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

Maximum Exposure

March 18, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

A friend of mine bought a new sofa – it looks like leather, it feels like leather, and it even smells like leather – but it’s not. It’s plastic. Internationally-renowned photojournalist, Sebastião Salgado, up until a few years ago, shot all of his work on film; he’d carry two all manual Leica cameras, a couple of lenses and bag full of Kodak black and white film. Whenever he got the chance, the Brazilian would have his film developed and printed. […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, woman • Tags: film camera, film photography, I shoot film, kodak, kodak ultramax, negative, nikon, nikon f100, nikon f4, portrait, VSCO, VSCO FILM

Two and a quarter square.

February 13, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

I have to confess; I came close to selling my Hasselblad last week. I got another batch of films back, and there were a lot of disappointingly mediocre shots, in my opinion. But then I looked again – I think to go from years of shooting in the rectangular ratio back to square has confused my compositional mind, and I’m just not used to seeing my images that way. So I’m going to persevere – I’ve set myself a challenge; […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: 501cm, film camera, hasselblad, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, negative, personal project, portrait, square

Just make it up.

January 25, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

My two primary fields as a photographer are portraiture and photojournalism; a lot of my images are straight, natural, environmental portraits, such as those I shot in the migrant camps of northern France and for my project last year in Spain. Other times I get an idea into my head as to how I’d like someone to look or a situation I’d like a person to inhabit. However, that person or place may not be available, or even exist. For […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji superia 400, makeup, negative, nikkor 35mm 1.4, Olympus mju II, personal project, portrait

The things I saw #6

October 28, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

More random visual meanderings and scribbles with the pen and the camera. All images made using an Olympus MjuII 35mm compact and Kodak Portra 160 film. Today I’ve realised that I get as anxious about my equipment as I do every other aspect of my life… I love the Olympus MjuII… I’m actually starting to wonder if I should just shoot everything, all my projects, using this one camera? I have two of these little compacts now – one I […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism, travel • Tags: 35mm, 35mm film, compact, film, film camera, film photography, france, I shoot film, kodak portra 160, negative, Olympus mju II, passport, pentax 67, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, spain, tree

The things I saw #3

October 26, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

More random visual meanderings and scribbles with the pen and the camera. All images made using an Olympus MjuII 35mm compact and Kodak Portra 160 film. Film was developed and scanned at UK Film Lab. Oh, a tip for anyone driving and using the French toll roads – they don’t accept MasterCard Prepaid… ‘Saturday 17th October, somewhere between Andorra and Chamonix – I’m covered in bites – all over my legs, arms and back. I’d assumed they were mosquito bites from […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism, travel • Tags: 35mm, camper van, film, film camera, film is not dead, film photography, fine art, fleas, I shoot film, kodak portra 160, kodak portra 400, motor home, negative, olympus mju2, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, road trip, UK Film Lab, ukfl, vitamin c

The things I saw #1

October 24, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

Today is the last day of British summertime, tomorrow morning the clocks will be set an hour backward and the Isle of Man will be plunged in to six months of perpetual darkness, cold and damp… okay, it’s not quite that bad, but that’s how it always feels – goodbye, greens and blues. Hello, grey. As my good friend pointed-out a couple of days ago – “This is never a good time of year for you…”. She’s right, as usual. […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism, travel, woman • Tags: colour, film, film photography, france, I shoot film, kodak portra 160, kodak portra 400, negative, nude, Olympus mju II, personal project, phil kneen, portrait, road, spain, UK Film Lab, ukfl

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

Oh… Canada

August 3, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

As is fairly normal in my life, plans have changed – this September I was supposed to be going to France to shoot a project on the Atlantic coast, documenting migrant surfers for three months… however, I’ve changed my mind, I’m now going to Canada to finish a long-term project I’ve been working on for about four years now. This decision mainly comes down to money – last time I was in Canada I got $1.2 for my £1 Sterling, […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 6x4.5cm, black and white, camera, canada, colour, Epson v700, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji film, fuji GW690III, fuji instax 200, fuji pro 400H, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak, kodak portra 400, negative, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, road trip, yellowknife

Spanish Retro

July 16, 2015 by Phil Kneen Photography

These images are an homage to my love of family run, independent, budget hotels, B&Bs, motels and guest houses. I’ve been staying in such establishments for years, for both business and pleasure. Years ago, I had a few commissions with The Times Newspaper – they’d give me £100 a day (which was a lot for a daily hotel allowance – even 15 years ago), I’d always find somewhere really cheap, never more than £30 a night, and spend the rest […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, 6x9cm, Ainsa, camera, colour, film, film camera, film photography, fine art, fuji, fuji film, fuji GW690III, I shoot film, inventive, kodak, kodak portra 400, negative, Olympus mju II, personal project, phil kneen, portra 160, portrait, Pyrenees, spain, superia 400