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around 50 of them — to shoot with.
They include a lot of old Soviet
cameras, like Zenits, Zorkis, Kievs and
Feds. One of my favourites is an old
folding camera that shoots medium
format camera called the Iskra; it’s
such a beautiful camera to take
photos with.
http://tinyurl.com/perq9ct
I shoot both in colour and black and
white. I have been working on a project
for the last 10 years hooting bands as
they soundcheck a few hours before
a concert — that is done on black and
white film, because I want it to have
a common look, every band shot the
same way. But when I am shooting
for my own enjoyment I use all sorts
of film, colour print, colour slide and
black and white. I particularly love
cross-processing slide film — that is
when you put it into the chemicals
used when you develop negatives.
This makes the slide a negative and
makes the colours go crazy. Think of
the pictures that came from the Lomo
cameras when they became a craze
in the 1990s; those amazing blues and
reds and rich black shadows.
I did my first photo exhibition last
year, 10 years after I started my
Soundcheck Sessions project. I did it
in Cluj Napoca in Romania; basically,
I have a photography blog where I
write about film photography, called
Zorki Photo (partly because I like
using a lot of old Soviet cameras for
fun). There is a café/arts venue in Cluj
called the Zorki Photo Café. It was a
nice discovery, and when I was invited
to do an exhibition there I jumped at
the chance. It was just the excuse I
needed. The project includes bands
such as Franz Ferdinand, the National,
Portishead, Manic Street Preachers
and Calexico, and has been shot all
over the world, from New Zealand to
Moscow, New York to Istanbul. I am
doing another exhibition of it in March
in Paris and one in London in April.
http://tinyurl.com/nvsgj9g
www.zorkiphoto.co.uk
Inspiration comes from everywhere;
from writing and songs and, most
importantly, travel. I’ve been lucky
to travel quite a bit in the 20 years
I’ve lived in England, but it never
feels enough. Photographing while
travelling is a true joy; it feels like
an excuse to go out and explore, like
someone has given you permission. I
did a five-week journey across Russian
in 2004 which was a life-changing
trip, and two weeks in 2006 travelling
across Crimea and western Ukraine.
I’m particularly drawn to Eastern
Europe, possibly because of the rich
history here — perhaps coming from
New Zealand, where the borders have
never changed, the language has
always stayed the same since it was
colonised by England, makes this part
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