Photographer Focus: Franklin Bowles
With Instagram reigning supreme right now, it's easy to forget it's predecessor, the polaroid camera. Franklin Bowles has not forgotten. His photos thrive off of the weird effects and destructive but cool things that can happen to a polaroid picture. Carrying around a camera at all times, Franklin is able to capture everyday happenings in the coolest way. This is really making me want to dig out my old polaroid camera and play. Check out more of Franklin's photos on his awesome Tumblr, and read a quick Q&A with the artist below, where he talks about being introverted, skateboarding, and how the city of Chicago has shaped his photography style.
location Chicago Favorite camera: I love all my cameras because I get subtle nuances from each one that create different moods and effects for each image. But if I had an unlimited amount of instant film, I would shoot with my Polaroid SX-70 all day every day. random fact about yourself Clean cut on the outside, hippie on the inside favorite subject matter to shoot I have been focusing on capturing people for the past year or so, but its not limited to that. I carry a camera with me pretty much every day in my backpack, so if i see something that intrigues me or catches my eye, Ill photograph it. I enjoy exploring the relationship between the urban environment that I live in and the nature that encompasses the city. photographers you admire Ryan McGinley, Matthew Fry, J Caldwell, Erin McGuire. what makes a great photo Photography is one of those art forms that anyone can do. You push a button and baaaaam, image taken. This doesn't mean, though, that the image will be a great photo. Through learning, exploring, working, making mistakes, and contemplating about photography, I feel what sets us apart and makes a great photo is the use and manipulation of light. It creates a mood. It creates depth. In my eyes, great photographers are masters of light. what makes a terrible photo I'm not really in the business of passing judgement on "terrible" photos. Photography is what you want it to be, someone created an image, maybe they made a few mistakes, but they are learning (hopefully). You have to start somewhere. To me, I would skip over an image that I felt didn't have good composition, over-edited/airbrushed, lack of lighting to create a mood or effect, and out of focus (unless its obvious they were going for that). Photography is like any other form of art. Some people are going to like it, some people aren't. why do you love photography I'm more or less an introverted person. I would rather soak up the scene unfolding in front of my eyes than be the center of attention. I also have grown up skateboarding, still do (my knees hate me), and I owe a lot of how I view the world and photography to being introverted and skateboarding. Being introverted has allowed me to contemplate and think about the world around me. Skateboarding has allowed me to view the world in a different way. Skating around Chicago, with one skate park worth going to (Wilson), forces you to be creative with how you view and use your environment. Using this way of looking at the cityscape differently, Ill walk/skate by something that I feel like would be interesting to shoot, and then ill think about it for a while. Could be a couple days, maybe a month. Ill eventually go back and photograph it when im ready and when I feel like I can make it work. And that's why I love photography. It allows me to actively think about my environment from a different perspective. Its my life from my point of view. do you do any other art? Nope, photography consumes my life.
