Andrew Gillespie: Photography, a creative outlet.
"My absolute favorite thing about shooting both film and digital is that the film makes me really take my time and think exactly what I want to achieve with this shot"
Tell us about yourself.
I've just turned 25, originally from Auckland, New Zealand and living out of Melbourne, Australia. I work for a Medical Software company, which means my photography is my main outlet for my creativity.
What first interested you in analog photography?
It was actually when I was in Europe, I had a Sony mirrorless camera that could use an adaptor on old film lenses. I found a beautiful cheap Canon 50mm 1.4 FD and had to buy it hoping I could find an adaptor while I was travelling. This actually proved to be extremely difficult and I ended up buying a canon AE1-Program just so I could use this beautiful lens. As soon as I put my eye through the bright viewfinder at a market stall at the Camden markets in London I knew I'd love film photography.
What camera makes you click?
My Canon AE1-Program is what I mainly shoot and what I learnt to shoot film on but I've got a Olympus mju ii for snapshots and a Bronica SQA which I really need to start using more.
What do you focus on when shooting film?
Slowing. Down. My absolute favorite thing about shooting both film and digital is that the film makes me really take my time and think exactly what I want to achieve with this shot, change the settings, think about DOF, compose and finally click. I love the mystery of waiting for the photos to come back to me and the surprise seeing them in your hands for the first time.
What inspires you most?
I find inspiration throughout daily life so what inspires me can change from day to day depending on how I'm feeling or what I'm working on. For example: Lately I've been working on an digital abstract architecture series so I've been looking for interesting lines, light and reflections. I sometimes even get inspired listening to music, it's such a huge part in my life I really appreciate any form of creative work and it inspires me to do my own thing and make something myself.
Do you have a favorite analog photographer or website you would like to recommend?
To be honest the one I frequent daily is: www.reddit.com/r/analog
I love seeing just people's photos. Not necessarily professional photographers but anyone, it's beautiful seeing the good, the bad and working out what could have been done better and what make the image work. It's also got a great positive community. As for film photographers, I'm really liking what Akila Berjaoui is doing.
Do your photos reveal your feelings?
Oh Definitely, especially because I work mainly in fashion and portraiture photography, you don't just see what I've created technically and compositionally there's so many more dimensions. Like, what was the model thinking when they were posing, how did the styling match/contrast against the location and how did the make up artist supplement this. It's like a big combination of everyone's thoughts, feelings and representation of an idea of how things should look, which I think is really cool.
You can find Andrew Gillespie here:
www.sullestrade.com
Instagram