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A family of photographers
It’s difficult for me to imagine my family members without their cameras. I grew up in a family of photographers. This seemed so natural to me, that, as a child, I thought all my friends at school had photo labs at their grandparents’ house. For years, underneath my bed, sat my great grandfather’s wooden photographic chamber, along with its imposing tripod.
Ilford FP4 Plus / Hasselblad 500CM / Sonnar 150mm
Fujifilm Acros 100 / Hasselblad 500CM / Distagon 50mm
&nbs...
I’m Anil Mistry and I’m a photographer. I shoot a whole variety of work, including headshots, documentary, portraits and personally initiated projects. Whatever interests me and helps me to improve my body of work.
I’ve been asked to talk about an area of my photographic work that I have a real passion for. In my case, that's the capturing of street portraits.
Why do I take street portraits?
There’s two main reasons I do it, and I’ll try to go through them succinctly:
It’s not easy
...
An appreciation of Ilford FP4
The greatest pleasures can be taken from the simplest of things. An appreciation of something old that gets passed by while everyone tries to keep up with the crowd or the relentless progression of technology. For me Ilford’s FP4 is one of those little pleasures.
The RAF
I was a photographer in the Royal Air Force from 1986 -1995. At my RAF unit we had little choice of film stock. It was FP4 and HP5 for black and white. Being stationed at a headquarters unit mean...
A medium for the moment
I always travel with my 35mm SLR and a stack of Ilford HP5 and Ilford FP4 film. I definitely prefer the look and process of shooting film when traveling and photographing on the street and I find my small SLR with it’s 50mm lens is small and inconspicuous enough to capture intimate street portraits. Shooting everything on the same 50mm lens and film medium gives my work a consistent look and feel. I have always found shooting film slows down my process, it forces me to think mor...
Window Cleaners shot on ILFORD XP2S
An unknown language
When I started in photography I was always put off from film, by the balance (in my mind anyway), between the effort and time taken out of my workflow in developing, and the rolling cost. As well as my dependence and already intimate comprehension of digital systems. Film was an unknown language, and not one I was prepared to learn at the time.
Expanding my understanding
Recently however I have been looking for different ways to expand my und...
An experiment in chemical possibilities
When I took up a camera after a few years’ hiatus in 1990, I was surprised to discover that I could no longer get a black & white film developed through the nearest camera shop, never mind through the local pharmacy. If memory serves, I was told it would cost $40 for a single film. Naturally, I returned to processing my own film just I had done when I first took up a camera in the early 1970s. The world had moved on, and colour film was the default medium f...
An Interest in Large Format
Large format is an immensely rewarding and enjoyable way to make a photograph. It can also feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. This article is for anyone with an interest in large format.
I got into 4x5 because I wanted to challenge myself, and to try something new. Over the last two years it has become my favourite way to take a photograph. There’s something special about slowing down and being so deliberate with each...
Underbank Old Road
Technical info
Film Used Ilford HP5
Format 35mm
Camera Rollei B35
Lens 40mm Triotar
Exposure time 1 minute 30 sec at f11
Other equipment Manfrotto Art 055 tripod, Gossan Lunasix F light meter.
Location.
Underbank Old Road, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire.
Firstly, tell us the story behind this image. What inspired you to shoot it?
I used to shoot a lot of Night photographs, in fact I wrote a book about it in 2001 (Nigh...