I needed to organize my home dark-room. But actually, now I sta...

Light and Details Black and white photography is a huge component of my process. The timeless quality that is perceived through its tones is something that has drawn me to photography since I was a young kid. Photographing in monochrome not only simplifies the image but, I think helps draw the viewers eye around the images to things more important, like light and details often missed in the distraction of colour photographs. When I started out photographing, I was mostly documenting my close friends and...

Crombie McNeill has been shooting film for longer than some of us have been around, and his story is fascinating which makes him the perfect interviewee for our 45th In Focus interview. Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? Shot way back in the early 70's. By happen chance I discovered this fishing dory beached on Newfoundland's Eastern coast. I very much like this shot, and even more so because I was on my very first major assignment. Twenty thre...

A well know part of the film photography community, especially on Twitter where she goes by @justgispy  We were thrilled when Margaret Fitzgerald agreed to be the subject of this week's In Focus interview. Section 1 Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? I can't really say that any one photo I've taken over the years is my favourite, but this one is very memorable. Rolleiflex-TLR,-Ilford-HP5--Church-of-St.-Philibert,-Tournus,-Burgundy I...

Since we started sharing these Behind the Film interviews with you earlier this year, we have spoken to people from all different parts of our business. All are part of the team responsible for creating and manufacturing the products that you love. Today we talk to Matty, who works within our research and development department. Who are you? What’s your job title HARMAN technology and how long have you worked here? My name’s Matty, I’m a 4th year product development scientist apprentice and I’ve b...

There are so many of Ari's images that we have admired over the past 12 months so asking him to take part in this series was an easy decision. We're just glad that he said yes! Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? As we age, time becomes more and more valuable. Every new second is a bigger portion of our future life than the one before. Time is the only thing we cannot buy more of, but we can freeze it with photography. A photog...

Connection Over a Century Hanna Heinilä (née Hermonen, 1890–1981) was born to a vicar’s family in the small town of Luvia on the west coast of what at the time was the Grand Duchy of Finland. She had her first camera in around 1906 when she was sixteen years old and began photographing without any formal education. She bought dry-plate glass negatives from the nearby towns and learned to develop them at home by herself. Nothing was known of Hanna’s extensive work as an early photography pion...

A regular contributor to the film and analogue community and always helpful and encouraging to other photographers out there. This week's In Focus interview is with "photographer” Morag Perkins who, "just takes pictures". Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? I’ve chosen this one because it’s represents a process that has been very special to me recently. Over the last 2 or 3 years I’ve found a way to use photography to ...

It’s after 5 on a Sunday in December and I’m deep into the 11th frame of my camera and cup number 6 of a house blend of coffee. I’ve put off writing this piece for  long enough. I’m grateful to ILFORD for reaching out and as a long time user of HP5 Plus, this is a milestone that I’m excited to share with my children, family and friends. A thirst for life My name is James aka @dirtykics and I’ve toyed with cameras for the better part of my 20’s into my 30’s, until a difficult point in my ...

We first met Lucy Ridges a few years ago virtually via social media and then in person at The Photography Show and have always admired her work. Her #MyFilmStory video gave us a bit more of a view into who she is and why she shoots film and this In Focus interview builds on that. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? This is one of my favourite shots from my most recent project, Water’s Edge, released earlier this year. It’s an...

Our 56th In Focus interview is with Brazilian experimental photographer Breno Barros. Nominated by Clara Araujo, Breno shoot underwater portraits on film searching for experiential processes that defy traditional photography boundaries. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you Multiple-exposure for the project “La boutique de l’âme” using Mamiya M645 and Ilford HP5+ My favourite image using Ilford film is due to an experimen...

As a child I fell in love with the magic of the darkroom and of making Gelatin Silver prints. Watching a print develop fascinated me. In high school I had access to a darkroom working with 620 film (2.25 X 3.25 inch roll film.) and, consequently, I studied photography at Rochester Institute of Technology, School of Photography & Syracuse University School of Journalism. Studying with art-photographer Minor White opened my eyes to using photography as an art form. Minor helped me see beyond the objective...

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? C I G (1: f.13 · 10-sto...

Allysse Riordan is our 58th In Focus interview. An image maker, writer, sound artist, and microadventurer (not necessarily in that order). Allysse's work takes us on a journey in a particular space and time, noticing the small details of life, meeting strangers, exploring new landscapes, and delving into their inner world Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? It is difficult to choose one favourite image. They shift and change as ...

