Back to square #1

January 13, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

Hasselblad; the legendary, Swedish medium format camera – every professional or serious amateur photographer has, at some point, owned one or wanted to own one, and I’m no exception. A few years ago I managed to lay my hands on a particularly fine 503cx, however, during a moment of temporary insanity I swapped it for a Canon lens, a decision I always regretted. Ever since that rather unwise transaction, about five years ago, I’ve shot various other medium formats – […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: 6x6, 80mm, black and white, camera, film photography, hasselblad, I shoot film, isle of man

Baggage Allowance

August 10, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

When I was a kid my parents never used to tell me I was going on holiday… I’d just become over-excited and unbearable for the days or weeks before departure. I remember, on several occasions, getting home from infant school and being asked if I’d had a wee and a poo – then being bundled into the back of the family VW Beetle, falling asleep almost immediately and waking-up, hours later, in a campsite in Scotland or North Wales, or […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 160nc, 6x6, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, canada, colour, Epson v700, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji pro 400H, Holga panoramic 6x12cm, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, UK Film Lab, yellowknife

“It’s not the camera…”

June 22, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

“It’s not the camera that makes the photograph, it’s the photographer” – or is it? I recently read an article in The British Journal of Photography… it was an interview with Magnum photojournalist, Raymond Depardon. The veteran French photographer – now in his early 70s – was asked, “What are your fears now?” His answer surprised me, considering he is rated as an A-lister in the world of photography… but, at the same time, I totally related to it. “As […]

Categories: model, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 6x6, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, colour, digital, Epson v700, film camera, film photography, fuji film, fuji GW690III, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, I shoot film, instant film, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 645 pro tl, mamiya 7II, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, Olympus mju II, peel, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM

A Trip down Memory Lane

May 28, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

I began my professional photography career in 1987, the job was advertised as ‘Entertainment and Nightclub Photographer’ and it stated, quite clearly, that applicants must be over the age of 21 – I was 17 at the time, but applied anyway, lied about my age and experience and got the job. The Isle of Man was a very different place in 1987 – every other building on Douglas promenade was a hotel, guesthouse or pub, and in the summer the […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: 160nc, 6x6, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, canada, colour, digital, Epson v700, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, I shoot film, instant film, inventive, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, peel, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM

Please release me…

February 23, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

  One of the main reasons for shooting my Spain project on film was because I wanted honest, straightforward portraits of people, shots like these can often seem unflattering and harsh to the sitter. I didn’t want to shoot digital and have the constant distraction of people asking to see the shots as soon as I’d taken them, not liking them and asking me to take another…or not take another and leave as quickly as possible! But guess what I […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 6x7, 80mm, art, camera, canada, colour, film, film camera, film photography, fuji pro 400H, I shoot film, inventive, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, yellowknife

One.

January 20, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

“I do have a personal discipline of only taking one picture, of one thing…not two” – William Eggleston “I’ve never been able to take a picture with a digital camera, because I look at it on the back of the screen, then I try and do a better one, then a better one…then I don’t know what I’m doing” – Richard Billingham “The photographer has been a slave to the camera for a long time. Photography is not about the […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 160nc, 6x6, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, canada, colour, digital, Epson v700, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, holga gcfn, I shoot film, inventive, isle of man, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, personal project, portrait, spain, VSCO FILM, yellowknife

Cafe Plaza Nueva

December 24, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

The Cafeteria Restaurante Plaza Nueva, Seron, Spain – my office for most of January 2015. I’m heading down to the southern Mediterranean to shoot a project on British Expatriates who are, for one reason or another, living full-time away from their country of origin. I’m not really interested in the people who are living there for ‘one reason’, one reason being the weather. No, I want to meet the people who are possibly hiding there for ‘another’ reason. I have […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 160nc, 6x6, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, canada, colour, digital, Epson v700, expats, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, hide, I shoot film, inventive, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, project, seron, Simon Campbell, spain

That was, almost, 2014…

December 14, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

I know it’s not quite over, but I don’t think I’ll have much opportunity to post over the next few weeks, so I thought I’d do this now… Over the last year, as a rough estimate, I’ve photographed about 250 different people, some of them friends, some of them strangers who became friends. The images here are my particular favourites. I can distinctly remember the moment I pressed the shutter on every image, what we’d being talking about and even […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 160nc, 6x6, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, canada, colour, digital, Epson v700, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, holga, I shoot film, instant film, inventive, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM

Changes

September 20, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

One of the things I love about portrait photography is the way people can look completely different in every photograph I take. There are so many variables that affect the final image – the sitters mood, my mood, how well we know each other, light, temperature…the list is endless. These portraits were made days apart, weeks apart, there’s a couple with a few years gap. One thing I noticed, straight away, when selecting these images is how the look of […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: 160nc, 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, colour, digital, Epson v700, film, film camera, film photography, france, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, holga, I shoot film, instant film, inventive, irish sea, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 645 pro tl, mamiya 7II, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, nikon D800E, Olympus mju II, Peak imaging, peel, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM

Part of the process…

September 1, 2014 by Phil Kneen Photography

Contrary to fond belief, I don’t normally turn-up at photo-shoots with no idea what I’m doing, although this can sometimes appear to be the case, especially on Sunday morning shoots… Most of the images I make have been preconceived, for all projects I will sketch-out ideas, possible models, locations and props. Some of the ideas make it, some don’t. (some people don’t make it either, sorry, Porscha!) Anyone familiar with ‘The Life, Aquatic’ and an exhibition of portraits I showed […]

Categories: Photography • Tags: 6x7, 80mm, art, black and white, camera, canada, colour, Epson v700, film, film photography, fuji film, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, fuji X-pro1, holga, I shoot film, Impossible Project, instant film, inventive, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, mamiya 7II, negative, nikon D800E, personal project, phil kneen, polaroid, portrait