Sea state – moderate

December 5, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

For two weeks in November, I joined the fishing vessel, Ruel na Mara and her crew, working about 100km northwest off the Outer Hebrides. I don’t wish to romanticise something that these men do for work, all year round, but for me, it was an incredible experience. “A proper adventure”, as a friend dubbed it – two weeks on a 24 metre, wooden-hulled trawler, with two Scotsmen and four Filipinos somewhere in North Atlantic, wearing the same underwear for days […]

Categories: Photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, 6x7, analogue, black and white, colour, film photography, fishermen, fuji pro 400H, I shoot film, Olympus mju II, personal project, portrait, scotland, trawlermen

Nikonos III test roll

March 22, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

As far as cameras go, the Nikonos III underwater setup is pretty much as basic and elementary as it gets – five shutter speeds (1/30, 1/60, 1/125, 1/250, 1/500 and B) on the body – apart from the winding mechanism, there are no more moving parts. Depending on which of the six lenses you choose, seven apertures are available (on the 35mm l use – f2.5, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22). There’s nothing automatic on this camera, not exposure […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: film camera, film photography, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak, negative, Nikonos III, personal project, portrait, scallops, ultramax 400, underwater

54.26° N, 4.68° W

February 13, 2018 by Phil Kneen Photography

These are the last images from ‘Holmtown’ that I’ll be sharing, for now; I’ve got to the point where I need to collate everything I have and get it all into some order. Also, there are dozens of faces I want to photograph in and around the harbour and breakwater area of Peel, some of them who are involved in the fishing industry on the Isle of Man but don’t necessarily go out to sea. Since I started this project, […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: colour, film camera, film photography, isle of man, kodak, peel, personal project, trawlermen

That was 2017

December 27, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

Another year, nearly over, so while I’m sat here nursing a hangover, I’ll post my yearly review. As usual, these are a selection of my personal favourites. I’ve unquestionably shot a lot less this year, but that’s been a deliberate attempt at quality over quantity. For the first time, all the photographs in my final lineup were shot on film. I never make New Year resolutions; whenever I notice my stomach expanding, I find it easier to do do something […]

Categories: film photography, Photography • Tags: black and white, colour, film, film camera, fuji film, I shoot film, isle of man, kodak, negative, personal project, phil kneen, portrait

Dooinney-marrey

December 22, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

‘No person was allowed to whistle on board the boat, as it would attract the attention of the Dooinney-marrey (merman), who would be sure to send more wind than was required. No person was allowed to speak of dogs, cats, rabbits, horses or mice. A horse-shoe was nailed in some place in every boat, that of a stallion being considered the best’ – Manx fisherman’s superstition. Anyone unfamiliar with the Isle of Man, might look at it on a map, […]

Categories: film photography, photojournalism • Tags: 35mm, film photography, I shoot film, isle of man, personal project, phil kneen, 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

Gimli, son of Glóin

October 2, 2017 by Phil Kneen Photography

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been aware of this house; it sits alone on the north-west coast of the Isle of Man, and every year the sea gets closer. I don’t think it’s going to take more than a couple of powerful and persuasive winter storms to start the once dignified Manx farmhouse on its descent over the fifty-metre high sand cliffs and into the Irish Sea. The back porch is, literally, eight-metres away from destruction. A […]

Categories: film photography, Photography, photojournalism • Tags: dwarf, film photography, fine art, fuji instax, fuji instax mini, I shoot film, isle of man, lord of the rings, personal project

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 (Tokyo) #4

April 25, 2016 by Phil Kneen Photography

“Focus on the journey, not the destination. Joy is found not in finishing an activity but in doing it” All the images here were made using an Olympus MjuII 35mm compact and various film (Fuji Superia 400/800 and Kodak Gold 400, mainly). Processed and scanned at UK Film Lab.

Categories: film photography, photojournalism, travel • Tags: fuji film, fuji superia 400, japan, Olympus mju II, personal project, portrait, tokyo