I have not ever owned a digital still photography camera; therefore, my entire life as a photographer centers on 25 years of loading & unloading film cameras, processing & developing film while embracing a love that taught me how to listen to the harmonious sounds of a darkroom. My volition to stay with film does not have anything to do with being against or disliking digital & everything to do with loving the process of film ever since I was a teenager. At the age of 44, this is a tangible pro...

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...

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...

'Something Special' There is a unique rendering to photographs made with Multigrade enlarging papers. It's difficult to define, maybe it's the timeless mood or perhaps it's the mystical feeling, or even a haunting aura... it's certainly there for me I like this very much! Add to this, it's super economical and can be visually handled via darkroom safe-lights. No more fussing around in total darkness which often requires the use strong language! Humour aside, I find the physical involvement of handling the...

We shared Craig Fleming's photograph 'Ursula' on our Instagram and the response was fantastic. We like to get in touch with the photographer and find out a little more about the process that went into creating it.   Technical information Image title Ursula Film used ILFORD FP4+ Camera Mamiya RZ67 Proll Exposure time 1/125th @ f5.6 Format 120 Lens 110mm f2.8 Other equipment Profoto B1/4ft x 6ft Softbox Location - Northern Quarter Manchester   Firstly, tell us the stor...

Community Grant Shortlist We received hundreds of applicants for the grant and choosing just 5 for you to vote on is always difficult. Once the new submission window closes at the end of February 2026 we will shortlist the projects here for your vote. Shortlist VOTING FORM WILL BE HERE The first award of 2025 went to Sebastian Machado Batenero fro his 'Ashed from the Riverbed' project. We ar in the process of shipping his prize and will cath up with him later in the year to see how the project is pro...

Perhaps best known for his role in the Netflix show The last Kingdom, we talked to James Northcote about his film photography for our 64th In Focus interview this week. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? This is a shot I took during the final season of the Last Kingdom. After Season 2 I started tying a point and shoot on the inside of my costume so that I’d always have a camera with me wherever I was. It didn’t matter if I w...

Shooting 35mm film Sprockets with Kentmere 400 and a medium format TLR Including sprockets in scans is nothing new but has increased in popularity recently. While the inclusion of sprockets showing the film name looks great, as the photographic emulsion covers the full 35mm width of the film in your cassette, it is actually possible to expose your image beyond the standard 24x36mm frame and cover the entire sprocket area with your image. I thought I’d give this a try with my TLR, so read on below to f...

#orangefilter is the perfect match for black and white film, giving bold contrast between the sky and clouds. This is what we wanted to see for this week's #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites. @DaaRealBoot I'm getting this one in early: Nikon FM2n, Nikkor 35mm f/2 AI-S, orange 56 filter, Ilford HP5+ (expired 2009, shot and developed at box speed 6/2022), XTOL 1:1 for 7:07 at 77°F. #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #orangefilter   @davejsherwood The Tate Modern in London, shot on @ILFORDPhoto #HP5 w...

Portrayal Of Musicians I’m not sure which came first, my love of photography or my love of music. Growing up in the Boston area, I was fortunate to be immersed in both. Whether it be standing in awe at the beauty of Alfred Steiglitz’s work on display at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts or being immersed in the local music scene, spending time with the likes of Bonnie Raitt or Aerosmith, these two passions seemed to run in parallel for me. As time progressed my photography, and music connections led me...

Countless Day's Of Shooting It was more than 2 years ago, that I had the initial idea for this project. Now, after countless days of shooting film, often while on the water, and hours spent edition and choosing images ‘No Place Like Home’ is a book I can be proud of. Committing Entirely To The Wave "I felt that there was something that I needed to explore when I shot some of the first rolls of black & white HP5+ film at one of the local surfspots. Shooting everything on film, as opposed to di...

There was a lot of interest in this shot when it was shared on our Instagram feed, so we asked Kim Mimnaugh & Jess Martineau to tell us a bit more about it. Image Title Water Goddess:Triple Exposure Technical Info Film Used ILFORD HP5+ Format 120 Camera Hasselblad 501 CM Lens 150mm Exposure time 3 exposures on one piece of film 1/60th at f8 Other equipment Studio stand, sekonic flash meter, black velvet for the background Speedotron location lighting kit, one strobe set at 400 WS with...

