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Old School Photography Introduction: Old School Photography

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 Old School introduction: old school photography

Analog photography refers to photography using an analog and film. Whilst it might seem that the ubiquity and sheer number of digital has squeezed analog photography out of relevance, the slow process of analog photography is still dear to many photographers. Most of us have a childhood holiday memory related to the disposable cameras, and this chase of old school nostalgia feeds into the revival of analog photography. The slow dulling or discoloration of a fuzzy old polaroid or a film indicates the unremitting thread of time, causing us to reminisce about a time long gone.

1 GREAT PHOTOGRAPHY IS ABOUT DEPTH OF FEELING, NOT . - peter adams

2 3 Besides nostalgia, the attraction of owning old manual cameras and restoring them, is for their unique ability to create certain effects, such as double exposures on a single frame or chemical-looking stains caused by unpredictable light leaks, that give a photograph more character. The cameras, when paired with certain kinds of film, result in a certain visual effect unique to the specific pairing; a precious one-of-a-kind colour saturation and grain on the single piece of film — technically referred to as an PHOTO ‘’ — that digital tools would be hard pressed to replicate, even in software applications like digital . Even then, there is no telling the final results. Compared to the certainty of digital cameras, there is an excitement in not really knowing how your films will turn out. The disappearance of certain types of film from Kodak, Fujifilm, Fotokemika and Agfa, to name a few, has resulted in a scramble among © Pete Considine via Flickr1 analog aficionados to acquire films that are slowly being discontinued by manufacturers. It is pretty easy to see why analog photography remains a mainstay The almost ritualistic activity of transferring the outfit at universities and professional photographer print from one chemical bath to another to the studios. The manual process of creating gradual existence of the image shot until the final a photograph is still a valued and well-loved art. satisfying shimmer, the feeling is unlike any other.

4 5 the camera

The camera and lens you use will determine the outcome. Your subject and its interplay with light and shadow will evoke the emotions you want in your stills.

6 © Timothy Tan 7 the film

The essential ingredient of your pictures: ilm choice can render certain tones and grains that can give added effect to your stills. Film is a conscious choice. “If you use ilm, you can’t see it, so you need to feel it.” - Hervé Lewis

8 © Timothy Tan 9 dark room

The is on, the baths of chemicals are prepared and for the irst time, you are ready to expose your light- sensitive into the air. In this room, you are slowly shaping and giving life to images that cannot be seen on the ilm until you make the print. There is a slow magic when it inally appears.

10 © Timothy Tan 11 13



 

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12 developing:black & white film spotlight

In this issue, we get to talk to Timothy Tan, the man behind PERSPECgifs, about analog photography, his favourite cameras and film, and the draw of shooting in film.

Primarily a visual/conceptual artist, 3 time school dropout and professional bohemian. Timothy Tan’s current goal is to very selfishly do only work that he wants to do, without thought of outside influences, in hopes of it being good enough to be funded. While his photography gains momentum, Timothy’s studio work has been on hold, focusing instead on more photographic self-proposed projects. At the moment, he is working on a solo exhibition, and a zine of personal work.

14 © Timothy Tan 15 What was your irst introduction to photography? much sharper photographer, your instinct for a photograph is My first real introduction to photography was an analog much more astute as you can only shoot one shot. Unlike with photography class I took back in art school. We were digital, where you can practically press and hold the button, given very basic SLRs and were tasked to shoot on bulb and the continuous mode "may" catch something. mode, on film, and the whole class covered everything from self-developing, to printing our Do you have a go-to camera or a camera you never leave home without? own photographs. Somehow, the photograph I printed, I have a backup compact, a Contax T3, that's the size of my was chosen for the end of term exhibition. That was palm which is always in my bag. Aside from the backup, perhaps when I thought I should give photography a try, I'll bring out a main camera to shoot. I haven’t left the as I might actually be good at it. But I only really got to it house without a camera for the last 4 years, it's a rule. about 4 years later, when a friend of mine lent me a really clunky Russian SLR. Is there a camera or ilm that has gone out of production which you’d like to see revived? What is it about working with ilm that keeps you I would say I'd really like to see revived. It’s a away from shooting in digital? slide film that was discontinued ages ago, although Kodak Well, I actually never learned how to shoot digital, so I never recently announced that they're bringing back a cousin moved up. I learned in film, and stayed in film. Only much of that film, Ektachrome. There have been rumours that later when I was really into it, did I realize the benefits of Kodachrome might make a comeback too. Despite the shooting in film, like the better colour schemes right out of fact that some film is being discontinued, it’s pretty great the camera that require no tweaking post process. Shooting to see that the recent resurgence actually changing the in film streamlines your process, because you cannot see world. Film is not dead. your photograph, you focus more when making the shot, that means staying in the moment and continuing to make shots. If you had to shoot with one camera for the rest of your Whereas in digital, being able to review your shots causes life, what would it be? "chimping" where you pause to check the shot and end up I would probably shoot on the camera that I love the missing another. Learning in film forced me to become a most, my first rangefinder and my main work camera,

