Photo Dump - Portraits

I have been carving out the time to develop films and print photos in the past month. I also need to catch up with posting..! The relation to time in the analog photography process is magical. We are used to live in a fast-paced, digital society where we need to grasp everything immediately and smash it in people eyes. I am loving all the steps that analog photography requires. During the time between taking a picture and developing, it's as if that memory stays marinating, both in the film roll and in me. Then, you rediscover your own memories under a new form, and it's like taking the pictures all over again. New questions and stories arise. I forgot I took some of these pictures, I clearly remembered others, and yet they came out differently than I expected. What is it that intrigued me in this moment, this image, this person? After developing the film, it is time for contact sheets. And other discoveries await. Adjusting the settings of the enlarger, finding the right balance of light and shadows. I love contrast. I need to get some additional filters to push it beyond the in built magenta filter. Finally, the printing step. I find myself split between wanting to perfect a single image, and the excitement of printing more and more pictures, transforming light, shadow and memory into objects. I also scanned the film rolls for archive. It is also useful to digitally manipulate the photos to test out settings and manipulations I want to apply in the printing. Here is a gallery of portraits I recently took while travelling, and while at home. Making this selection was a good training for series creation!