Much of my early photographic endeavours were devoted to producing black and white landscape images. The early influences of Edward Weston and Bill Brandt, followed by Fay Godwin and John Blakemore, led to the disciplines of using a tripod, having everything in focus and taking precise exposure readings from a hand held meter.
I had my own darkroom and loved the whole process of producing Fine Art prints. From 35mm I graduated to medium format and a Mamiya 6. It took a long time for me to be persuaded to move to digital but at last it happened and I even discovered colour and photographing people! In fact, I really enjoy the ease of using digital (too easy?), with the knowledge that I can use Photoshop to fine tune and enhance my images.
Recently however I have felt the pull of film photography again. I was about to upgrade my trusty Nikon D300 for a Fujifilm XT-4 when I decided to do an about face and have bought a Hasselblad 503CW. No battery or meter. So time to dig out the spot meter I always kept and brush up on my metering capabilities. I will keep my feet in the digital camp with my Fujifilm X100F and iPhone, especially when travelling.
Another passion is making Palladium prints. They are valued for their permanence and have a delicate long tonal range which is greater than silver prints. In this digital age, this also satisfies my desire to produce a beautiful hand crafted photograph linking back to the early days of photography.
For me, the end result of photography is to produce a tangible piece of artwork – something to hold in your hand that reflects what you originally set out to do.
Charlie Francis Photography 