Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Mark Albertin. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Mark, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.
I am a photographer. But instead of using the medium of choice today, I shoot with film. I do this because film creates an image that is very different than digital. Film is more “hands-on,” requiring you to manipulate using your hands under the light of an enlarger. When I sign a print, that photograph is one-of-a-kind. Each photograph is slightly different due to the chemistry, the way I manipulate the light or paper used.
Mark, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Isn’t it funny how things come in and out of vogue? I remember when CDs came out and the radio stations were swooning about how great it was not to have the crackles and pops from records anymore. The digital sound was so clean and perfect. Or, when digital cameras came into their own, with beautiful color, sharper-than-sharp images, and Photoshop-enhanced saturation. Being of a certain age, I even remember when word processing took over typewriting as a way to change letters, words, and paragraphs with simple moves on the keyboard. Gone were the days of “whiteout” or erasure spools that meant you had to type over the same letter again to cover it with the white paint-like material. All you had to do now was highlight and delete or copy and paste.
I can remember when everything…everything was analog. Digital was a term we used to describe the toes and fingers. And honestly, my life has become so, so much easier with the world of the new digital definition – data formed by binary digits. I can shoot hundreds of images on my phone, even if only a few are any good. I can store all my great songs on “the cloud” and pull them down onto my device whenever I want. I can type and retype without a concern in the world because somewhere, someplace in cyberspace, my words will last forever. Or so I think.
It amazes me just how many images we all create today on our phones. Unlike any time in photographic history has there been the ability to take images wherever we go with such a complex device in such a small package. And, many times, because of all the digital features inside our phones, these images really turn out nice. There is no guesswork. The little computer inside your phone does it all and even someone who knows nothing about photography can take some great images.
With all that said and as someone who utilizes old photographs to help me in conveying history through documentaries…how will those in the future really know what life was like in this time period? I mean, it is a pertinent question. How many people actually take their “cloud” images and print them onto a stable medium? How many actually back up their hard drives and when technology changes, download all those images onto the new device? How many images have been taken that we just can’t seem to find and because there is no record, well, they are forgotten forever? And these shots were not just of your car in the driveway. These were shots of your wife and child together for the first time. Shots of a family reunion where your grandfather attended for the last time. Poof!!! Just like that, you have forgotten where they are and that record of who you are, of where you came from is gone.
About ten years ago, I pulled out the old Minolta SRT 101 film camera from the top of my bedroom closet. It had been there, stored in a. Ziploc bag since my dad passed away in 2000. A family heirloom that I thought I’d never use again. But, I was wrong. Very wrong.
Shooting film went from being commonplace to a rarety in just a short time. The art of composing an image, knowing how to use the ISO, shutter speed and aperture together to get a final result faded away with automated technology. And, there was something missing for me. A satisfaction that came with using film.
When I shoot film, I have a limited number of images to work with. I am careful and plan every shot. I process each roll or sheet in my darkroom and meticulously examine the negatives to decide which is print-worthy. Then, I turn on the red lights and make a silver-gelatin fiber print. A tangible image that is created with my own. hands and not binary numbers.
Since rediscovering film, I have moved up into large-format photography. Shooting 4×5 and 8×10 inch sheet film. The images seem to have a soul. The tones are beautiful and there is no comparison to digital files. I’m not trying to bad-mouth digital. It has a place. But, shooting film is like painting, dancing, playing a musical instrument, poetry or pottery. It is an art form.
It is unique and I love using cameras and lenses that are relics from a bygone era to capture time.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
My goal is to become successful in a field that had been tossed aside for digital a decade or so ago. I want people to see that even though shooting with film is much more time-consuming than digital, the end product is worth the effort. I’d love to see teens creating a darkroom in their bathroom or basement, like I did all those years ago. Becoming amazed with this medium and opening the horizons of their minds to the possibilities and creativity film provides.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Being that I have always been involved with the photographic industry, I was a scanner operator from the mid-1980s up until about 2010. It was a steady career and I was in high demand because back then, the drum scanner was a way to get your slides and photographs digitized. But I noticed fewer and fewer submissions as time went on. More people were shooting with digital cameras even if the resolution was lacking. I knew with time, my job would end.
It was at this time that I taught myself filmmaking. The company I worked for had a film department and during the evenings and weekends, I’d spend hours upon hours teaching myself the art of filmmaking. I went to boot camps, workshops, and other events where I could learn from the experts and share knowledge with others.
Eventually, I took out a second mortgage on my home and bought everything I needed to create my own films. This also gave me more experience and rapidly, I began taking on work from weddings to documentaries. Soon, the company I worked for shifted my position from scanner operator to filmmaker.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.albertinfilmphotography.com/
- Instagram: markalbertin
- Facebook: Mark Albertin
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-albertin-6639178
Image Credits
Mark Albertin