Tales of the unexpected

October 6, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I viewed the collapsible lens on the Leica with suspicion; how could something that you just pull out like that, with no positive ‘click stop’, be in any way accurate? So I just put my faith in one-hundred-odd years of precision German engineering and fired two rolls of film through the vintage rangefinder without so much as a glance at a YouTube tutorial. A week later, I got the scans back – pretty much all the images were out of […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: analog, analogue, leica

Navy Leather, Eng size 3C

September 20, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

A few weeks ago, my friend Ed Oldham contacted me; his dad, John Oldham, had sadly died, Ed was going through his things and asked if I’d be interested in some camera equipment… Sometime in October 1942, Tom Oldham went into J.J. Rothwell Photographic Dealers in Stockport, England and purchased a Leica model II with a 5cm Elmar 3.5 lens. I like to think that Tom had a specific reason for his purchase, because only a few months later, in […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: 35mm, analog, analogue, leica

SX-70

September 19, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I can remember the first time I used a Polaroid camera – it was way back in the late 1970’s, I was about seven or eight. We were at my uncle Mike’s house for some variety of family gathering, I’d like to say it was the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, but I don’t think it was? Anyway, I found my uncles freshly loaded instant camera and decided to channel what I now realise was my inner William Eggleston…ten shots of […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: instant film, polaroid, sx-70

Abigail

September 10, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Models – Abigail Horne and Matt Corcoran Makeup – Kimberley Berridge Assistant – Hannah Yeowell Thanks to Christy Whitton and Max Grelewicz for the loan of the camper van The bottom 5 images were made using Pentax 67 / 105mm with Fuji Pro 400H and Kodak Ektar 100. The rest are 35mm, using an Olympus OM2 / 50mm 1.4 Zuiko with Kodak Ultramax film.

Categories: film photography, Photography, woman • Tags: 35mm, 6x7, colour, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji pro 400H, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak, portrait

Seal of approval

August 18, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Yep, that’s the best I could come up with, sorry. ‘Sealed with a kiss’ was an option, but that would give the impression that I actually kissed the seal pup, which I did not. I did however stroke it on the head, it came that close to me. When I posted some of these images on social media a few people commented that I shouldn’t have stroked the seal because “They aren’t pets, they’re wild animals”. No shit, David Attenborough… […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: film photography, isle of man, kodak, nikonos

On Any Sunday

July 18, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Open-water swimmers are a difficult lot to photograph, they don’t hang around; clad in anything from a pair of Speedo’s and a latex cap, right through to full neoprene wetsuits, sea swimmers are in the water and gone. I have attempted to swim alongside these athletes but swimming on my side whilst operating a camera, even wearing large fins, isn’t easy… and I’m not an athlete. I’m going to persevere though because I really like the images I’m getting. I […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: isle of man, nikonos, Nikonos III, Nikonos V, open water, sea swimming

The above. The below.

July 8, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I’d describe my current style of aqua-imagery as ‘around the surface photography. I’m not a scuba diver, I tried it once, but I don’t think it was for me; in my opinion, any activity that results in almost certain death if/when something goes wrong is best avoided…although I’m not sure how much logic there is in my own theory because I spent most of my 20’s and 30’s rock-climbing, ice-climbing and high altitude mountaineering (and a lot did go wrong, […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: 35mm, analog, isle of man, nikonos, nikons V, underwater

Positive Buoyancy

June 30, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

My recent exploration into underwater photography has rekindled a passion and interest in the medium that has been somewhat lacking over the past few months; thrown me out of the rut and into the sea. There’s a system, a ritual, almost, that goes with the process – methodically checking the cameras before entering the water, knowing that you only have 36 goes at getting it right before you need to get out, rinsing the cameras in fresh water… even the […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: 35mm, analog, analogue, isle of man, kodak, Nikonos III, nikons V, sea swimming

The Curve

June 3, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Just when I thought I’d learned all I needed to know about the technical side of photography, along comes my desire to shoot underwater. The mechanics of photography, above water, despite how complicated it may look, is actually very simple. Essentially, to get the ‘correct’ image, you have about eight aperture sizes and twelve(ish) shutter speeds – all you need to do is combine one of each to get the right amount of light onto your film, you point your […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, woman • Tags: Fuji Venus 800, nikonos, Nikonos III

“Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”

May 16, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

Shooting with the Nikonos III underwater camera has been a harsh lesson in disappointment; it’s difficult to use, considering it’s such a simple camera. There appears to be a lot of physics involved in underwater photography? Or is there? Perhaps I’m just making excuses for the high rate of unusable images I’ve ended up with since becoming obsessed with this forty-five-year-old water-tight temptress. Well exposed images, I don’t generally have an issue with – what’s giving me cause for concern […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: Nikonos III, underwater