That Developed Quickly
There’s an almost-extinct group of people whose favorite part of Instagram is still photos. Portrait, landscape, food, fashion, sports, nightlife…I like it all. I even met a Uber driver who shot “urbex:” exploring abandoned properties and commenting on the decay. There’s something for everyone but my favorite style is documentary photography.
Get Sickamore’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Moved to LA for the first time in 2009. Ricky Hil dragged me 3,000 miles, kicking and screaming, but that’s where the music biz was going. A million words have been written about how New Yorkers feel about Cali, but one positive is the Melrose Trading Post. Bought a OG Polaroid 600 and it changed my life forever. Film cartridges were super rare and IG was only beginning to get its legs. At that point I was hooked, hunting for film everyday like a great white until The Impossible Project started reproducing it. I still have over 1,200 Polaroids from that era.
I shot exclusively on Polaroid and iPhone until No ID got in my head: “real photographers shoot film.” So I went to Samy’s Camera, asked, “What camera would you recommend for a beginning film student?” and bought a Nikon FM10. I challenged myself to shoot exclusively film for the whole of 2015 with a manual SLR. A game changer was starting to shoot studio sessions. It’s an honor for an artist to allow you to photograph their most vulnerable moments. I never have or will take that lightly. Also love to shoot on tour! Another city everyday, different fans, linking with local friends — tours and studio sessions are my favorite parts of the job. It was Travis who said “everything looks better in black & white.” No lies told as it’s still my favorite.
Fast forward to 2022 and I’m taking on the new challenge of shooting exclusively medium format. Camera was expensive as hell so there ain’t no going back. I need to get used to the vertical orientation. This boardwalk shot is from my first developed roll. I should’ve waited until the birds started flying but it was 20 degrees in Coney Island.
Daidō Moriyama. Van Styles. Anders Petersen. Renell Medrano. Nobuyoshi Araki. Vivian Maier. Lenny S. Robert Frank. Johnny Nunez. Sammy Davis Jr. (he was nice with it). Inspired by each of them, but also countless others who are super ill. Cool thing about photography is you can start and stop at any point. You can shoot until your hands don’t work anymore. Your best shot might not happen until your 82nd birthday. Whichever way it turns I’ll be there for the ride. Can’t wait to see how 2022 develops.
