Lachlan Burrell Photographer

I spent February this year in the good old USA, and one of the highlights was WPPI in Las Vegas. What a feast for a wedding photographer!! The best thing about any industry show is the chance to meet colleagues and people who inspire you. One such photographer at the top of my list is José Villa. It was a privilege to meet José and hear him share some of his experience and wisdom! If you haven’t heard of him, or seen his work, check it out now: josevillablog.com and www.josevillaphoto.com. What is significant about José apart from his amazing eye for beauty is that he shoots film. Pure and simple film, no digital gimmicks. My friend and assistant on occasions, Nikki Tsunemori, introduced me to his work back in 2009, a time when I was tentatively making the transition back to film after a short experiment with digital capture. So to see his amazing work, all on film, was so refreshing! It confirmed the path I wanted to take with my own photography. By this time digital cameras had flooded the market and they were very good! So many were picking up these fabulous new toys and entering the photography market too, and for me making the switch in the other direction, I had to wonder if I was making the right move. Three years on and counting, I have never felt more confident with the direction I have taken. Not everyone appreciates the difference that film makes, but my clients certainly do and they love it’s unique and beautiful character.

My love affair with film photography goes way back before any digital sensor saw the light of day. I grew up in the 1970′s and 80′s, so the first cameras I ever played with were all film cameras. That magic has captivated me ever since. That mystery of the image inside the camera on a thin frame of film, waiting to be developed in the dark. The anticipation of waiting for those prints to be developed was so tantalising and addictive. But so rewarding…I was hooked! Happily content with film, once digital cameras started to become popular, I wasn’t really interested. When I finally decided to dabble a toe in the digital world I had already been shooting film professionally for about 10 years. Digital capture proved to be fun, and it still is…some of my favourite shots have been taken on a digital SLR and who can forget the amazing iPhone?! However, when I look at a film shot…it makes me smile. It looks and feels right, it has a simple beauty and depth that can’t be described, only experienced!

So I dedicate this post to José…and film. May they both live long and happy lives! Thanks again for the inspiration José!

Oh, and I shot a LOT of film when I was in the US, if you want to check out some of my favourite memories it has it’s own little spot here…http://lachlanburrell.com.au/blog/usa-on-film/

thanks to Weston Rieckenberg for this snap of myself and José after his Fine Art Weddings seminar. Weston is a photographer based in Minnesota who I met earlier this year. We spent a few days’ road tripping through Arizona and Utah after WPPI, snapping loads of photos along the way!