Discovering Analog Photography My name is Dora Lionstone, and I’m a visual artist based in Amsterdam. I have been passionate about photography for a while now, years before I switched from being a software developer to becoming a full-time artist. But it was only in 2017, at the beginning of my studies at the art academy, that I also discovered analog photography for my artistic process. Instead of completely turning to the analog world, I began to embrace it as one element of a hybrid approach. For exam...

We are heading to R&D to speak to Calvin Carey, our 13th Behind the Film interview. Calvin is a Physicist here at HARMAN Technology. Find out more about what his role entails. Who are you? What’s your job title HARMAN technology and how long have you worked here? My name is Calvin Carey, and I work as a Physicist here at HARMAN. I started in 2019. Tell us a little about your day to day role. My day-to-day work is hugely varied, depending on which projects in R&D (research and development) or m...

We speak to Lauz Cam, who is our 67th In Focus interviewee. Laura is a London-based self-taught photographer. Her love for film photography started through her budding interest in vintage cameras and has grown ever since. Laura intends to keep analog photography alive by capturing portraits of individuals in a nostalgic way. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? I think my one of my favourite images is this self-portrait as it was ...

In celebration of International Women's Day, the theme for this week's #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites was #sheshootsilford. We are lucky to have so many creative women who are using our products to produce their work, and we are honored that they let us share it.   @hannahjuliettephotography First roll of film in my new camera ? Thank you @victorialeighhughes for modelling ✨ @plymouthdarkroom @soperphotographic #filmphotography #120 #ilfordhp5 #ilfordphoto #sheshootsilford #sheheartsfilm #shes...

Postcards From The Past Would you like your pictures to still be looked at, and maybe even revered, in fifty years from now? One likely route to such success is to document our ‘built environment’ - the buildings that surround us all. From Eugène Atget’s time onwards photographs of our town and cityscapes have become objects of fascination and information for later generations. And buildings really do come and go remarkably quickly - even great ones - and in just a few years our photographs of them ...

This week we have seen a wide variety of images for #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites, with the theme being themefree. Thank you to everyone who has submitted. Take a look at our top picks:   @PhilBixby. Well, this was one of the favourites of my pics at the recent #yorkopenstudios - Everything Leads Back To You shot on #ilfordphoto Delta Pro 400 and Nikon F4 #fridayfavourites.   @hullisbeautiful. Shot last summer with @yaslacerdax on ILFORD HP5 Plus ?️ #pentax645 #pentax67_105mm #ilf...

Our 69th In Focus interview is with poet, former university instructor and high school teacher Lorraine Healy. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? I took this image in January 2022. We had been having a lot of fog that was lasting longer than the usual early morning ‘til sunrise. I knew where I wanted to go. This place, Indian Slough, is some 70 minutes away from my house. I could tell when I got there that the sun was beginnin...

Gosia Janik gives us the lowdown on how she captured this striking portrait. Image Title Xu Jing Technical Info Film Used ILFORD HP5+ Format Medium format 6x5 Camera Mamiya 645 AFD Lens Mamiya 80mm f2.8 Exposure time 1/60 Location Home/studio in Madrid Firstly, tell us the story behind this image. What inspired you to shoot it? I often work with “new faces” - models that are sent to me by agencies to shoot a session for building or renovating their portfolio. Xu was sent to me by...

'Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of volumes brought together in light'. Le Corbusier, 1920 Concrete Photography Brutalism as a style has received bad press. When we first hear the term, we all feel a logical rejection. The handbooks go on to explain that it comes from the French term béton brut, although the inventors of the term undoubtedly played on confusion, leaving an after-taste of je m’en fous, of bloody-mindedness, not giving a damn, in short. As a movement, as an a...

 A History on the Road In May of 2023, I loaded up the car and I headed off to the North Cascades. The freeway had just reopened after a long, icy winter. I was desperate to break out of my work routine and follow my creative pursuits. Growing up in the American Southwest I spent my childhood in the back of my father’s pick up on our family’s retreats. Being from a blue-collar middle class family, we were never going anywhere fancy. We made pilgrimages to Arkansas in my youth where abandoned and di...

