The word “photography” was created from the Greek roots φωτός (phōtos), genitive of φῶς (phōs), “light” and γραφή (graphé) “representation by means of lines” or “drawing”, together meaning “drawing with light”. ( — Wikipedia)
That quote from the wikipedia quite completely describes me as a photographer…
The most interesting aspect of photography – for me, that is – can be defined as “a fight between light and shadow”. Most of the works I do are in monochrome; although human eye can distinguish millions of different wavelenghts within the light, i.e. colors, I’m not really interested in capturing them, just the light itself. When you shoot monochrome long enough, your eyes start to learn to differentiate between color and light… That in part explains the name of this site: “Lux Argentea”, which is latin and means “Silvery Light”. Well, that’s for the philosophical part…
My name Is Jouni Rinne, and I currently live in Pirkkala, Finland. The interest in photography seems to run in my blood; my father was an enthusiastic hobby photographer from an early age, as was his sister, who once was even married to a professional photographer. I also started photography as a young boy, although the REAL interest in photography as an art form started only a few years ago, when my father donated me his old film cameras.
Why to bother with film photography at this time and age, when digital cameras have almost completely replaced the old film cameras, and every smartphone has an excellent camera built-in? There are several reasons for that:
- I love the look of old cameras; a perfect balance between chrome and black (in most cases). Well, I tend to like everything made between the start of the 20th century and late ’60s, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Dieselpunk… you name it.
- I love the weight of old cameras, and the feel of cold, chromed brass, anodised aluminium, and real leather in my hands; the smell of old lubricant is also nice. No plastics in my cameras, please.
- I went digital like everyone else in the mid-2000s, and found digital photography to be totally dull, so dull that I considered quitting photography completely… Fortunately I discovered film photography then…
- Usability issues: I like mechanical knobs & switches. Most digital cameras have glossy LCD’s, which makes them useless in bright sunshine. Most non-Pro cameras have their adjustments buried within the menus. which makes their usage a nightmare. Smartphone cameras and other touchscreen devices are an ergonomic disaster… Do I need to continue? I want my aperture control ring on the lens barrel!!!
- Analog film is a real, tangible thing, not just 0’s and 1’s within a computer. A film is a frozen moment of reality, on which real photons have caused real chemical changes to create a picture, while a digital photography creates a computer simulation of reality; I’m quite unable to think a digital photo as “real”, it is always only a simulation of “real”. It’s not that I have anything against computers as such; after all I’ve been using them since 1982 (Anyone remembers Sinclair ZX81?). Its just… digital photos feels wrong.
- Developing your own films and printing your own photos is incredibly fun!!!