Chris D'Amore Photography [001]
Why?
Welcome to my final attempt at definitely not overthinking my first photography newsletter! I’m Chris, and I’m a film photographer living in New Hampshire. I take photographs of lots of different things, and they all end up in an ever growing archive of 35mm and medium format negatives. As I keep adding to that archive, it lends itself to new collections for publication and exhibition. That’s the simplified version.
Now that the basics are out of the way, I thought a good way to kick this off would be to answer a few ‘why’s.
Why start a newsletter?
Somebody told me to, but I promise, it was a very experienced person in my field (the kind you take advice from.) I scrutinized the idea for a healthy amount of time before realizing it made a lot of sense. Photography has played a deeply important role in my life for nearly 15 years. As the body of work continues to grow, I find it important to write intently about it. Plus, it’s a more satisfying and intentional way of sharing things as opposed to pandering to the whims and machinations of social media’s finger treadmills. In these newsletters, I’ll be highlighting current projects and photographs and sharing thoughts on the creative process. There will probably be some nerdy technical musings thrown in too.
Why film cameras?
[Cue nerdy technical musings] It started with a fascination of the intricate engineering behind antique cameras. These tools allowed me to understand how the basic components of any camera create an image. Learning how to use (and manipulate) those components to change the resulting image got me hooked. They’re also tools that exist outside of a world dependent on electronics, much of which becomes obsolete or is prone to irreparable failure. Through using film cameras and learning to make the most of a limited amount of shots per roll, I found I was really able to focus (heh) on connecting with the subject and discovering a level of creativity I couldn’t find with digital cameras. There are other reasons for film too, like the fact that physical media is really, really important. More on that later…
Why? (The bigger life question)
This is a question that has certainly come up for many artists and creators in the face of the pandemic: Why do we do what we do? What purpose does our craft have in the grand scheme of things?
As a photographer, the answer to that Why? changes constantly. Here’s a non-exhaustive list:
It’s one of the best ways to document lives of the people you love
It’s an effective coping mechanism
It can be a useful way of poking fun at things or holding a mirror up to society
It provides an nostalgic way of “connecting the dots” in life
Photographs are an invaluable historical document
Cameras make for a great travel companion and explorational tool
Cameras can be good conversation starters
Cameras can be good conversation enders (I really would like to hear more about ______, but I just have to go take a picture of that strange tree.)
It’s fun creating two-dimensional geometries and textures from a three-dimensional world
Sometimes a scene simply evokes a sense of “Well, isn’t that nice?” and you might as well take a picture of it.
Winter 2020: The first snowfall at Stonehouse Pond Camera: Fuji G617
As for what I’ve been working on lately, I just released a book (magazine style) of photographs made in 2020. You can order one or five here:
Thanks for taking the time to read, and if you know someone that would be interested in this newsletter, please pass it along via the share link below!
-Chris
Sounds From the Studio (what I’ve been listening to while editing/doing layout/etc.):
Archive Dive (a random photograph picked via number generator):
