Australian documentary and fine art photographer
Nick Bedford is a fine art and documentary photographer based in Brisbane, Australia.
Spring is warming up the city and we’re getting a preview of the horrible scorching Brisbane weather to come at the end of the year. I've finished my third NIDA acting course and have decided that I'll have a break from my exploration of acting for a while. Film is making me busy.
Read More"Err, I do street photography and sometimes portraits of friends, but now I shoot film and also love hiking and take landscapes at the same time but a few times a year I do head shots and a wedding or two..."
Read MoreApologies for the enormous post this time. They should load quicker now. I have been shooting so much. This week I switched to full time manual on the street and I think I just levelled up.
Read MoreIt's been a flow state of shooting these last few weeks. Roll after roll. I'm going to reprocess my Japan scans at some point because they're quite a bit flatter than my current style. Getting the printer after that trip changed everything including how much rich contrast I add into my Tri-X images.
Read MoreI feel like I'm back. I didn't realise how constrained I felt on the street until I had the M7 back in my hands. Also, Kodak Tri-X film makes me weep tears of joy. It's such a beautiful film.
Read MoreAugust is cold, well for a Queenslander anyway. I have my Leica M7 back now (about half way through this post) and it's working beautifully. You don't realise the effect a camera has on your shooting style until you are forced to use another, in this case a loud Nikon SLR. In the mean time, I've received my first large format lens, the Nikon 135mm f/5.6 in mint working condition. Still some weeks left before I can expect the Intrepid 4x5.
Read MoreWinter is slowly passing, and we're having some warm days here and there. The light is still quite beautiful most of the day. I find myself growing especially fond of colour film on the Rolleiflex and remaining true to my black and white 35mm style. I have no colour film scanning gear which influences my choice of film to generally monochrome.
Read MoreI've been enjoying the Rolleiflex, but square format is not where I want to be for landscape photography. I prefer a rectangular composition. I've also thought about investigating other medium format cameras but something about "going big" seems like the right way to go now, after having seen many of Ben Horne's videos and seeing photographers like Alex Burke at work.
Read MoreIt's a black and white kinda month, with a little more Rolleiflex street photography this time! It's a tough camera to shoot in the fast paced environment of the street but the results are very interesting. I think I prefer shooting colour on the Rollei, despite having to pay a lot more for outsourcing dev and scan.
Read MoreThe Leica M7 is back so I'm able to use my 35mm lens again. I've enjoyed being confined to the 50mm lens on the Nikon for the last month and a half but I'm looking forward to feeling less claustrophobic out on the streets and feeling more flexible again.
Read MoreIt's a nice feeling to have completely given myself over to the dark side — to have wholly accepted my fate as one of those film photographers, shooting on silver and not being able to show people the photo I just took. Here's some more of life.
Read MoreSince I seem to be shooting both black and white and colour a lot now, I'm renaming these posts to simply Photo Vol. X. Seems more fitting and flexible.
Read MoreI've sent off my Leica M7 to be serviced at Camera Clinic in Melbourne. The shutter curtain is tapering the exposure on 1/1000th (and possibly 1/500th), not to mention the dust that has built up in the rangefinder eyepiece. So I'm without a 35mm lens on a 35mm film camera.
Read MoreHey, hi. It's been a little while since I wrote a decent photographer's journal. The truth is that the last few months have been a deeply personal wake up call, and has resulted in a fundamental shift in the relationship I have with photography as a form of artistic expression and why I want to practice it in my daily life.
Read MoreMy relationship to photography and being a photographer is changing a lot. I think in a lot of ways it could represent a maturity in my vision and an understanding of the purpose of photography within the larger context of my life. Now I feel like I've given myself the reins back and photography is sitting behind me, leaving a trail of breadcrumbs of life and art.
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