We love grain and after seeing the images that you shared with us for this week's #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #ilikegrain theme, we can see that you do too. @n3gabeatsThat time when I didn’t want the grain in the photo, but when I saw it I really liked it. The photo was taken on HP5 #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #ilikegrain @thewhitedarkroom Repost as a contribution for @ilfordphoto's #fridayfavourites #ilikegrain. And well, I do! And who does not? ? Printed on 13x18 #ilfordphoto Multigrade...

Daniel Elbaz generously shares insights into his creative journey and how he conceived the idea of "12 Ways to...", for our 'How I Got This Picture' series. IMAGE TITLE 12 ways to … Technical Info Film Used ILFORD HP5+ Format 120 Camera Hasselblad 503cw Lens Planar 80mm Exposure Time 1/125s at f16 Other Equipment Elinchrom Studio flash Location Paris, FRANCE Firstly, tell us the story behind this image. What inspired you to shoot it? I have been passionate about black and white phot...

Allow us to introduce Mandyleft, our 73rd featured artist in our "In Focus" series. Mandyleft is a talented film photographer known for her deep passion for connecting with people, a quality that has immersed her in the vibrant film community. SECTION 1 - BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE/PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU. I took this photo in a hotel in London. It was a very exciting weekend. I had just been to the theatre and then I had been shooting around the West End...

The Nod The rope is thick and heavy, and coated with resin applied to heat it up and make it sticky. The cowboy wraps this bullrope around his right hand and ties himself in. A thin leather glove protects him from burning his hand if the rope slips. He settles himself on the back of the 1500 pound Brahman bucking bull named Spooky Lukey, and Spooky Lukey hasn’t been ridden yet this season, or last year for that matter. When he’s set, he gives The Nod. The Nod starts off one of the greatest sequences in...

Stave Lake Historical Powerhouse One of the genres of photography that I seldom get to experience is that of industrial photography. However, there is one exception in my vicinity at the Stave Lake Historical Powerhouse - a national historic site of Canada, which started producing hydro-electric power in the early 20th century until a modern replacement in the year 2000 took over the job. Perhaps growing up on the prairie has instilled in me an affinity for industrial machinery and when I found a historica...

This week's #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #beautifulconcrete theme helped you showcase and appreciate the aesthetic qualities of concrete structures and designs. @MikoPoloczanski. Construction of the MA-91 bridge. Vistula river. 3 x Hasselblad xpan II +45/4; ILFORD xp2 super; #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #beautifulconcrete #A1project #hasselbladxpan #polskapanoramiczna #skanska   @jordipatordis. Brutalisme nostrat. Pan F 50 #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites #beautifulcon...

Meet Lindsey Campbell, the SHE manager at HARMAN Technology and our 17th featured guest in the 'Behind The Film' interview series. WHO ARE YOU? WHAT’S YOUR JOB TITLE HARMAN TECHNOLOGY AND HOW LONG HAVE YOU WORKED HERE? I’m Lindsey – the SHE (Safety, Health and Environment) Manager. I came to HARMAN in 2020, just before the pandemic hit, so have been here for four years. TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOUR DAY TO DAY ROLE. It’s something of a cliché, but every day really is different. There are day-to-d...

The Love Affair I didn’t even really like racing when we planned our trip to the Monaco Grand Prix. Not racing, not Formula 1, not any of it. But I did have a very long ongoing love affair with the south of France and any opportunity to spend time along the Mediterranean was a go for me. Something Was Unlocked As my husband Mark and I were planning this trip to celebrate a milestone birthday, something happened to me in the lead-up; something was unlocked. It’s Mark who has the life-long love of ...

Inheritance The thing nobody really tells you about when it comes to inheriting a legacy is the weight of it, and what follows the inevitable acceptance of it. My late grandfather Hendrikus Goris was an avid film photographer in his early 20’s - much like myself. I recently had the privilege of scanning and archiving some incredible images from his earlier years, 30+ rolls of film documenting family life with some rather editorial styled portraits sprinkled in. Most of them were shot on ILFORD film in ...

We speak to Ki Price, who is this week's In Focus interview. Ki is a specialist photographer renowned for capturing celebrities, portraits, and fashion. SECTION 1 - BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE/PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU. Tess Parks My favourite image that I have taken is of singer, Tess Parks. I contacted her on Instagram and said, ‘can we do a shoot if you are ever in London?’ She replied and said, ‘I’m in London at the moment.’ I decided to shoot ...

