Big City, Bright LightsDEDICATED FOLLOWERS OF FILM
to though. I don’t think I’d ever
print in colour, but I’d love to
print my black & white negatives in
a darkroom.’
Ian uses the local Brighton Film
Lab for his film processing, and gets
the negatives back without prints or
a contact sheet. He uses a lightbox
and a loupe to inspect the results
and uses an app on his phone to
view negatives as positives. He then
uses a scanner to digitise his
photographs so he can post on social
media and create prints and books.
As he shoots both 35mm and 120
roll film he chose a Nikon Coolscan
- ‘This gives me 4000dpi,’ he
says ‘so I very rarely need to do a
drum scan. The quality of your
scanner is really important – sell a
camera if you need to so you can get
a good one, especially for medium
format. There are lots of good
scanners for 35mm, but not for
medium format.
‘I don’t do much editing with my
scanned images. With digital I have
to do a lot of editing, but digital is
meant to be a blank canvas and is
made not to have a vibe in the way
that film is and does.
‘Shooting film is very expensive,
but I have a simple life and I don’t
spend money on a lot of other
things and fortunately my girlfriend
likes the things and places that I do,
and she doesn’t need fancy holidays.
Other people spend loads of money
on clothes and booze, but I spend
that money on film. I do get a return
though, as print sales and books
make about 25% of my income.
Shooting digitally would be a lot
cheaper, but I don’t shoot excessively.
I might shoot ten rolls over a long
weekend trip and 20-30 over a week
away abroad. So I’m quite moderate.
I know what I’m looking for and
don’t just shoot anything.’
Locations, themes
and atmosphere
‘Photography for me has become
very simple, I know what I like – it’s
all about colour and emotion. I don’t
like going where everyone else is
going, I want to find special things
and places. The places that attract
me, that have atmosphere and that
1970s vibe tend to be a bit more
downtrodden. When you see
something old in Brighton where
I live it’s usually a reproduction,
so I like to find places that haven’t
modernised. Things were better
made in the ’70s and built to last.
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