Professional photographers use the term 'Personal Work' to describe shooting images for themselves. No client involved, no fee. Though one might materialise via an exhibition or some other opportunity to present the images. OK, so how does that apply to me? Since mostly everything I shoot is uploaded to a picture library, it could be argued that everything I do is 'Personal Work.' But I do regard shooting on film as shooting for myself. Yes I do sell a lot of film images on my stock libraries, but I do see it as something different. I like it because of the sense of freedom it gives me. Currently I don't even see the images for several weeks as I shoot them. To cut costs I wait until I have run at least 10 films through my cameras before I send them for processing. it saves on postage and i get a discount.
I do actually like the surprise when the negatives come back. 'Oh that's what I shot.' for example I have no idea when I shot the above images. I also like the 'serendipity effect'. Due to film, processing and scanning fluctuations, it's difficult to anticipate the final result. Then I might choose to edit in a certain way and produce something entirely different from what I saw when I pressed the shutter.
And of course it's fun. Not that I don't enjoy shooting digital, but when I do that I'm constantly looking to get a commercial sellable shot. With film it's whatever takes my eye.
Stock photography by david martyn hughes at Alamy
Soundimageplus Website
Follow me on Twitter
Follow me on Facebook
Follow me on Tumblr
Follow me on Pinterest
Follow me on Instagram
Follow me on Google+
Follow me on Blogger