How I Shoot Early in my photography career I gravitated towards film images and medium format cameras. My go-to cameras are the Mamiya RZ67 and Hasselblad 500CM. I love the slow, more hands-on experience of shooting medium format and film. I trust my instincts and set up the shot with more thought and intent when shooting with film over digital. Each Image Is Important Working with models, the feedback I get is that they feel more connected and find it to be a wonderful collaborative experience. This...

Introducing our 75th In Focus interview and our analogue community grant winner, Federico Pestilli. Pestilli was born in Rome and became interested in documentary-style of photography, focusing on irony that unites people, places and symbols with each other. Section 1 - Background Share your favourite image / print shot on ILFORD film and tell us what it means to you? Heritage - Arianna - Cocullo, Italy - Pentax 67, 135mm lens - HP5+ This is an image of Arianna, a snake handler from the town of Cocul...

Oh, crap! What have I done? Let’s see.  I committed to do a solo photography show, with twenty-seven images.  All twenty-seven are 4x5 black and white negatives, so they need to be darkroom printed.  And those will be 20x24 prints.  Yeah, and I need to have them matted and framed.  The icing on the cake?  I have just under three months to do this. Yep, this is going to be an interesting project.  But let’s back up to the beginning. The Event It was April 2023, three years after the pand...

Use Of Elegant Black and White Since 2014, Angélique Boissière has been exploring film photography through medium format, which she likes for its square framing, and thus to get reacquainted with an art that calls to her from her teenage years. With a classical artistic background nurtured through her practice of dance and her affinity for Impressionist and Romantic imagery, the feminine nude came up as an obviousness, given the immutable place it takes in the western Art History. It is with the same aim...

We are guessing you are as excited as we are about this week's 'How I Got This Picture' interview with Amir Amiri. Discover how Amir creates this phenomenal long exposure dance shots. Image Title Reverie TECHNICAL INFO FILM USED Kentmere Pan 100 Format 35mm Camera Canon A1 Lens 50mm f1.8 Exposure Time Between 10 to 12 seconds Other Equipment 2 studio flashes and one tripod FIRSTLY, TELL US THE STORY BEHIND THIS IMAGE. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO SHOOT IT? I was trying to make som...

The struggle for life Black-and-white photography captures so much emotion, and nothing is more emotive than the struggle for life.  This insight led to the project GRAPPLERS ON FILM, where I use a number of vintage film cameras to capture the struggles of ordinary people training in the grappling arts of Judo, Wrestling and Jiu Jitsu. Zenza Bronica - ILFORD XP2 Submission For those not involved in the grappling forms of martial arts, the goal is to get a hold of your opponent and then force them to...

What is Reality? “Moon in the water, Flower in the mirror.” What is Reality? Whether what we are living now is the reflection of the reality or the reality itself? The age-old question has puzzled philosophers, scholars, and seekers of truth throughout the annals of time. Are we truly perceiving the world as it is, or are we merely encountering a reflection, a distortion of reality? To delve into the depths of this inquiry, we must embark on a journey through the corridors of history, traversing epochs...

This week in our In Focus interview, we speak with Michèl Passin, a Leipzig-based photographer and videographer specializing in portraiture and documentary work. SECTION 1 - BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? This picture was taken for my project “18:09”. It was shot with a Mamiya 645 1000s on FP4+. After developing and scanning I was blown away how everything turned out. Everything came out the way I planned it. For me it’s just pe...

Sergio Felipe García tells us how he captured this brilliant shot for a commissioned clothing brand in this 'How I Got This Picture interview'. Image Title Cenizas de un verano” (“Ashes of a Summer” in english) TECHNICAL INFO FILM USED ILFORD HP5+ FORMAT 35mm CAMERA Hanimex Amphibian LENS 35mm f2.8 EXPOSURE TIME 1/125s at f11 LOCATION El Médano, Tenerife FIRSTLY, TELL US THE STORY BEHIND THIS IMAGE. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO SHOOT IT? The photo series “Ashes of a Summer” emerged ...

  Wilber (@ccs_wilber) wheelies down a hill in Medellin. BikeLife The first time I learned about Bikelife was at Parque Nacional, Bogotá’s most emblematic park. It was a Sunday and there must have been at least a hundred of them. They almost all fit the same profile: very young, baggy clothes, no helmet. A disproportionate number sported ‘El 7’, a kind of neo-mullet that’s popularity in Colombia predates the current mullet resurgence in the rest of the world. 12-o’clock wheelies...

