L' oeil ailleurs

INTRODUCING TOM CRAMOND
I was born and still live in Perth, Western Australia which has the strange honour of being the most isolated city in the world. I am 21. It would be about two years since I started taking photographs. I wish I had some kind of a romantic story about finding a dead relatives film camera or something, but the truth is whilst taking a break from studies and working full time I spent some of my extra cash on an entry level DSLR. For the first year of my photographic journey I shot exclusively on that camera, a Canon 400D - in fact it is still my only digital camera to this day. Soon after I began expierimenting with film, and now it’s pretty much the only photographic medium I use. I’ve always been obsessed with the feelings and emotions behind the experiences that shape us as individuals. I think photography for me became a way to try and record these times, to desperately cling onto these fleeting moments. At times I think perhaps I would like to work as a professional photographer for the rest of my life. But in saying that I don’t think I could ever shoot weddings or family portraits, I just find it all so depressing and completely opposite to how I feel about photography. I would love teach photography and help young photographers develop their passions, perhaps run a gallery showcasing exciting new work. I’m not in a rush… I buy cameras with an alarming frequency and shoot with a large variety of them on a daily basis. I guess if I had to pick I would say either my Pentax Espio 135m or Canon AE-1P. The Espio is a little film point and shoot camera with absolutely no manual controls to it, It does however autofocus and has an inbuilt flash. It’s small enough to carry around in my bag and the combination of flash and autofocus often makes for some striking night-time images. The Canon AE-1 P is a fantastic little SLR and because it uses the much older and outdated FD lens mount you can buy some excellent quality lenses for next to nothing on ebay. This is a photo I took at the going away party for two of my friends. I was fortunate to find some expired Kodak 100UC (ultra colour) film casually shot a roll of it as the afternoon progressed and in my slightly inebriated state mistakenly opened the back of my camera exposing the film to light. I quickly closed the back but about half the film had been exposed, I thought it was ruined and nearly didn’t send the film off to the developers but I’m rather glad that I did. The film took on a sun-drenched feeling quality that matched perfectly the beautiful afternoon Australian light. Whilst most would probably not see this as a particularly great photo, this image captures the warmth and love shared between friends and the beautiful environment we live in. Alistair Dickinson is a Perth photographer and I’ve come to know him over the past few months. His work has been amazingly influential on what I do and changed how I view the city I live in. His use of colour, shape and form in composition is astounding and he manages to bring out a sense of absorb humour in the urban landscape(s) of Perth.

I was born and still live in Perth, Western Australia which has the strange honour of being the most isolated city in the world. I am 21. It would be about two years since I started taking photographs. I wish I had some kind of a romantic story about finding a dead relatives film camera or something, but the truth is whilst taking a break from studies and working full time I spent some of my extra cash on an entry level DSLR. For the first year of my photographic journey I shot exclusively on that camera, a Canon 400D - in fact it is still my only digital camera to this day. Soon after I began expierimenting with film, and now it’s pretty much the only photographic medium I use. I’ve always been obsessed with the feelings and emotions behind the experiences that shape us as individuals. I think photography for me became a way to try and record these times, to desperately cling onto these fleeting moments. At times I think perhaps I would like to work as a professional photographer for the rest of my life. But in saying that I don’t think I could ever shoot weddings or family portraits, I just find it all so depressing and completely opposite to how I feel about photography. I would love teach photography and help young photographers develop their passions, perhaps run a gallery showcasing exciting new work. I’m not in a rush… I buy cameras with an alarming frequency and shoot with a large variety of them on a daily basis. I guess if I had to pick I would say either my Pentax Espio 135m or Canon AE-1P. The Espio is a little film point and shoot camera with absolutely no manual controls to it, It does however autofocus and has an inbuilt flash. It’s small enough to carry around in my bag and the combination of flash and autofocus often makes for some striking night-time images. The Canon AE-1 P is a fantastic little SLR and because it uses the much older and outdated FD lens mount you can buy some excellent quality lenses for next to nothing on ebay. This is a photo I took at the going away party for two of my friends. I was fortunate to find some expired Kodak 100UC (ultra colour) film casually shot a roll of it as the afternoon progressed and in my slightly inebriated state mistakenly opened the back of my camera exposing the film to light. I quickly closed the back but about half the film had been exposed, I thought it was ruined and nearly didn’t send the film off to the developers but I’m rather glad that I did. The film took on a sun-drenched feeling quality that matched perfectly the beautiful afternoon Australian light. Whilst most would probably not see this as a particularly great photo, this image captures the warmth and love shared between friends and the beautiful environment we live in. Alistair Dickinson is a Perth photographer and I’ve come to know him over the past few months. His work has been amazingly influential on what I do and changed how I view the city I live in. His use of colour, shape and form in composition is astounding and he manages to bring out a sense of absorb humour in the urban landscape(s) of Perth.

4:08 am • 24 June 2010 • 6 notes