Shooting on film seems to be a bit of a forgotten art these days. Some of my fondest memories as a kid involved lugging around a brick of a camera and sloppily snapping at any passing subject before it flickered away and was gone forever. Three minutes and 24 photos later the fun was over. A few days would pass and I would find myself holding a paper envelope and wondering what the hell was inside, barely remembering what I had for breakfast let alone what I found interesting enough to photograph days prior. It was impossible to know whether taking a peek inside would reveal a set of skilfully shot prints that rivalled that of Ansel Adams or a collage of kodachrome catastrophes.
While living a fairly sedentary lifestyle in little old Adelaide for the last few months I have decided to take it back a decade and try my hand at the forgotten art of photo-making via film. Here’s a few snaps from recent events taken with very little skill or thought to get the ball rolling. (double exposure on Rollei Redbird film)
A few days ago in Australia it was Australia Day and Triple J played its much talked about Hottest 100 countdown. This song was not number 1.
Today I received an email from a cousin in Thailand. It contained this picture:
I cropped out the bottom half of the photo but you get the idea! Trent and co. are in Thailand at the moment deep water solo rock-climbing and having the time of their lives while I’m stuck in a sweltering Adelaide. It’s snaps like these that remind you not to waste too much time doing what you don’t love. Cheers Trent!
A while ago I posted about a venture up the Western Australia coast to the hidden marine utopia that is Coral Bay. Last week I returned to this place to visit my brother and spent a few days out on his boat equipped with a GoPro. I was blown away once again by the sheer volume of species kicking around this corner of the Indian Ocean, with whale shark season being replaced with one of the most amazing migrations on earth. No less than ten-thousand Humpback whales effortlessly glide past the reef heading north, all the way breaching and tail slapping; telling the world they have arrived. On one fine day as we swam from the boat to the reef we found ourselves smack bang in the middle of a pod of four whales and sat in awe as two broke away and silently weaved around us no more than 3 metres away.
Each day our eyeballs were treated to a unique and awe-inspiring display from lumbering loggerheads to brilliantly coloured nudibranchs (mid coitus) and everything in between. On my last day in the bay I even managed to snaffle a trip out to swim with a gigantic manta ray the size of a small car. Here’s a few images from paradise, video to come.
