Film Photographer Spotlight: Brett Wayne Price

It all started in film school, when all his friends were interested in cinematography and Brett chose post production and editorial to study. Through the influence of his buddies, he found himself at Goodwill buying a Canon AE-1.  "From there it was a downhill spiral into trying to learn as much as possible about it." When he learned his school had a rarely used, extensive darkroom he taught himself how to develop film. 

Brett says his biggest achievement  is a personal one, that he's stuck with film for so long. "It’s never been easy, often frustrating, expensive, defeating but for some reason I’ve never given it up like a lot of people have. I’ve come close many times but never entirely." He drifts between film and digital, with times where he doesn't use film at all, but he finds himself always gravitating back.The hard work and constant effort of working with film is what is most rewarding, he says. 

His advice to other aspiring film photographers: "Fail. Fail constantly. Fail when it counts. Fail and be disappointed you’ll never get the shot again. Have the ability to learn from that and move forward..."

Things he loves:     "Leicas...are my camera of choice these days... Its just a well built machine, and the optics are the best there is."     He wishes more people would be able to experience slide film. "Once you see your work as a slide its a pretty much as good as it gets...It's truly beautiful stuff but difficult to shoot." Brett says that once you can shoot and develop slide film, the rewards come in being able to see your photos instantly without having to enlarge or scan.

How he gets inspiration:      "Cinema inspires me. Its ultimately the field I desire to be a part of and I try and I hope that my work reflects that in some way."     Rather than reading photo books or following specific people, Brett says he focuses his time on finding out how certain film stocks, developers or lenses render in photos. "Along the way I see a lot of great work from people who I could never name or find again. I think I like it that way."

How he gets better:     "Many film photographers today may have never developed a roll of film or know how it works...You learn a great deal about how it all works when you have to do it all yourself. "     Continued adaptation and dissatisfaction is what drives him to get better. "Its a blessing and a curse because I almost never like looking at my old work." Hunger for more and years of practice, rather than luck, is what he attributes to finding what works and doesn't work for him. There's always more to learn, he says.

1) "I find myself looking at a lot of Japanese film photographers on Flickr because they play with darkness in their photos..."

Hasselblad 500cm. Kodak Tri-X film. Developed in D-76.

"I took this early on in my film journey. The hasselblad was my first medium format camera. I had never really shot a model before so I was nervous and I believe I even lost a roll to unloading incorrectly (never happened again) but for some reason this photo carries a sort of subtlety to it that I can really describe. Her posture, expression, where she’s standing, its just feels otherworldly, almost ghostly. I don’t think I’ve ever taken a more timeless photograph (in the sense that you really can’t place its era) and theres something about that I really like. I also like this piece because I’ve used it over the years to better my scanning practices. I have several versions on it, scanned on different scanners, even photographed with a DSLR and a light table to get the most out of it. Its interesting to look at them years apart and to see how differently I judge the negative for a final result. This version is a great deal darker than it used to be. I also like that when I took it I remember thinking I wasn’t close enough for it to be interesting, that the ones where I got a tighter shot would be the ones I would like more. Happily surprised. "

2) "One of the inherent goals in a cinema inspired photography is to try to tell a story with a single frame."

Hasselblad Xpan w/45mm. Fuji Provia 400x. Home developed E-6.

"I shot this in my backyard when I lived in Nashville of my roommate Connor. It was just after a huge rain fell and I asked him to pose for a few photographs. I love this photograph because it feels cinematic to me. I feel like its a moment in a movie that I can almost picture. I seriously miss the Xpan and wish I never sold it. Perhaps I'll own one again some day. It's a perfect camera for people who like to frame things like they do in movies. The aspect ratio just lends itself to what we are used to seeing on the silver screen. I like getting close to people with it because the wider lens doesn’t distort so people look nicely placed in a large area. Provia 400x is my all time favorite film because its plays blues and greens so well. Its so sad they no longer make it."

3) "It's often more intriguing what you don’t or can’t see in a photo."

Leica M-P w/ 50mm Summilux ASPH. Fuji Provia 400x. Home developed. 

"I shot this of my wife in the bathtub as the sun was setting through the bathroom window directly on her. Slide film forces you to choose what you want to expose for because it doesn’t have a large latitude for light. I guessed for the highlights and took several exposures at different speeds, all look vastly different. Ultimately I preferred the one where I was exposed for the highlights of the sun and not the room. I like darkness in my photos, I like the way it makes you look for what you can’t see. Theres just something about the colors of the photo that I prefer over most. Had this been shot on negative film, so much of it would be easier to see, but I like that you can’t."

You can find more of Brett's work at: brettwayneprice.com