Category Archives: Uncategorized

Well, I’ve embarked on my first-ever photo project – A mix of old-school film shooting, street photography, and some strangers.

The project, entitled “15-35-58,” is a collaboration of portraits taken of complete strangers in the downtown area of Spokane, WA. The 15 stands for 15 portraits, the 35 for the 35mm film and the 58 refers to the 58mm lens they were all shot with.

The camera used was a Pentax K1000 – my favorite 35mm film camera I’ve ever laid my hands on. The film was Kodak Ektar 100 – my favorite film.

And the lens was something special.

I used a Meyer-Optik 58mm f/1.9 screw-mount lens that was made in Germany in the 1950’s. It produces very unique bokeh (the out of focus areas) when shot wide open (which is how I took all the portraits).

The setup (clockwise from top): Pentax K1000, Meyer-Optik Görlitz Primoplan V 58mm f/1.9, Kodak Ektar 100

The idea of approaching people at random to ask if you can take their picture is something that will never cross most people’s minds – even most photographer’s minds. But I wanted to push myself. I wanted to break outside of my constantly-expanding comfort zone and try something most wouldn’t consider. Plus, I find people to be the most interesting subjects to photograph, by far.

The approach is simple — a quick introduction, followed by the purpose of taking the photo, concluded with the all-important question – “So, can I take your photo?”

Contrary to what you might think, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Not only did all but a couple people (who were in a hurry) comply, but most also showed a genuine interest in the project and in photography in general.

Quick conversations were sparked and a mutual respect for the project was felt and (hopefully) conveyed in the final images.

I learned several things too.

I learned just how easy we have it today compared to shooters of the past. Manually focusing, manually advancing film and manually turning knobs and rings to adjust your exposure puts a whole new set of challenges on shooting photos.  Not to mention never seeing the photos until they’re developed.

But it also gets you in the mindset of making each shutter click count.

Still, doing everything manually — particularly focusing — leaves more room for operator error, which I saw my fair share of. If you notice, there are 15 final portraits. I shot a roll of film with 36 exposures – you can do the math; there were some mistakes.

Simply focusing a few inches off from the subject’s face results in much reduced sharpness. All of these shots were taken in a timely manner – sometimes in a matter of a few seconds before the traffic light turned green or the subject’s bus arrived. I chose to shoot film because the more compact camera size is much less intimidating than my larger DSLRs.

Self-portrait in a window reflection.

The project validated the idea of everyone being a different, unique person, with different looks and personalities.

But there’s one thing that really stuck with me.

So often we look at people and judge them by the way they look, sometimes thinking less of them due to their appearance. But the reality is, no matter their looks, they’re still people. I approached all sorts of individuals from all sorts of backgrounds with all sorts of personalities. Not once did I feel any negativity towards the project or myself. Nobody acted bothered by me (The guy flipping the bird wasn’t directed at me, just a pose).

Despite what someone looks like on the surface, under their shell there’s likely a decent person, and that’s what I enjoyed most about this project — getting to know the people, even if only for a few seconds.

And now that I look back at the pictures, I can make a link between the photo and the person I made a quick connection with. And that’s what I enjoy most about this job.

P.S. If you were one of the subjects and would like a copy of your photo, email me at mike@mccallmedia1.com and I’ll shoot you over a copy.

My next project I’m planning is inspired by Dennis Darzacq. Look out.