16 17 the Leica M6 TTL. It's a fully mechanical camera that I've really abused, and probably the only camera that will actually last my lifetime.

Do you have a particular subject matter that you prefer shooting; people, landscapes, architecture, etc? Primarily, the photography I do is . I've been drawn to it since the start, and was so bk selection consumed by it that I used to find it difficult to shoot by timothy tan anything else. I wasn't even able to shoot friends because I'd only want street photographs on my contact sheets (a contact sheet is a roll of 36 photographs laid out and reviewed). Magnum By Bridgitte Lardinois Thames & Hudson, New York, What is the one piece of advice you wish someone Magnum USA, 2009 shared with you before you ventured into this industry? I wish they warned me how ridiculously addictive it This is a compendium of work by the legendary would be to shoot a photograph and be able to tangibly photographic group the Magnum Photographers. It see it. I've been hooked, spending thousands of dollars on basically chronicles the evolution of photography, gear and film. It has thoroughly consumed me. collecting some of the most iconic images made. I feel that if one was to start on photography, they’d need to understand the history of it, and where it’s coming from, before they can push the medium forward. It was one of the first photobooks that I bought, and I’ve spent nights studying it rigorously, taking inspiration from the work of perspecgifs Timothy Tan, the man behind PERSPECgifs, will be at library@orchard on 25 March those much greater than I. Personally, it’s a reminder to on film 2017 (4pm) to share insights on analog make work that has meaning, because anyone can press a photography, his favourite cameras and ilm. button, but only a true photographer, can make an image. Find out more at www.nlb.gov.sg/golibrary. 18 19 recommended reads

1 Understanding a Photograph

John Berger Penguin Classics, London UK, 2013 — English 770 BER –[ART]

This book of essays explores the many faceted ways of looking and understanding how one looks and what you receive by looking. By tenderly looking at the lives and work of these outstanding photographers, Berger excavates not only art but philosophy in the art of seeing and capturing.

All rights reserved.

20 21 2 3

The Essential Photography for Everyone: Darkroom Book The cultural lives of cameras and consumers in early twentieth-century Japan

Tom Grill & Mark Scanlon Amphoto, New York, Kerry Ross USA, 1981 Standford University — Press, California Lee Kong Chian Reference USA, 2015 Library only — English 771.4 GRI English 770.952 ROS –[ART]

All rights reserved. All rights reserved.

22 23 editor the numbers & niches series image credits Joey Chin 710: Landscape Architecture 1. © ‘Contact Sheet’, by Pete Considine, Flickr, licenced under CC BY 2.0,https:// Green Places www.lickr.com/photos/theotherpete/3163629882/ writers 720: Architecture Christopher Fok Everyday Architecture Natalina Pereira 730: Sculpture — Toy Sculpture This publication is printed 740: Drawing and Design on Cyclus Print. Its text Make It Work is set in Mercury and 750: Painting Johnston ITC Std. Colours in Culture 760: Printing and Engraving Silkscreen Printing 770: Photography Old School Photography 780: Music Music Journalism 790: Performing Arts Setting the Stage 800: Literary Arts Singapore Poetry and Prose

24 © National Library Board, Singapore 2016 in this issue

01 introduction

Old School Photography 06 The Camera

08 The Film

10 Dark Room

12 Developing: Black & White Film

14 spotlight Timothy Tan

20 Recommended Reads

numbers & niches is a 10-part, monthly series of talks and curated content based on the library’s Arts Collection. Sequenced according to the Dewey Decimal Classiication, each issue shines a spotlight on local practitioners and their speciic art forms.

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