A brief history of my photography
plus, a sneak peek at my new camera and why I stopped shooting on film
Today, I got my new camera, which I have been waiting for since July.
Before I tell you all about it, I'd like to quickly tell you a brief history of my relationship with cameras, if you don't mind. It all started a decade ago when Xiaomi launched the Redmi 1s in India for 5999/-. This was my proper entry into the world of phone photography. I was taking photos before from my Samsung Guru phone that I forced my father to buy me in 2010 or 2011, but this Redmi phone and my arrival in Delhi the very next year got me into photography.
Like any college-going kid in Delhi, Metro was my haven. I did not mind the long route from AIIMS to Vishwavidyalaya every day for my theatre practice and then back to New Delhi station, where my college was. I took the local bus to the metro station and then paid 17 rupees from AIIMS to VV.
Instagram photo walks were the thing at this point, and I did not have a DSLR camera to show off at these photo walks, so I picked the next best thing: my Xiaomi phone. At that time, my choice of subject was the Delhi Metro and like a true Instagrammer of that time, I used to post black and white pictures on my feed with the hashtag #DelhiMetroSafar.
In December 2016, my dearest cousin, who is also an incredible photographer, asked me to second for her at a wedding that she was shooting. Up until this point, I had only seen a DSLR, but for some reason that she only knows probably, she decided to give me her old Nikon D3100 entry-level camera and asked me to shoot whatever I felt like. Looking back, this sounds a bit crazy to me as I had no idea how to operate the camera but I did the best I could.
By the way, notice the heavy reliance on Black and White editing? This was because my laptop could not handle any of these RAW files that this entry-level camera was producing, so I used to compress them and edit them on the VSCO app, which used to have great filters those days.
Soon after, I got a job as a photo assistant and worked in the fashion industry for the next five years, where I learnt how to properly hold a camera, how to light a subject, how to shoot lookbooks, what makeup to suggest to makeup artists to get better highlights. This is a story for some other time.
Around this time, when I was professionally photographing, I started to shoot on film. Yes, before it was as popular as it is now. Film was cheap in 2017, and not a lot of people were shooting it. My objective to shoot on film was that it made me appear cool in front of my friends, and I hated using the heavy DSLR camera for day-to-day shooting shenanigans.
Shooting on film was great as long as a roll of expired Kodak Colorplus was costing me rupees 160 in Chandni Chowk. The price started to skyrocket very quickly, and soon, I could not justify shooting on this medium. My last adventure on film was somewhere in 2022 when my friend gave me a roll of Kodak Gold 200 in medium format, and I got to shoot my first roll of 120mm film around Bir. My dear friend Satya made a small reel about it.
The feeling of shooting on film is such a difficult thing to explain. So many factors come into play here: the loading of the roll, the careful shooting, the anticipation of the photos coming back from the lab, the realisation that you may have metered things throughout the roll or the worst - the entire roll coming blank (I hate you, Kentemere 400).
Getting myself a Fujifilm camera in 2019 made me fall in love with taking photos for myself. This was also when I retired my trusty Nikon D3100. Something shifted with the Fujifilm for me; I wanted to take a similar approach as a point-and-shoot film camera, so I never chased the new lens or a new body. Every digital photograph that you see on my Instagram or my website is all shot on one lens. I never changed it since the day I got it. This was the code I followed. Constraints helped me become the photographer I am. This is also the reason almost all of my photos over the last 4 years are in square format.
So the new camera, let me tell you about it very quickly. What I wanted was a hybrid camera where I could feel like I was shooting on film without spending the money it costs to develop it. Upon researching A LOT this year, I found a company based in Arizona called Camp Snap. They were looking for a camera to give to their kids for summer camp, which did not have any screens or required expensive film loading and reloading mechanisms to work. They did not find anything like that in the market, so they decided to make one.
This camera has no screen at the back. Just a counter to see how many photos I have taken. The resolution is of a potato camera, and it does not have any dials for me to tinker around with. Just point to your subject and shoot. You do not need to be a professional to shoot this, as this was meant for kids.
Best part? it only costs $65.
Here are some photos I have taken with it since it arrived today. I plan to keep this in my pocket at all times and mostly take photos of my friends with it. This is the non-serious social camera that I want to use extensively to document my friends and the things I experience. I’m quite excited about it!
love,
tijbed.
You’ve been such a inspiration sirji, keeping making beautiful photpgraphs❤️
Such a cool camera.
I loved the metro photos especially!