Kristina shoots film

Why do you shoot film, Kristina?

well, i could make up a long and elaborate story of how i thought about photography for a very long time and came to the conclusion that film was the one and only medium worth wasting one’s time with if one were an artistic soul, but that would be a ginormous lie. really, it’s been a coincidence – no less and no more. some years back, my aunt moved places and gave me her old praktica LTL, a heavy, big manual camera. i started shooting film with varying success, which partly may have been due to me not really knowing what i was doing, and the added challenge of going all manual. but it was love, from the very first day. it’s been a big learning curve, in which i’ve benefited most from getting things ‘wrong’. like travelling to venice in the middle of summer and shooting with film that should really have been used indoors on a winter’s night - everything i shot outdoors looked faded and washed out. after my initial embarassment though, it turned out i liked the effect. i guess what i’m saying is: film has made me appreciate those happy and less happy accidents. it has made me more patient. and it’s for the first time that i feel i’m learning without fearing imminent judgement, i can just play and see where it takes me.

p.s.: my latest camera crushes are my nikkormat EL and a pentax ME. and i’m very much hoping to own a medium format camera some day soon. i should really tell santa, or whoever is in charge of these things.

You can see more of Kristina's photos on her blog and her Flickr.