ERIN FLEGG
1st Year- New Media Design and Web Development
Follow Erin on Instagram: @eflegg
Visit her website: erinflegg.com
Film forced me to slow down and consider every single frame.
“A few years ago I was feeling stagnant in my work as a writer and went looking for a different creative outlet – something new to learn. A friend of a friend gave me an old Minolta film camera, so I bought a few rolls of film from London Drugs, read a few articles about metering and started shooting. Thanks to a background in freelance journalism, I was already decent with a digital camera, but film felt very different. It’s tactile and deliberate (not least because every shot costs actual money), and I’ve found my photography skills have improved a huge amount because film forced me to slow down and consider every single frame. There’s no instant feedback so you have to be reasonably sure you’ve considered your surroundings well, got the light and all your setting right, before pressing the shutter. The variety of film stock available (and the mysteries of garage sale expired film) mean every roll can be different. It’s always a bit of surprise (an occasionally some heartbreak) and I love it.
Landscapes and my people are my favourite things to take pictures of. Backpacking trips make for some of my favourite photos, but I think my partner is getting a little tired of me constantly pointing my camera at them. I’m really drawn to colour. Flowers and trees and water get me every time. I’ve been trying to make myself shoot more black and white, because done well it’s so beautiful, but I just can’t resist all the different kinds of colour film.”