The things i saw (South Africa) #3

April 5, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

More visual meanderings from my analogue notebook and a passage from my journal. All images here were made using an Olympus MjuII compact loaded with Kodak Ektar 100 film. ‘Sunday 18th March – I’ve spent the last four days photographing people, old people, children. Families of five and six, living in sheds, surrounded by poverty and filth. I can’t give them anything, except a few packets of cookies and the odd cigarette to anyone who smokes. Every day I come […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: analogue, Johannesburg, pretoria, south africa, white squatter camps

The things I saw (South Africa) #1

April 2, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

‘The things I saw’ – my visual notetaking and mental meanderings with a 35mm compact camera – I’d like to say it’s a regular thing. However, I just checked, and the last one I did was nearly 18 months ago, documenting a weekend drinking session in Liverpool with a good friend. Before I departed for a weeks work in South Africa, to document white squatter camps, I was reunited with my favourite 35mm compact – the Olympus MjuII, which had […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: analogue, I shoot film, Johannesburg, kodak ektar 100, Olympus mju II, pretoria, south africa, white squatter camps

Mae Challis

February 20, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I had a bit of a change last week, photography wise. Well, a total change, to be honest; photographing Singer Songwriter, Mae Challis, is probably the opposite end of the spectrum to gnarly scallop fishermen. I photographed Mae in what turned out to be, thanks to its full-length, south-facing windows, an excellent natural daylight studio – Noa Bake House cafe. At the time of writing this, I’m waiting for the medium format, 6x7cm scans to land in my inbox. The […]

Categories: film photography, Music, Photography • Tags: analogue, film photography, fuji superia 400, Mae Challis, portrait

Holmtown

February 1, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

A few people have asked why I’ve titled my latest project, ‘Holmtown’? Well, for this longterm photo-essay, I’m documenting the lives of fishermen from my hometown of Peel, on the Isle of Man – Peel, which until the 17th century was called Holmtown. I was going to call it ‘Holmtown Boys’, however, a very good friend of mine pointed out that it sounds like a 90’s boy band – and it does. This leads me to another common question regarding […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, analogue, fishermen, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak ektar 100, peel, trawlermen

Coffee, Cigarette, Repeat…

January 11, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

I was talking to a good friend last week, over a few beers we got onto the subject of my fishing boat project. He told me that only two types of fishermen exist – some men are born to it and have never done anything differently, and there are men that do it because they can’t do anything else. I had to disagree. There’s a working rhythm on a scallop dredger that appeals to my sense of order; it’s an […]

Categories: photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, analogue, isle of man, scallops, trawlermen

Embrace the Shadows

October 14, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

They’re everywhere – peachy coloured, backlit portraits of redheads and brides, shot on Kodak Portra 400, over-exposed by 5 stops and metered for the shadows. These images have become, in analogue photography, what HDR is to digital… I don’t even know the word? What’s so hackneyed and worn-out that it goes beyond cliché? This method of shooting colour negative film has become so prevalent that it now seems to be the default, photographers ‘shooting at box speed’ has become the minority. […]

Categories: film photography • Tags: 6x7, analogue, colour, film, film camera, film photography, fuji pro 400H, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak portra 400, negative, pentax 67, personal project, portrait

Flat White

October 8, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

This is my good friend, Allan Fair; Allan is the resident coffee aficionado at Noa Bake House. Noa Bake House has, over the years, become the unofficial creative hub of the Isle of Man, it started off as a bakery but has since expanded into a cafe/eatery/bar/gig venue/art gallery and general meeting place. I sometimes get in there early, bag one of the comfy leather sofas and turn the corner into a temporary office. A cup of coffee is a […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: analogue, fuji 400H, Fuji GA645, kodak ektar 100, noa bake house, pentax 67

The Circle

March 20, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

  Last month, I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Stephen Macartney, Peter McVeigh, Katie Richardson and Warren Attwell, four Irish musicians who form part of the Northern Irish Singer-Songwriters Circle. My good friend and music promoter, Jonno Gollow, brought the four over to my hometown of Peel, on the Isle of Man, to hold a songwriters workshop during the day and to a very well attended gig at the Peel Centenary Centre in the evening. Jonno is singlehandedly […]

Categories: Music, photojournalism • Tags: analogue, film, I shoot film, jonno gollow, jonno promotions, kodak ultramax, musicians, nikon f4

Early finish

March 16, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

When it comes to spending twelve hours a day on a scallop dredger, I have two choices – either medicate myself with anti-nausea pills, which cause drowsiness, and spend half the day asleep in a bunk below deck. Or, don’t take the pills and spend most of the day, below deck, in a bunk trying not to vomit. For this, my third trip out on the Sarah Lena, I chose the former; at least that way I can still function […]

Categories: photojournalism • Tags: analogue, fishing boat, isle of man, kodak, nikon f4, scallops, sea

While you were sleeping…

January 28, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

At the end of last year, I began shooting a photo-essay based around the fishing industry on the Isle of Man. The project so far has concentrated on the crew members of the Port St Mary based scallop dredger, Sara Lena – skipper, Tony ‘Toad’ Watterson, his brother Juan, and Chris Overs – three of the kindest, most genuine and helpful men I’ve ever met. There’s been quite a bit of controversy surrounding the Isle of Man scallop industry of […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: analogue, film, fishing, hasselblad, isle of man, nikon, Olympus mju II, scallops