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| Mejlgade, Aarhus |
12. august 2012
10. august 2012
Interview with a photographer
Michell Smedegaard Boysen, 29, Royal Academy of Music
First of all I want to know how long you've had photography as a hobby?
I think about 3 years now. I auditioned for the royal academy of music, and during that period of time where you're waiting for an answer of whether you're accepted or not I needed something else to do, so I bought an old camera in a second hand shop, put a film in it and started shooting pictures. I contacted my former art teacher, who I knew was photographing, and asked him if he wanted to help me. He taught me in his own home once a week, and we just took a lot of pictures and drank a lot of coffee. I spent a lot of time at his place.
I think about 3 years now. I auditioned for the royal academy of music, and during that period of time where you're waiting for an answer of whether you're accepted or not I needed something else to do, so I bought an old camera in a second hand shop, put a film in it and started shooting pictures. I contacted my former art teacher, who I knew was photographing, and asked him if he wanted to help me. He taught me in his own home once a week, and we just took a lot of pictures and drank a lot of coffee. I spent a lot of time at his place.
What motivated you to get into photography? People or something else?
I felt I had the need to do something creative, which had nothing to do with music. One of my friends had a camera with film in it, and I just realized that was it – it was pretty simple really! So I went down to a secondhand shop and found a cheap camera, put a film in it and got started.
Can you tell a bit about the camera you've brought?
It's a polaroid camera. I takes analogue pictures, which you pull out of the camera and hereby get them right away. You don't have to stand in a dark room developing the pictures. This camera is actually a professional camera from the 80ies. One I know worked at stock at NATO and was told to trow it out, because they were starting to use digital cameras instead. He knew I was interested in cameras, so he put it aside for me. This camera is very different to the one I started out with. This one has almost only been used by professionals.
How many cameras do you own? It sounds like it you have made a small collection?
The collecting process hasn't really been the main reason for having all these cameras. It's more been the process of using them. But when it was at its highest I had around 30 cameras, and I used all of them. Some of them were not very good, and as I got new cameras like the one I've brought today, which were in a better shape and gave me new opportunities, some of my old cameras got less interesting. So I started to sell some of them, and others I exchanged for other cameras, so I ended up having a few but good cameras. Today I think I have around 10 to 15 cameras.
How
does the process of taking a picture work with your polaroid camera?
The process is really, really short. The film becomes the done project. When you take the picture with this film, there is no picture on it right away. You pull the picture out of the camera through two roles. The roles are both pressed hard against the film and on one of the ends of the film, there are small 'pockets' with chemicals, that get pressed out and these chemicals develop the picture on its way out. When the picture comes out, you can still not see the motive, because there are two layers. It has to lie for a certain amount of time and in a certain temperature to get done. When you've waited long enough you separate the two layers and you've got a picture and a negative film. And that's about it – the process is very simple!
The process is really, really short. The film becomes the done project. When you take the picture with this film, there is no picture on it right away. You pull the picture out of the camera through two roles. The roles are both pressed hard against the film and on one of the ends of the film, there are small 'pockets' with chemicals, that get pressed out and these chemicals develop the picture on its way out. When the picture comes out, you can still not see the motive, because there are two layers. It has to lie for a certain amount of time and in a certain temperature to get done. When you've waited long enough you separate the two layers and you've got a picture and a negative film. And that's about it – the process is very simple!
So
a very quick process?
Exactly!
Do
you do any thoughts before taking a picture with your polaroid
camera?
The process is much more different compared to other cameras. The cost is very different. The film is cheap compared to regular polaroid cameras. The normal format costs around 20 kr. pr. Picture. The ones I use cost around 5 kr. pr. picture. But still, if you've got around 500 pictures, it can suddenly get pretty expensive.
The process is much more different compared to other cameras. The cost is very different. The film is cheap compared to regular polaroid cameras. The normal format costs around 20 kr. pr. Picture. The ones I use cost around 5 kr. pr. picture. But still, if you've got around 500 pictures, it can suddenly get pretty expensive.
Do
you have any favorite locations or favorite motive, when you take
pictures?
In the beginning I just took pictures wherever, and brought a camera with me all the time. Because I play a lot of music, I now often bring it, when I play with other people and take pictures of them. Sometimes I'm also in a band, where we need pictures for something, and then I often end being the one, who take these pictures. But yes, in the beginning I just took pictures of many different motives, because I wanted to learn all the technical things.
