September 5, 2012

I occasionally wander over to Brian Ferry's photography blog and wonder what he's doing with his photographs. He shoots a lot, and his output often seems more like a study of the world around him, like he is cataloguing his daily perspectives, than a careful selection of photographs that are worthy of publication. I like to question the value of his choices (I am often in disagreement), and this brought me to think of how I interact with similar values in my photography. I decided to start hauling my camera with me on my walk to work in the morning. I always want to make the experience of shooting more natural, more a part of my daily activities, like how breathing can be both intentional and habitual, so this seemed like a good project on which to embark. Brian also swears by the majesty of film (over digital), but I have mixed feelings about this. I want to agree with the artistic side of it but I have come to see how difficult it can be to continue to use film in a practical sense; the cost, the environmental impact, and the extended post-production process can negatively impact the versatility of using film over digital. My internal jury is still out on this one, but for the meantime I have tried to use my digital camera to approximate a film look. I want Brian to be wrong about film, but I am really just trying to make an excuse for continuing to shoot digitally.

These are the shots from my trip to work on September 5, 2012. I have decided that showing them in chronological order best approximates how Brian presents his work.