I am a firm believer in the notion that one is never so good at a particular thing, that there is nothing new for them to learn. I believe this on both a personal and a professional level and every year I set aside money to put towards growing my photography skills.
Last year I used my ‘Growth Fund’ to attend the Bohemia Gathering, a film photography workshop which took place in Valencia, Spain. For the longest time I have flirted with film photography so when I heard about a workshop for women only in one of my favourite countries, I jumped at the chance to go.
On their website it is described as:
“More down to earth. More sharing. More creativity. More grounding. More keeping it real. More love. More gut feeling. More dreaming…
MORE of being and believing in YOURSELF!”
And that’s exactly what I got! I walked away with a renewed sense of confidence in my film skills, with amazing new friends, with a renewed sense of value in what I do and a fantastic, creative, empowering, talented and completely wonderful new circle of friends.
I shoot both film and digital but all my digital images are edited to look like my film work. There is just something so timeless, luminous and REAL about film. It’s soft and dreamy. It has the most gorgeous colours. The grain gives it such authenticity… and when you actually print it?! Gorgeousness!!! This is why I shoot film. It’s why I invest in learning more about shooting it and it’s why my work over the last year has (in my opinion) changed and evolved into something so much more beautiful and authentically me.
So, if you are a female photographer who shoots film, or who is wanting to take the plunge and wants a supportive and friendly environment to do it in, this is the place for you. Isabelle and Siegrid are so inspirational. They are 2 amazing women with such a passion and love for what they do and sharing that with other women. It’s impossible not to get excited about film around them, and getting to learn, face to face, from them was something I will always be grateful for.
Attending the gathering was the best way to close one chapter of learning, growth and travel, before embarking on the next which would take me all the way to India. These are some of my favourite scans from the film I shot on that 5 days in Spain, all developed by the wonderful Carmencita Film Lab.
