Taking you back...

Seeing I've been taking pictures for some time now, it was not easy selecting the first picture.

As this is my version of dedicating my creative efforts to photography, I've decided upon a photograph - albeit not being my favourite, or best photo - that represents a photo that makes me feel.

This picture was taken in Cairo, with a very old camera. I took this with my Lomo Lubitel medium format camera. It is not what can be described as "tack sharp", however it does have strong connection to what taking pictures is about.

It represents a bus stop, where someone is waiting for transportation (or maybe just resting). In the back you see some arabic writing (no idea what it says). I like the silhuette, perfectly still, against the bustling traffic of Cairo.

I have five or six cameras, of various formats (35mm, medium 120, digital) and I love the immediacy and quality of digital, don't get me wrong. But film... film takes me back to a place where developing the pictures and seeing them for the first time in your hand (maybe weeks of months after they were taken), was remembering what you were doing, where you were.

That piece of paper in your hand, it takes you back.

I also like the analog feel of film. You never really know what you're going to get. Not exactly, at least. And you gotta love that!

I feel that digital makes you feel impatient. The immediate feedback is something that puts you in a place where you want to take perfect pictures, releganting to the second place the picture you saw in your mind and making you focus completely on whether it's perfect.

Forget perfect, forget technique, put the picture first.

Enjoy, comment, whatever...