Happy Accidents For most people in the film community, double exposures are accidents. Happy accidents, sometimes, for sure, but accidents nonetheless. Of course, some people do film swaps, I've done a few and embraced the chaos of the results, but I never got an image out of a film swap that I truly loved. And yet there's something eminently compelling about double exposures. ILFORD FP4+ Photosynthesis Five years ago I started a project entitled Photosynthesis that used double exposures as a way to ...

In our latest 'How I Got This Picture' interview with Ross McDaniel, find out what led him to try something different to capture Arches National Park. Image Title Monolith TECHNICAL INFO FILM USED Kentmere Pan 400 FORMAT 35mm CAMERA Nikon F5 LENS Laowa 15mm F4 EXPOSURE TIME 30 minutes at f/4 Other Equipment Tripod, Remote shutter release LOCATION Balanced Rock, Arches National Park, Utah, United States, Earth FIRSTLY, TELL US THE STORY BEHIND THIS IMAGE. WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO SHOOT IT? ...

Say Hello Few people feel comfortable striking up a conversation with a person they haven’t previously met. I refrain from using the word “stranger” because the way I see it, we’re all fellow humans, potential acquaintances, possible friends. And who says they’re any stranger than I am? After all, I’m the one going up to people I meet in public asking to make their portrait. A camera in hand really is a magical device that allows us to meet almost anyone, anywhere. To approach them. Say hello. ...

All the way from Los Angeles, our 83rd 'In Focus' interview is with music and surrealism photographer, Laura Moreau. SECTION 1 - BACKGROUND SHARE YOUR FAVOURITE IMAGE / PRINT SHOT ON ILFORD FILM AND TELL US WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU? This photograph features my friend Samira, taken on ILFORD SFX200 with my Mamiya 645. I was in the ocean, hoping to capture the glimmers, as I have an obsession with them. Suddenly, a massive wave came out of nowhere, and I still can’t believe I managed to jump and take the sho...

Discover how Zach Nichols created this stunning long exposure shot in our 'How I Got This Picture' interview. We have noticed, if it's not a double exposure, your next favourite has to be nighttime long exposures. IMAGE TITLE Fire Tower Starlapse TECHNICAL INFO FILM USED ILFORD HP5+ FORMAT 4x5 CAMERA Chamonix LENS Nikon 90mm f/4.5 Nikkor-SW EXPOSURE TIME 45 – 50 minutes OTHER EQUIPMENT 1 Can of Atmosphere LOCATION Just outside Hot Springs, South Dakota. FIRSTLY, TELL US THE STORY...

#febondp400 was the theme for this week's #ilfordphoto #fridayfavourites. Our focus this week was on Delta 400 which is created using our latest Core-shell™ emulsion technology, DELTA 400 produces images with exceptional sharpness and the finest of grain to offer a leading combination of speed vs sharpness along with impressive tonal range. @pjmeade. This is Keele Hall, part of my old university. Shot on Delta 400 using EOS 1v+24-105+Red 25 filter. #fridayfavourites #febondp400 @KeeleUniversity &nb...

 El Parque Nacional I met Andrés and his buddies at Bogotá's most iconic park, el Parque Nacional. I was filming a video for my YouTube channel (Through the Glass) about the 800 or so displaced Embera indigenous people who were occupying the park. Andrés and crew were skating the park's entrance steps and sharing their boards with a group of Embera children. The Proposal The guys asked me where I was from and we got talking about the analog photography YouTube channel I was launching. I proposed ...

 'PRIDE & PREJUDICE' Winner announced For the 2024/25 ILFORD Photo student photography competition we set the theme of 'Pride & Prejudice'. Borrowing the title from Austen's classic novel, we wanted to see how you interpreted its central themes of Pride and Prejudice and how it is reflected in the today's world. Could be morality, social standing, race, religion, or sexuality that embodied the 'Pride & Prejudice' through your lens. As always, they rose to the challenge and entries started c...

The Main Topics My name is Maria Guțu I am a Moldovan born and  based photographer, focusing on long term documentary projects.  In 2022 I finished my studies at the Docdocdoc School of Modern Photography, Saint Petersburg, earlier, in 2020 I graduated in cinematography at the Academy of Music, Theatre and Fine Arts from Chisinau, Moldova where I have been studying for 4 years. The main topics in my work are remote places, youth, the notion of the home and the relation between humans and the environment...

