“When you photograph people in colour, you photograph their
clothes. But when you photograph people in Black and White, you photograph
their souls!” Ted Grant known as 'The Father of Canadian
Photojournalist'
But first I'll tell you about the image above… yes believe
it or not it was shot using black and white film! It’s one of my earliest
images. I used a red filter which made the red of the KitKat bar lighter in
colour and then an artist friend of mine hand painted in the red on my finished
print.. Brilliant!
It seems that more and more people are getting the itch to
try film cameras and to have the experience of being in a darkroom and to see
the wonderment of the image appear in the developing tray.
I can't say I blame them… my love of film cameras began when
I watched my Dad with his. I used to follow him taking pictures and then spent
hours watching him in the darkroom, of course I got the “Don't touch anything!”
but I loved it anyway.
I got my first film camera way back in the 80’s, it was an
Olympus OM10 and I had a makeshift temporary darkroom in the kitchen, which
went down really well with my wife Pat… I guess this is when I really learnt my
craft. I used different ASA film, always Ilford. My favourite thing to do was
to over expose film by 1 stop and then “pull” it back when developing. This
would give me a good quality, slightly thinner negative, which I could print
onto hard grade paper, this gave me nice rich blacks and pure whites.
I'm now lucky enough to own a few film cameras but the one I
use the most is a 1959 Twin Lens Rolleiflex 6×6 camera, the type Bailey used
when he photographed Jean Shrimpton in the 60’s. It is totally manual, no
gadgets and; gizmos so you really have to know what you are doing with
it. It’s a fantastic camera to shoot people and black and white street photography and I’ve
done quite a few landscapes with it, it’s very adaptable.
So, now almost 30 years after picking up my first film
camera I am very proud to say that I have been chosen to be partnered with the
Ilford Analogue Artisan Scheme. The scheme offers workshops, one to ones,
day or weekend courses where you too can have a go shooting film, processing it
and then printing.
Here is a lovely quote from Diane at Ilford Photo:
“Keith Moss is a member of a group of leading UK
photographers who support ILFORD PHOTO in presenting Master classes to College
Teachers and Lecturers, Students, and Enthusiasts, including competition
winners. Keith’s passion for photography and skill level is what drew us his
work. We will continue to collaborate with Keith in ongoing future projects” Diane
Berry, Sales and Marketing Support Manager – Ilford Photo.
If you would like any information about any of our courses
just get in touch by email at info@keithmoss.co.uk or
give us a ring on 01287 679655
Labels: analogue, black and white analogue photography, black and white photography, photography course
