There’s nothing that I love more than a grainy black and white photo. Now we can have an app do it for us, but if you’re willing to have some patience with a digital camera, or your phone, you can get a vintage look pretty easily.

“We cannot live in a world interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not a hope. Part of the terror is to take back our listening, to use our own voice, to see our own light.”
― Hildegard of Bingen

Now you might be thinking, hey…Kimbo…are you gonna tell us how to do this – and that’s fair. However, I will not be doing a photography tutorial today, nor any of the days. It’s not for reasons that you think, so lemme break it down a little for you.

Cameras terrified me until I took a college journalism class. I was given this old school (for real) film camera and told to “Go find news.” No one taught me anything about apertures, speeds, lighting, perspectives, or anything that is important to any creative endeavor with a camera. I got my camera, my film, and a manual with missing pages. While there are a lot of helpful photographers in the world, I’m pretty sure they aren’t in a group of college freshman trying hard not to be the head obit writer for the paper of their choice. We wanted gritty, raw, and unhinged truth. (side note, I went on to start my own zine, which will be discussed soonish)

As you might imagine, what we got was a lot of blurry shots that were often overexposed. Like, rolls and rolls of film that featured our finger as the focal point, or a possible speed rail image of the country side. But eventually, after wasting bags of film and getting yelled out by our professors, we all decided it was time to learn about a camera. Some of those folks went on to work for fairly decent newspapers (this was the late 80s and early 90s), but I was on a different track in life – which is a fun little story y’all will hear one day.

Anyhootie, with the technology of today’s cameras we can all get as many shots as we like to learn about the ins and outs of a camera. Also, just to let y’all know – you can have the best and most expensive camera, but take really bad photos. Something I share with folks when teaching creative classes, is to create with your heart – the same is true with photography. Take pictures that delight you, or that help you remember a great day.

The other part about not sharing a tutorial is that there are at least eleventy billion creators on YouTube that have great information. Take a look around and find the creator you like. I don’t have any recommendations as there are about 20 different folks I watch.

I will share this – as I get a little older, it is helpful to keep a little notebook of the settings and shots I’ve tried. Also, if I’m out and about in nature, or someplace I would like to visit again, I’ll make a note on paper (yes, I am a human dinosaur, and my kids all want me to use my phone).

These days my phone has become my primary camera of choice, and I’ve passed some of my others on to my older kiddos. However…I’ve been eyeing my old Minolta DiMAGE with a whopping 3.2 MP, as well as an old Sony Cyber-shot. There’s just something about the early digital cameras that brings delight to my creative soul.

With that, I’m off to mow, do some chores, write some letters, and hopefully get some reading done.

Until next time,
~ Kimbo