seeking imperfection

with a camera phone.

i have decided to do a 365 project of self portraits…all on my camera phone.  writing about certain topics for our book has prompted me to explore things i would not normally take on…like a photo a day of myself for one.  we got a new phones and they are Android ones which means they have a bunch of cool apps just like i have been watching my friends play with on their iPhones for a while.  one i found was this great little camera app called Vignette.  i took a photo with it setting the camera to Toy Camera BW with a square frame and immediately felt like i had found a lost friend.  the resulting image was really so similar to the ones i used to get from the holga that now sits i my closet…empty.  of course there are the tell-tale signs of digital, but man was it close.

and it got me thinking.

i miss the imperfection of film and medium format cameras.  the Yashicamat was probably the best camera i ever owned and i sold it to help buy my first pro digital body, Nikon’s D100.  i thought that was going to be it for photography for me and i could see the end of film.  i can still imagine the end of film, but my thoughts on it have changed.

i am tired of the perfection of digital and frankly i am bored by a large facet of my own photography.  it isn’t that i want to eliminate that side of my work…not at all.  i love a perfectly exposed crisp shot with even tones.  i have never been one to over process.  i like my work clean and real.  even with film, i was never a whimsical photographer.  if anything, my work was darker before.  there was always the clean work i did commercially, but then there was the Holga, the Hasselblad, the Yashicamat, the Minolta, the SX-70, the Contax, the Fuji 645.  two were sold, but most are still in my gear closet lovingly packed away.  i need film and a lab and a good scanner…oh and some more time.

just 2 days into my 365 project and i remember the love i had for imperfection.  for grain.  for contrast.  for lack of color.  for unexpected focus.  for letting the image stand at time of exposure.

so i will be posting weekly to the blog, my 365 portraits and more in this exploration.  while the 365 will be with the phone camera, i may finally get my film and post those results here too.

i would love to see your 365 journey too and will be posting a link widget with my first week collection.  i want to feature some of the ones that inspire me here on my own blog.

we are all seeking something with photography, what are you looking for?