Photography Chat with Merlin – Details, episodes & analysis

After taking a year off to regroup the chat is back and we are kicking it off with the awesome Lauren aka @coolperolike on the instagram. She is a rad photographer and human in the Bay Area, but I will let her speak for her self :)

"hi i’m lo! i don’t know how to talk about myself so i guess i’ll start with i’m a photographer and i shoot everything from instant photos to large format to super 8! i love learning about new mods my friends make, learning about the people i take portraits of, and learning what i enjoy the most during the process. meeting and growing with the community of people i’ve met has been my favorite part of photography so far. everyone has a different journey and a different story to tell. i can’t wait to expand on this beautiful community in the bay area and beyond!"

Matthew s a wicked awesome cat, so much fun to chat it out with him. He shared how he got started with film photography and his connection to skateboarding with it. We talked about punk music and going to live shows. He shared how he get involved with Filmphotographic and his involvement with Our City which was a cool exhibition. Then we finished off with being old but still rocking skate style haha. Matt was wicked rad. Looking forward to seeing him at PolaCon Bay Area in 2023.

“A little about me, I’ve been photographing in general since I was 15 started with skateboarding because I wasn’t a strong skater but they gang needed a filmer and photog so I got into it. Live in a small northern ca town called Rio Vista which is on the CA delta. I got back into primarily shooting film in 2015-16 when I joined Instagram and found out a lot of people still shot it and found some great communities. I’ve been lucky to be apart of 3 filmphotographic group shows. As of recent I was BetterOff Zine’s feature no. 6 photographer and currently enjoy going to different areas of CA when I can and documenting what I see.”

Follow Matthew at https://www.instagram.com/mattoriousfilmphoto/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

It was a lot of fun to have @ianazariah in the studio today. He told us about his journey into photography and his adventures into tin type. Shared with us his stories about photography from his childhood and how it has influenced him and about his analog photo booths that he has peppered around Vancouver. Really looking forward to chatting more with him in the future and checking out his Tin Type work in person and his photo booths.

“A simple man with a passion for making bold images, riding things with two wheels, and building treehouses.”

Follow Ian at https://www.instagram.com/ianazariah/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Matt is a film photo fanatic, third-generation kodaker, and large format shooter. Matt has been seriously shooting since 2002 on both digital and film. However, for his personal work, he tends to lean towards a film. He turned his passion for film towards resurrecting the @kodakcameraclub_roc within the hallowed halls of @kodak to help ignite the passion for film in others across the land. I had the pleasure of meeting Matt during a tour of the Kodak factory in Rochester last year. It was an incredible experience to see where the film I love so much is created.

Follow Matt at https://www.instagram.com/stoffelmatt/

Check out the Kodak Camera Club at https://www.instagram.com/kodakcameraclub_roc/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

JP is a fantastic film shooter and expert shit poster residing in the Bay Area. When he’s not rocking out in his moms AMG antagonizing the magats you can find him taking fine portraits and dumping spicy memes. He has mastered portraits during COVID on medium and large format film.

Follow JP at https://www.instagram.com/jp.wtf/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Jessica is a marketing maven by day, restless insomniac in search of the perfect light in her free time. Most often you can find her tearing up the canyons above Los Angeles, windows down and the music cranked up. She was first bitten by the photography bug in the form of a fisher price 110 camera and has not looked back since. When Polaroid became an endangered species in 2008, she went all in. She primarily shoots with an SX70 and a 360 Land Camera.

Follow Jessica at https://www.instagram.com/jetsetter23/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Well we spent some time out East so now we’re headed back west to visit with our polapal Jana who is a film shooter from the anarchist jurisdiction of Seattle. She’s generally seen with an instant camera but is also known to cavort with pinhole and 35mm cameras. If you know her whereabouts please send her all of the laundromat photos you have in your possession.

Follow Jana at https://www.instagram.com/jana_obscura/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Peter is a large format wizard from Massachusetts who is now the caretaker of the infamous 'Jason Lee Lincoln large format land yacht'. Tune in to be regaled of his adventures piloting this mythical beast from California back to Massachusetts during a pandemic and his anecdotes around shooting large format on the road.

Follow Peter at https://www.instagram.com/pgumaskas/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

Dave is an amazing person and brilliant photographer based in NorCal. They've taken some of my all-time favorite photos. I met Dave during Polacon 4 and we became fast friends. In this episode, we discuss large format and instant photography.

Follow Dave at https://www.instagram.com/cinedar/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/

I met Eric at an event in Tulsa Oklahoma in 2019 and discovered he is really good people. He captures life on film in a really beautiful way and he is one of the curators over at Film Photographic. We talk about life and photography and are visited by his dog Weezel.

Follow Eric at https://www.instagram.com/ericeffinb/

Also Weezel https://www.instagram.com/weezelthedog/

Check out Film Photographic https://www.instagram.com/filmphotographic/

Photography Chat is a weekly Instagram Live @merlindb hosts every Thursday at 5pmPST/8pmEST

Give me a follow if you want to see the episodes live https://www.instagram.com/merlindb/