Michael Kartes

Kiddos.

I feel like this film is my secret weapon. The grain, the tones. Not for everybody, but it often makes the world look how I feel. I shoot digital often (though you'll find none of it here), and digital NEVER looks how I feel. Thankful for the old chemical image-making processes.

Couple of snaps.

Because color. It was there. Because grain. Because it was moving or it was still and right. Because why the hell not. Because others will question it, then understand, or not; it doesn’t matter, really. Sometimes it’s BECAUSE they won’t understand, which makes it compelling. Because shape and form. Because mystery or revelation or simple feeling. Shoot. You owe no answers, sometimes not even to yourself. Push the button. Work the why out later, if necessary (and it isn’t). Just push the button – trust yourself. It’s your imprint on the world, the world’s imprint on you. It’s both frivolous and important at once. It can’t be quantified or qualified by words – it is a language all its own. So enunciate, pronounce, declare, and inquire by pressing the little button. Then do it again. And when people ask, just smile and walk away. I’m not sure I’m a talent, and I know very little about most things, but about photography I know this.

More summer stuff.

Some Cinestill 50D. Wonderful film, and can't wait to try it in 120.

Nocturne: Variations on a Theme.

The boy kid and his vehicles.

Summer stuff.

Random pulls from the bowels of my Dropbox, heretofore unseen on Tumblr. Some medium format, some 35mm, some Helios action, some light leaks.