Starting to shoot differently

If you look through my Instagram feed you'll likely see a lot of signs and walls. You'll see stuff influenced clearly by Walker Evans, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, amongst others. You'll see pop-inspired Polaroids and lots of geometry. Abstracts galore. There are instax grids of depopulated neighborhoods. But you won't see a lot of people. When there are people, they're usually looking away from the camera.

Well, until recently. About a month ago I made a couple of changes. First, I started shooting more with my Pentax ME Super, my dad's old camera that I've used on and off over the years, and less with my Olympus XA. Second, I started developing my own film at home.

The latter has freed me up more than anything else. I now shoot knowing those photos will see the light of day soon—often the day I shoot them. I don't let rolls languish in camera, thinking I gotta do something really good to justify the developing costs. So I'm doing more sequences, more shots of the same thing. I'm more willing to shoot to get to know my camera, even doing some things that are "off brand." Like photographing people. Because, I figure, why not?

And then there's the camera. I'll just put it down to this. The Pentax ME Super, with the 50mm lens just lets me get closer and frame more precisely (1.5 ft vs. 2.8).

​So, I still shoot boring stuff like walls. But I'm also getting a little more life.