La Santísima Tragedia Fanesca: A Celebration of Cultural Syncretism Through Fashion and Photography. Fanesca: Una celebración del sincretismo cultural a través de la moda y la fotografía. Latin American Society Fanesca is an evocative body of work created by London-based photographer Lucho Dávila, exploring cultural syncretism and the evolution of identity in contemporary Latin America. Through this ongoing autoethnographic project, Dávila reflects on his Spanish and Ecuadorian heritage, cap...

A Room in Barcelona by Tiffany Roubert: Capturing Intimacy on ILFORD Delta 3200 There’s something about film photography that forces you to be present. The tangible process, the limitations, the patience required, each frame becomes deliberate, considered. A little while ago, I shot a project called A Room in Barcelona, entirely on film. More precisely, entirely on ILFORD Delta 3200. The premise was simple: create intimacy with a total stranger in a confined space. No grand backdrops, no elaborate set de...

Dialogues With Nostalgia My work in photography is deeply connected to light and emotion. Black and white analog photography allows me to explore these elements with a unique sensitivity, where each image results from a constant search to capture the ephemeral and the timeless. I shoot with ILFORD Delta 400 and ILFORD HP5+ films, using cameras such as the Mamiya RZ67 Pro II, Nikon F100, and Nikon F6, because their grain and tonal range offer a texture that dialogues with nostalgia, memory, and melancholy, ...

Everything Shifted I first came to photography as a teenager, experimenting casually with digital cameras. But it wasn’t until after my PhD in cinema studies focused on representations of family in American television, that I returned to it with real intent. Living in Bordeaux at the time, I had occasionally photographed concerts, mostly as a hobby. Then, during the first COVID lockdown, everything shifted. With time slowing down, I picked up my partner’s analog camera and began shooting in the garden,...

Catching Up Pinotepa Nacional, Oaxaca, is a run of the mill small Mexican city—which is to say that it’s pretty cool. There’s a cathedral, a vibrant market, lots of great street food, and a strong sense of community. I lived in Pinotepa for six months a few years ago while I was working on a project and absolutely fell in love with the place. I returned this past December to catch up with old friends and make content for my analog photography YouTube channel. My First Weekend Back I didn’t have a...

Push it to the limits A brand new film is a wonderful prospect in the current analogue photography marketplace, and I am always eager to discover what a modern emulsion, concocted in this decade, can bring to my documentary photography workflow. When Kentmere 200 was announced, I knew I had to time my first efforts carefully in order to have something more than street snaps and mundanity to show for it, to really push it to the limits of what I demand from the film stocks I have become used to. Versatil...

A Timeless Story This editorial came from a desire to tell a timeless story. Through mood and atmosphere, using the expressive tools of analog photography, I wanted to create a visual world that felt both intimate and slightly surreal.  One where the character and setting merged to suggest a narrative without spelling it out. Working with ILFORD FP4 Plus allowed me to craft this vision with precision and texture, embracing the constraints and beauty of natural light and medium format film. Each Frame M...

Interview number 9 in our Community Focus series takes us to Amsterdam in the Netherlands where we chatted with Analog Club Amsterdam. Tell us A little about the darkroom, what it’s called and how it started. Well as we are situated in Amsterdam the darkroom is known as Analog Club Amsterdam open doka. Doka is a dutch abbreviation for Darkroom. And ACA Doka is a collaboration with MK24 which is an art institute in Amsterdam. MK24 has different analog courses and analog printing is one of the courses. ...

A black and white journey into the depths When I leave home for a day of diving, I always feel a mix of excitement and detachment. A moment alone at dawn, when everyone is still asleep, becomes a kind of quiet ritual: methodically packing my gear, performing last checks, loading film and setting off towards a world apart. My photography was born from a simple desire: to share those moments — their quiet magic, and the subtle mix of lightness and oppression that comes with the depths. Swallowed by ...

It’s been more than half a decade since I wrote about shooting ILFORD films in the winter when my solution to the pervasive grey, the grey clouds, grey streets, grey people, was to push film to its limits. I regularly carried high speed emulsions: Delta 3200 which I would expose up to 12800, HP5+ up to 3200, all in an effort to cut through the reality that there was simply not enough light in the conditions I was trying to make images. The strategy was one of technical compensation, fighting the darknes...