Doron Tadmor is an active Film Club Member whose photos have been featured in gallery shows and on our Instagram. We have always been drawn to his photographs so this week we decided to interview him and share his photos with the community.
PL: What got you interested in film photography?
DT: I’ve been interested in photography since I was young. Before I had a camera of my own, my dad always joked that my favorite three words were “take a picture”. I remember in 7th grade, I eagerly signed up to take a photography class, where we made our own pinhole cameras and got to experiment with different film development techniques. Jumping years ahead, during COVID, I stumbled upon my mom’s film camera, neatly packed in its original casing, and thought it would be fun to try it out. After at least two decades, I didn’t know if it would still work, but to my surprise, the images came out perfectly, vibrant in color and crisp in detail. I’ve been using the camera ever since!
PL: What type of camera do you shoot with and what kind of film do you usually use?
DT: I’m using a Nikon One Touch Zoom 90s and have been using Kodak Portra 400 – but I want to try and explore new film types this year!
PL: Some of your photos seem to capture a variety of places you have traveled to. What does it mean for you to capture these places/moments on film?
DT: Aside from the classic pictures of well-known landmarks, I strive to take pictures of things that go unnoticed – an alleyway with a cool mural, plant overgrowth on the side of a building, and a shining beam of light on some flowers for sale. In this way, I capture the everyday moments of life, of what it is like to live in the place I am visiting, and undercover the beauty in ordinary things.
PL: When taking pictures, what are some objects or elements or feelings within a scene that inspire you to take a photo?
DT: This is a great question! I think what I look for most in a scene is a sense of contrast in subject matter. When I was in Singapore, there was a nice juxtaposition (and perhaps integration) between the ultra-modern city and nature, such as the Gardens by the Bay scene, and the overgrowth of plants on a bridge in their botanical gardens. This contrast between nature and urban can also be seen in my images of Kew Gardens in London, where there’s a nice contrast between the seemingly random plant growth and the super structured and symmetric roof overhead.
I also look out for contrast in old vs. new and light vs. dark. Perhaps most notably is the image of a raven from The Tower of London overlooking The Shard. The Tower was built in 1097, with the ravens having permanent residence sometime between 1660–1685, whereas The Shard finished construction in 2009. Given this context, I thought the composition between this ominous historical symbol and a super modern building was nice. Another example of this is my image of the Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple in Singapore, built in 1881, compared to the hotel behind it only built in 2017.
PL: Many of your photos do not include people. Is this an intentional choice?
DT: It is intentional, but not necessarily an artistic choice per se! I do take lots of photos of my friends and family, but these tend to be more casually captured photos. That being said, I do prefer to take pictures of nature or buildings just because I like a more constant scene to photograph.
PL: Out of all of these photos, which one is your favorite and why?
DT: My favorite photo of this bunch is the picture I took in the Mercado de Jamaica flower market in Mexico City. Interestingly, a lot of the market is indoors and is dimly lit, making it quite difficult to photograph the beauty of the flowers around you. My partner and I were wandering through the rows of stalls, until we stumbled upon this one – light beaming beautifully on these white flowers, with the contrast of this dimly lit industrialized backdrop.
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