photographs by abby try again

hello ladies & gentleman, how are you? well, yesterday i said i would be back and i did, but not as early as i thought i would! can you imagine that i have spent 4 hours in that office waiting & waiting for my turn? but what matters is that in the end was a good day, a few new readers dropped by & said hello (i love when you do that!!), i also went to pick up my new b&w photos from the lab… which you can see {here}. and finally i received my yashica from ebay! thrilled me! isn’t she stunning?

so… as yesterday was a very busy day, i had to postpone {sneak-peek} feature for today… and to match this new lady in the house, i have invited a lady, for whom film is on her life in full-time… and we all know her dreamy images of a vintage world that seems to happen just for her to capture it. today we have lady abby powell, from {abby try again}.

“i’m abby powell thompson, a freelance photographer in austin, texas. i have no formal photography training and use thrifted vintage cameras. i shoot mostly in film and my photos here are from my day to day life.”

1. how old were you when you hold a camera for the first time? that’s a hard one… i have no clue! i grew up in the 80’s and our family had a lot of polaroid cameras at the time. i’d say probably at five years old.

2. what does photography mean for you? hum… that’s a pretty lofty question! i think photography is a lot of different things. i think it can be a way to document things, a way to share memories and it can also be a very “passive” activity of just capturing moments. for me, i really try to create a scene when i shoot. sometimes it is sort of the opposite of documenting reality because of the angle or style i shoot in. i try to capture how i {feel} things from my life, instead of exactly how i see them.

3. why film, abby? well, when i started my blog in early 2005 i was a very poor student who had some thrift store film cameras. there was no way i could ever afford a nice digital camera. i would experiment from time to time with the film and slowly i started sharing it on my blog or over at my flickr. in 2007 i became really hooked on film and that’s when my blog started to become a mainly film blog. i love the look of film, there is nothing in digital photography that can compare to it (not that digital is bad, it is only different).

4. can you gather three tips you’ve learned through the times about photography? 1) it really isn’t about your equipment, it’s about the person behind it! 2) practice really does help, shoot hundreds of photos! 3) don’t be afraid to be yourself… photos trends come and go!

5. what do you wish to accomplish with your photography? i don’t know. i do it because i feel compelled to do it. i feel the need to create in one way or another every day. if it wasn’t photography it’d be drawing or sewing or something else.  to me i just feel really lucky that other people like it and connect with it.

abby is one of the most inspirational film photographers i met until today… and i could not be happier to 1) have her here on my blog… and 2) to have realized yesterday that she also owns the same yashica that i own. can’t wait to start shooting around! abby & james, her husband, are also really happy as they will welcome a new baby in the first week of september, so the couple is really thrilled at the moment! you can visit her and say hello {here}… browse through her work {here} & {here}. i will be back… for sure!

images: abby try again via etsy