This week’s Member Moment features work by Emi Strati, who takes atmospheric photos of her surroundings. Scroll down to see her pictures and to read the interview!
PL: What got you interested in photography?
ES: I started taking photographs intuitively - it just made sense to me. Over time it became a way of paying close attention to the world: noticing light, structure, small emotional details. Now it feels like a visual diary of how I move through places and time.
PL: What type of camera do you shoot with?
ES: Recently, I’ve been using a Nikon One Touch Zoom 90, but some of my best photos have been taken on my phone.
PL: When taking pictures, what are some objects or elements or feelings within a scene that inspire you to take a photo?
ES: I like to photograph moments that make me feel present and almost dissolved into what’s around me, as if I’m both the director of a movie and part of its atmosphere.
PL: What do you enjoy most about digital/film photography and what is challenging about it?
ES: I struggled a lot with film at first because I didn’t really know what I was doing, and the cost of it kept me from experimenting too much. I started out with a slightly defective manual camera and went through another faulty point-and-shoot before finally finding a camera that worked for me, which ironically happens to be the cheapest one I’ve bought. What I enjoy the most about film is how much detail it captures compared to the digital photos I have taken throughout the years. Once the image it digitized you can zoom in without it turning into a textureless blur.
PL: Do you have any goals or ideas of how you want to grow this collection of photographs?
ES: I want to grow this collection in a more intentional and cohesive way. Since all the photographs are taken by me, they already share a certain mood and way of seeing, and I'd like to make that more distinct over time. When I feel the *need* to take a photo it's because the scene in front of me insists in its presence. The feeling I'm chasing is a kind of apotheosis, not by rising above nature or being lost in it, but by realizing that the viewer and the world are inseparable in the act of seeing. The relationship between beauty and the perceiver of beauty is non-dual, reciprocal, co-emergent.
Every day, Club Members take exceptional pictures. If you are not a Film Club Member yet what are you waiting for? Join today to support the photo community in Philly and to start saving money on film processing!