Opaque - A Peek At My contribution.

Time really does fly when you're having fun. After the success of our previous offerings, Lucid and Ambiguous, the Photozine Collective decided to put another zine together using the theme "Opaque." Again we aim to raise money for Asthma & Lung UK in honour of our dear departed friend John Whitmore who inspired us to continue his work.

John liked to challenge us through his work with the Sunny 16 Podcast. One thing I discovered early on with my contribution, Opaque wasn't an easy theme to interpret for this year's zine. Taken literally Opaque is an absence of light, but I wanted to do something different. However, that's easier said than done and I struggled from the start.

The film we were all using was Rollei Retro 400S b&w film and it's a film I am familiar with having shot a few rolls over the last year or two. It has decent contrast and as a 400 iso speed it should have given me decent exposures in the dead of winter. How wrong was I! I got through 4 rolls of film without getting a decent photo. It just wasn't coming together and I almost threw in the towel and dropped out.

On the last day I loaded a roll of Rollei Retro 400S 35mm into my OM-2 and put it in aperture priority. I also loaded a roll of 120 medium format Rollei Retro 400S into Baldy the Baldax to give me options. I wasn't expecting to have anything as I just couldn't see the wood for the trees, and then it hit me... The Opacity of Time!

I have no idea where it came from, but I took that as a sign from John and the idea grew. I thought about how the trees mark time and wondered if they too live in the moment, not knowing what the next moment will bring. It's also a good tribute to John as he loved photographing trees.

I wasn't alone with my struggle as we all found this to be a serious challenge, which makes this book all the more special. Here's a couple of my photos that I shot for Opaque using my Olympus OM-2 and dear Baldy the Baldax. If you want to see all the photos and added prose from 16 talented film photographers and myself, you can buy Opaque for £9 plus postage from our Ko-Fi site below. A few of our contributors appeared on the Sunny 16 Podcast to talk about their work for Opaque and you can listen to it via the link below. We all hope you enjoy it.

Opaque - Buy One Now! 
Sunny 16 Podcast - Opaque