All of Essays, Page 7

169 Photo Essays, Shot on Film

Dwell
And The Self-Portraiture Series
September 4, 2018
In the summer of 2017, I was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune condition that was connected to the one word nobody ever wants to hear: cancer. Following many scans and blood work, a splenectomy, a bone marrow biopsy, and chemotherapy, a year later, and my lymphoma is in remission.
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My Influence
September 1, 2018
My earliest childhood memories are from the Moscow apartment where my mom worked on giant oil paintings as a graduate project for her school. A lot has changed since, and in many ways, neither she nor I are the same persons anymore. Still, the feelings of wonder, being surrounded by the craft that my mom was proud of, take over as I recall the details.
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Tropical Fruits
And Their Secrets
August 21, 2018
I saw my first pineapple bloom under a shade behind a temple in Chiang Dao. Along with its fruiting spiny brothers, it was firmly attached to a thick shoot, stretching upwards three feet from the ground. Having discovered its alluring and unexpected origins sparked an infatuation with finding and photographing the unique, often unknown moments in the life of tropical fruits.
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Rain
In Chiang Mai
August 14, 2018
It’s always warm. The sun is out daily, even in the wet season, and there’s very little wind, except for a few minutes just before the rain. Then, the palm trees and the tall grass underneath bend slightly from soft gusts of air. The dust whirls up from asphalt roads, smudged with dry, red clay.
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From Chiang Mai to Chumphon
Day Three
July 24, 2018
I woke up early next morning in Chumphon to see the sunrise at the beach. In the murky-pre-dawn, I met a man just outside of my hotel. We started chatting; he told me that he rode a bicycle from the north of Thailand.
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150R
Riding Steel Along Northern Thai Roads
July 16, 2018
After twenty minutes of washing, soaping, and wiping, the bike is ready again to be enveloped by the highway dust. During the past year-and-a-half it took me to Lao and Myanmar borders, Pai, Chiang Dao, Buatong Waterfalls, Suthep mountain, and all over Chiang Mai.
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From Chiang Mai to Chumphon
Day Two
July 10, 2018
I arrived in Bangkok early morning after a protracted sixteen-hour journey from Chiang Mai. To kill time, I visited Chulalongkorn University, a short distance away from Bangkok Railway Station. This is the second part of a three-part essay. Part one can be read here.
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Climbing The Furnace
A Day at Chiang Mai’s Famed Crazy Horse Crag
July 2, 2018
He screams; the lactic acid in his extremities is punishing his nervous system, he pushes back. There are only a few moves left. Before long he throws his arm towards the last piece of uneven limestone and clips his final anchor bolts. “Take! ” — Maew tightens the rope and he lets go of the rock.
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Hanoi
2018
June 19, 2018
Hanoi’s architecture, transport, and people comprise an experience that embodies the ridiculous construction sprouts of northern China, the population density of Tokyo, entrepreneurial spirit of New York, and living standards of Southeast Asia. Much of the action happens on the street.
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Isaan, On a Cloud
May 29, 2018
Doi Suthep. Doi Suthep shades a small, northern Thai city from the last hour of tropical sunshine. Once the daylight fades, a single glowing dot remains floating in the void of darkness, marking the spot of the mountain-top temple. I ride up a two-lane strip, filled with twists, turns, dips, and hills.
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The Shaper
May 7, 2018
Tim Stafford is a surfboard shaper. He designs and builds hand-made decks out of his studio in Widemouth Bay. Located on the north Atlantic coast of Cornwall, the beach and the village are known to offer some of the best waves in the UK and Europe. Within that surfer’s paradise, Tim makes his living by crafting the highly-regarded asymmetrical decks, designed to provide better control in the water by taking advantage of human physiology and liquid dynamics.
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Malta
A Photographic Journey Checkpoint
May 4, 2018
I’ve been intrigued by film photography for a while, though it was never my primal way of shooting. Digital SLRs, being the de facto choice of a modern cameraman, were my main mode of capturing images. But this year, my two weeks at Malta, imported Contax T2 from Japan, and five rolls of Portra 400 have finally tipped the scales.
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Bare by Light
May 1, 2018
Light hammers the city. It pounds the buildings, the streets and the people with their fragile lives into an abstract backdrop. Light illuminates, detaches, and exposes its subjects as raw, primal figures of their habitat. The burning shadows solder the human figures into the hollow sets, making them one.
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From Chiang Mai to Chumphon
Day One
April 20, 2018
Back in 2014, I didn’t yet have a full-time job. Feeling particularly adventurous I decided to take advantage of my wide-open schedule and embark on a trip to the central province of Prachuap Khiri Khan, where my friend lived. This would be the first journey that I’d do on my own, and the first one with a film camera.
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Cold
You Don’t Get the Good Shots Laying in Bed
April 17, 2018
It is said that with age comes wisdom. No one ever said that we use that wisdom. The day before it had snowed about eight inches. I knew it was going to be cold and I accepted that challenge. Let’s face it: you don’t get the good shots laying in bed.
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The Beginning of The End
Last Moments Together With My Classmates Before Heading Off to University
April 10, 2018
A cream-coloured film burn with a torn-looking glimmering edge is obstructing the first frame of my roll. To me, this is the most important image out of all the exposures on my 35mm cassette. It marks the beginning of an adventure. The photograph above, the first frame, was taken during my board school field trip to Japan.
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Let's Go to the EX!
Toronto's Beloved Exhibition In 35mm Panoramas
March 20, 2018
The Canadian National Exhibition, locally known as the CNE or The Ex, is a three-week-long festival, the end of which unofficially marks the beginning of autumn in Toronto. During this last stretch of summer, just before the leaves turn yellow, throngs flock onto the grounds of Exhibition Place to mark the occasion.
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Sang Kancil
March 17, 2018
Kancil (an adorable mouse-deer) is a prominent character in Malaysian folklore. The animal is imagined as a tiny, clever creature capable of finding its way in the vast jungles of Southeast Asia. An inspiration to those who may feel small the name has also been adopted by a local manufacturer for a small city car which, undoubtedly, faced competition from larger international brands.
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Open Your Eyes
February 27, 2018
A project aimed at interacting with people and their dreams. A portraiture of calm, peace, and vulnerability. “Open Your Eyes” is a series of photographs with the subjects’ eyes closed, thinking of their dreams. The series got initiated back in 2009 on the streets of Shenzhen, China.
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From Church, Charity Shop to a Coastal City in China
February 20, 2018
If you’re reading this, you probably have some interest in film photography. You may shoot film yourself. If you do, you’ve probably been doing so for longer than me. I started less than a year ago, which makes me evidence that there’s always someone thinking about picking up a film camera for the first time.
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