Josh S

March 2024

*(5.)

(Portrait taken on Lomochrome Color '92 film.)

Josh is currently studying a Masters degree in 'Illustration' at Sheffield Hallam University.

He used to use toy cameras, such as 'Holga' because he liked the dream-like effect of the plastic lens. Just after the first covid lockdown, he picked up an Ilford Sprite35 ii new camera because it also had a plastic lens, wanting to get out and about again to take more photos. Josh found that this realy wasn't the best camera to use with the wider variety of the 35mm films he was using in experimentation.

Watching 'Youtube' to gather more info on point-and-shoot cameras, he became interested in the Nikon L35 camera. This camera came out in 1983, and was the first point-and-shoot camera with an autofocus glass lens, producing an improved sharpness of images.

This is Joshs's current favourite camera (read more about it here. and elsewhere online).

Films used

Lomochrome Color '92

An example of an image Josh took, before and after editing:

 

"I tried this film out recently over the New Year.. It came out rather interesting. Notably, it had this hazy yellow filter to it until I corrected it in Photoshop, but after, the colours seemed to pop. Still a little darker than I was expecting". 

Silberra Colour 160

 

"This was a film I got back in 2021, and I kind of took it slow, shooting it through autumn and winter. It has this realy nice red hue that worked with the autumn colours". *(1)

Kodak Portra 160

 

"Sometimes I have trouble deciding between Porta 160 and Portra 400, because they're both great in very slightly different ways. Eitherway, I just like how the sky turned out against the red brick."

 

"This is a picture of my grandfather in his greenhouse, and I just like how that came out".

Kodak Portra 400

 

"These pictures are from a couple of rolls I took to New York with me. The above is coming out of the Met; I didn't expect it to turn out this well but It's probably my favourite from the whole trip." *(2)

 

"This is from the window on the subway from Queens, just before it goes into Manhattan. I was taking the train every day I was there and was eyeing up the shot for a while."

 

"This photo ws taken from the Cloisters, which is the museum modelled on a monastery displaying a lot of medieval art works. It's a realy beautiful place."

Instax 'Mini' instant film

 

"These are just a couple of shots I took a good few years ago now." *(3)

"I saw these wasps building a hive on this fence, and so I took the shot on the left. The next day I went by again and they'd made a lot of progress. It was actually a risque one, because they were buzzing pretty angrily as I leaned in for it".

Fuji Instax Square instant film

 

"I took these more recently than the mini shots. I just love how the shadows come out with these, they have the same quality as looking at an Edward Hopper painting for me. If I take them right."

Josh - some questions!

You have an unusual accent Josh, where are you from originally? "I am from Sheffield, but was taken to live abroad for a while as a child. By the time I got back here to Sheffield, the accent influence was permanent. Hence people's difficulty in placing my accent."

Josh, have you a favourite photographer? "It's a hard choice between William Eggleston and Stephen Shore. I love Eggleston's eye for colour, but Shore has such great compostitions. I'm realy just a sucker for a slice of rural America though. Outside of those, Andrei Tarkovsky's Poaroid pictures are realy something."

And a favourite film? "Probably Portra 400. Portra 400 is just such a reliable film to grab, you can kind of feel how they're going to come out."

Your opinion on digital images? "Personally I'm not so much interested in digital stuff. You can get some good photos, sure, but I love the quality that film has. The saturated colours and the unpredictability. Although sometimes I do think it would be nice to have something turn out right." (Jen laughs: we've all been there with film cameras!).

Any childhood influences on your photography Josh? "I wouldn't say I had an influence when I was a kid, but I feel my love of analogue film is part of a nostalgia. Like I'm trying to recapture that sensation of looking back at film photos from my childhood."

Are you a portrait or landscape photograher mainly Josh? "Well, I'm a fan of landscapes mostly. I need to try and get bolder with my street photography realy."

Music of choice? "I'm usually listening to the Magnetic Fields most of the time, but some other firm favourites are Casiotone For The Painfuly Alone *(4), Why?, Sufjan Stevens, The Smiths, and The cure."

Favourite local eat out? "This is the hardest question, because Sheffield has so many great place . Right now, a firm favourite is Cafe Tucci. I'm also always in Tonco for a pastry."

Jens thoughts

*(1) I've never personally seen or used 'Silberra' film, so this is i new one for me. Am hazarding a guess that this iage is of the flats at the bottom of Ecclsall road. And the house photo looks like the one I've seen whilst walking on Sharrowvale road S11. I realy LOVE these two pics.

*(2) New york, New York, sigh, SO jealous! At least you had a film in your camera Josh: Boss John went to New York for a weekend about 18 years with his Nikon SLR camera. He returned to the shop afterwards and eagerly opened the back of his camera to take the film out to book into the shop for developing and printing. The film chamber was empty. He had forgotten to put a film in it. Major school boy error.

*(3) Just looking at Josh's Polaroid photos induced some pleasant flashbacks to shots I took on a Polaroid camera about 45 years ago! Great memories.

*(4) 'Casiotone For The Painfully Alone?' Aww bless, someone give Josh a hug!

*(5) I've told Josh, and he has been told many times also, that he has a 'doppelganger' walking about Sheffield. If this is you, reveal yourself, we are dying to know who it is lol.

I've offered Josha a free roll of Lomochrome 'Redscale' film to use, so hopefully he will take me up on it and we will have a few images on here from that film too. I think I remember showing it to him ages ago, but he said he wouldn't know what to do with it. So there's your challenge Josh teehee!

These pages are created to add more stuff to them over time, so hopefully we will be privy to more of Joshs' lovely images on here soon.