This week’s Member Moment features work by Charles Miller, who finds dd, strange beauty in the everyday. Scroll down to see his pictures and to read the interview!
PL: What got you interested in photography?
CM: I'm out a lot, I used to run, now I walk. I always saw things that interested me, so I bought a digital camera. I started posting my images on this site called PhotoSig. I upgraded to a Digital SLR but the more I posted and the more I saw other posts I decided I liked film better. So i bought the Canon A-1, then the Holgas. I devolved from sharp, balanced images of exactly what I saw to blurry, grainy, imperfect images, that weren't exactly what I saw, but more of a memory of what I saw that morphed and changed over time, just as my memory of what I saw morphed and changed over time.
PL: What type of camera do you shoot with?
PL: When taking pictures, what are some objects or elements or feelings within a scene that inspire you to take a photo?
CM: I shoot whatever I feel like shooting. If I find interest in it or if I find beauty in it, I shoot it. I do this for myself, I have no interest in themes or being to be told what I should shoot (this upsets my mentors). I try to find beauty in things I see every day, just stuff.
PL: Of the pictures you submitted, can you share an interesting story about one?
CM: The "Sheeps" photograph. We were on our way to Budapest with an overnight layover in Frankford. We went to this Italian restaurant for diner and had to wait for a table. There was a fenced-in area outside the restaurant with a bunch of sheep. I went over with my Holga, but it was dusk, too dark for a camera with no settings. I switched to bulb and steadied my camera on the fence. I must have waited 10 to 15 minutes for this sheep to turn and face me. When he did he walked right up to me and posed. As soon as I opened the shutter he turned his head. The sheep couldn't have been a better model.
PL: What do you enjoy most about digital/film photography and what is challenging about it?
PL: Do you have any goals or ideas of how you want to grow this collection of photographs?
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