Becoming Whatever

First Five Rolls

Maybe about two or three months ago now, my dad gave me his old Nikon FM2. Not knowing anything about photography, or cameras, and especially not analog/film cameras, I took it to the fine folks at Kiwi Camera Service (lightly doxxing myself here, which will be done with even greater detail and specificity with the following pics).

An aside: This visit to Kiwi set me on a side-quest of starting a small business repairing and fabricating handmade leather camera straps, but that’s a story for another post.

Michael from Kiwi took my camera in to do some repairs, and gave me his copy of the Nikon FM2 user manual. Cool guy. I’ve always been slightly interested in photography, especially coming from the ““men’s fashion”” scene where there seems to be a sizable overlap with the photography scene. Dudes like Buster in particular come to mind, at least as of late, as well as this essay by Ethan Wong. So I figured, free camera, why not give it a try.

What follows are what I consider to be the highlights from the first five rolls of film I shot. Some light commentary is to be expected in conjunction with the photos, if you know me at all.

An aside: I think there is definitely something to be written about what I see as the inverse of the relation between photography and what Walter Benjamin calls “aura,” something about how photography can actually bestow (as opposed to just stripping bare) aura upon moments of space-time, but that’s for a different post. I need to read more of good ol’ Benjy first.

What follows are what I consider to be the highlights from the first five rolls of film I shot. Some light commentary is to be expected in conjunction with the photos, if you know me at all.

Shoutout to Reformed Film Lab for developing and scanning these for me!

Some of the smaller pics can be enlarged by clicking on them. Please forgive any formatting oddities, I’m still unsure of the best way to display these pics on my site.

Protest

“Fascism Dies Here”
I shot the weekly protest in DeLand. I love the two very different approaches to protest attire depicted here: Red and blue, American flag, serious sign; or weird inflatable thing. And of course, the cop car being in the midground, makes me feel like the cops are the one being spoken to by the protestors. Hopefully they listened…

Some more photos from that same protest:

This dude is awesome. Climbs on top of his car with a megaphone and gave a solid speech, and made a great photo opportunity while he was at it.

I think the composition and layering of that first picture came out really well. I am undecided on how I feel about the dude on his phone on the left. I’m not enthusiastic about phones in my shots, but Something about the red of the sign he’s holding, his forefront layering being symmetrical with the sign on the other side of the frame, and his general demeanor in interacting with his phone makes me feel generally okay/happy about his presence in the picture. And it feels dishonest to crop him out.

Confrontation between protestors and automotive counter-protestors.
Anytime the Courthouse is in the background, I’m gonna be pretty happy. Especially when the picture has other overtly political content. I wish my timing on this was better so there wasn’t the gray Mazda in the midground.

Human Persons

Ryan and Cameron walking around and being cute!
I think this shot came out a bit overexposed, but this candid moment between the two of them felt too nice not to share.
Star and Luke, baristas at one of my main haunts. Similar to the shot of Ryan and Cameron, this shot is a bit underexposed, but the nice candid moment still makes the pic worth sharing in my opinion.
Barb and Jeff, local legends, enjoying a drink on a slow market day. I am very happy with the exposure here.

Ella is impressed by the rooftop view of the Courthouse.

Car Windows

When granted the opportunity to make a statement from the safety of a moving car, some people choose to be mean.
Others choose to be fun.
Yet again, others choose to be mean. Do you feel like a badass flipping us the bird from your big-boy truck?

Sofia❤

My partner Sofia. Very photogenic. Aren’t I lucky?

Psst! Look at me!

Swoon! The face of someone who loves you dearly but is starting to get maybe just a little tired of you taking pictures every 5 seconds during what was supposed to be a date… oopsies!
Come on in…
Cat nap, ft. Matilda. The colors in this one really remind me of the “i became birds” album cover (by one of my favorite bands, Home is Where). Highly recommend that album.
I love the way Jinkx looks almost just slightly unreal here. Something of a phantasm or a ghost, just out of focus.

Miscellaneous

“Cats with jobs”

I hope to find more signs like these, with just one letter askew. If any locals know of some around here, please tell me!

Local artist Lukus carting around his supplies

Facades

“Broke”
Graffiti’d on the side of the old abandoned jail.
I think the :-X graffiti has an interesting juxtaposition with the looming Courthouse in the background. Wish there weren’t any cars on the right side of the pic, though.
I love the way the four different walls intersect in this abandoned jail.
I actually don’t even remember composing or shooting this picture, so it was a pleasant surprise when I got the scans back from the lab. Similar to the prior picture, the convergence of the four walls on the “One Way / Do Not Enter” sign pointing away from the abandoned jail, is very satisfying to me.
My favorite building to photograph.

There you have it! Highlights from my first five rolls of film.

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