In the beginning I just took pictures wherever, and brought a camera with me all the time. Because I play a lot of music, I now often bring it, when I play with other people and take pictures of them. Sometimes I'm also in a band, where we need pictures for something, and then I often end being the one, who take these pictures. But yes, in the beginning I just took pictures of many different motives, because I wanted to learn all the technical things.
I've slowly started walking up to strangers, asking them
if I could take their picture. Sometimes you just see a very
fascinating person in the street. You don't really know why they're
fascinating – there just something about them and it just strikes
you: 'that could turn out to be a great picture!'. Many times I've
tried just walking by, and then I come home and regret not taking the
picture. So I've started to push my self into just asking.
What
do you particularly like about this type of photography?
To begin with I thought it was very fascinating being a part of the whole developing process. I've come to like the process in the dark room as well. In the end after having made a well exposed picture all by yourself, you can stand with the final product in your hand and just know that you have made this all from scratch! It's just the same feeling with all kinds of other things that are homemade. Of course many people use a lot of time on editing digital pictures, which is similar to what I do in the dark room. It's more the physical aspect of this kind of photography that attracts me. With a digital camera you could probably reach the same aesthetic feel as I do in my pictures by adding frames, blur etc., but that's not really what interest me the most. I scan my negative films, and that's about the only digital aspect I have going on.
To begin with I thought it was very fascinating being a part of the whole developing process. I've come to like the process in the dark room as well. In the end after having made a well exposed picture all by yourself, you can stand with the final product in your hand and just know that you have made this all from scratch! It's just the same feeling with all kinds of other things that are homemade. Of course many people use a lot of time on editing digital pictures, which is similar to what I do in the dark room. It's more the physical aspect of this kind of photography that attracts me. With a digital camera you could probably reach the same aesthetic feel as I do in my pictures by adding frames, blur etc., but that's not really what interest me the most. I scan my negative films, and that's about the only digital aspect I have going on.
So
you don't use digital cameras at all?
I've just been to Brazil, where I bought a digital
camera, because I wanted to record video, but other than that I don't
really use it. Maybe just to quickly show pictures to my family and
friends. It just doesn't have the same charm as my old cameras do.
Why
do you think these old fashioned ways of taking pictures have become
so popular today?
Because it looks better! When the digital camera first came out it was a huge step back in connection to quality of the photos. It's just about now that the quality has become good. Often a digital picture is a bit boring, unless you play with the lights or other factors. There's just something about the analogue world, which appeals to a lot of people. The pictures are not 100 % perfect, they have small flaws and they contain small things, you don't see in digital pictures. A lot of the digital pictures you see today are edited, so they look like they have been taking with the old fashioned film. It's just quicker and less expensive.
Because it looks better! When the digital camera first came out it was a huge step back in connection to quality of the photos. It's just about now that the quality has become good. Often a digital picture is a bit boring, unless you play with the lights or other factors. There's just something about the analogue world, which appeals to a lot of people. The pictures are not 100 % perfect, they have small flaws and they contain small things, you don't see in digital pictures. A lot of the digital pictures you see today are edited, so they look like they have been taking with the old fashioned film. It's just quicker and less expensive.
What
about the feeling of the 'old-fashioned'? You think that's important
to people? For instance, if you think about Hipstamatic?
Yes definitely. This romantic feeling is also very important. And it just looks good, and it's easy to make it look good. It's so convenient – you can just choose the filter you think fits the best. The availability of is a very important factor. Almost everybody has a camera phone, and almost everybody can make pictures look like they have been taking with old cameras. Maybe it's just a culture thing, I don't know, but a lot of people also find it very pleasing to look at these kind of pictures, instead of the computer edited ones. All in all the popularity of analogue pictures really has a lot to do with the availability, we're experiencing today.
Yes definitely. This romantic feeling is also very important. And it just looks good, and it's easy to make it look good. It's so convenient – you can just choose the filter you think fits the best. The availability of is a very important factor. Almost everybody has a camera phone, and almost everybody can make pictures look like they have been taking with old cameras. Maybe it's just a culture thing, I don't know, but a lot of people also find it very pleasing to look at these kind of pictures, instead of the computer edited ones. All in all the popularity of analogue pictures really has a lot to do with the availability, we're experiencing today.
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