Biting My Tongue

In a digital world of instant gratification, the limitations of black and white analog photography felt new and exciting. Analog photography captures images with light sensitive film and the film is developed with a chemical process. The image is printed in a darkroom with light sensitive paper and more chemical baths. There are limitations as to how the images can be manipulated through analog techniques, such as dodging, burning, chemicals, and toners. As graphic designers we have endless digital editing tools. How can analog limitations lead to creative storytelling? What can we do in the darkroom that can’t be done in Photoshop?

Biting My Tongue is a photo book that is the result of working with the constraints of analog limitations. Taking a self-portrait on film is very poetic. I cannot see what I am capturing until the film is developed, and I cannot click a button to erase a moment. All of the mistakes are mine as I refuse to let anyone look through the viewfinder or touch the shutter. Iconographic symbols and typographic choices connect the images and text. I embrace the constraints of the medium by creating my own sets with scrap paper, found objects and random lights.

Analog Photography with poem "Have you ever written about me? She asked- I roll my eyes. This like this should not take a genius. In a year, if your still there. That's how I'll know. If you ever cared, you can read it in my thesis."

Biting My Tongue behind the scenes and final image