Mt. Humphreys, Eastern Sierras, California. Soundtrack by Iron & Wine.
I’ve started shooting a few short videos with my iPhone 4 and the quality is pretty good. This movie was shot just south of Owens Lake near Lone Pine, California. It’s not much of a lake anymore thanks to LA’s thirst for water. The Eastern side of the Sierra Nevada mountains is home to some of the most dramatic scenery in the whole of California. The soundtrack comes from The Shins which happened to be playing on my car stereo at the time.
People often ask me what camera I use. Although I rarely talk about the equipment I shoot with, today I’m making an exception. I do own a Canon EOS 5D MK II digital SLR but I still prefer shooting on film. There are many reasons for this, image quality being a huge consideration. There is a quality in film that I still don’t think has been matched with digital technology. This is not to say that digital photography has no place in what I do and I recognise that it is essential for most commercial jobs today.
I shot my book South African Township Barbershops & Salons on a Contax G2 35mm with a 35mm and a 45mm lens and only Fujicolor 100 speed film. I carried a small tripod for low light conditions and if the shot didn’t turn out then it wasn’t meant to be. Some people might think this strange but I find that the more restricted I am the better the photographs turn out. With a digital camera I shoot so many images I barely know how to begin editing them. I also find that constantly reviewing the photograph I have just taken really takes me out of the moment. Film forces me to have the courage to shoot and move on to the next subject. After I have the film processed I do have my negatives scanned so I’m not completely stuck in the Dark Ages of photography.
I recently bought a 1969 Pentax Asahi 6x7 medium format camera which I’m getting to grips with. The camera is huge and very heavy but it gives the most extraordinary results. I’m now using a light meter for the first time and I hope that this camera will push my understanding of different light conditions. In an age where everyone seems to have the latest digital SLR it feels good to be learning to use a camera that is older than me.
I’m not actually told where my book is available so I have been relying on sightings by friends and going into the stores in person. This photo was taken in the great art, architecture & photography bookstore Hennessy & Ingalls in Santa Monica, California. Thanks to my friend Henry for the tip off. During my time in LA I also found it in the legendary Book Soup on the Sunset Strip and in Skylight Books in Los Feliz. I’ve also found out that it is available in the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan NYC and the Community Bookstore in Parkslope, Brooklyn. In London it can be found in the Tate Modern bookshop and one of my favourite spots in the city, Magma Books. Signed copies can be bought from the Gray Goose in Nevada City, California, the town where I live. I’d love to know where else people are seeing it, please send me photos if you can.
It’s a very special feeling to see your own book on display in a bookstore. During my time working as a graphic designer for Penguin Books and HarperCollins in London I became quite used to seeing my book covers on the shelves but this definitely felt different. The first copy I saw for sale was in Barnes & Noble in The Grove in Los Angeles, California.
