Get Featured: Stephen Zane
Stephen shares with us a project about India, attempting to document the ever shifting political and societal sands that make India such a fascinating place. Check it out.
Hi there, my name is Stephen Zane, and I’m a young documentary-portrait photographer from the USA. The project I’ll be sharing with you today was one I shot back in the spring during my first international assignment.
Shot in Andhra Pradesh, India (or, I suppose it’d be Andhra Pradesh & Telengana, due a whole bunch of politics I’m not nearly educated enough on to go into.) …it’s something that came into existence almost unintentionally. India is a country that has undergone immense societal change in a remarkably short period of time, with old ways of life being suddenly declared obsolete. I found myself making portraits of subjects that represent the chaotic mixture of new and old, both literally and metaphorically, that churns amidst India’s peculiar brand of globalism.
(Top image) Ruemy eyed men stuff and pack and cram, filling cloth sacks to the brim. Sent off with a sneeze and a cough, India’s fiery crop is borne off by the whiles of the wind.
Perhaps those who live so close to the hereafter wander down paths of thought that those who cling to the earth cannot hope to comprehend. A frail figure shrouded in white drifted along beside me unto a door beyond…
Simply Chaos.
Find your own meaning.
It’s funny how each new photo I look at comes as a fresh surprise. I feel at times like an outsider looking in, each scene showing up in emulsion and pixel in a subtly different way, tugging at the seams of reality in a sense, and yet still truer than the warping of memory.
I think we as people don’t want to admit that maybe, quite possibly, we aren’t seeing things clearly That… if our view present is skewed, how much more variation from fact must grow in the mind?
How will I see things, looking back upon these moments in time I’ve captured?
Will I remember….I mean truly remember? …the smiles and the sighs, the aches in my head and the aches in my heart.. I feel as though I leave the part of myself that will best comprehend this adventure in India, perhaps never to return.
Anyways, with that I’ll leave you all. Thank you so much for taking the time to give this a view!
You can find my work over at my website, with links to the usual social media suspects there:
www.stephenzane.com
or on my instagram: http://instagram.com/thegloriousend
Thanks for sharing your work with us, Stephen. The colours of India really draw me, I really hope I can go there sooner rather than later.
Come on, share with us what you have and get yourself featured.
Click on this link and send in your project/work: Get Featured. *I am looking for mainly projects, not individual images*
Oh, and click here to see a few of the photographers that have been on the site before https://www.japancamerahunter.com/?s=featured
Please make sure you come and comment. Polite and constructive critique is welcome, offensive and disrespectful comments will be moderated.
Thanks
JCH
Dear Stephen, I got “lost” on your homepage by looking at your marvellous pictures from india. It brought back some intense rememberings of my time there. Your pictures reminded me of my dream to go back and stay for longer…
Thank you so much Alex!
Glad I inspired a bit of wanderlust =)
Can’t wait to get back there myself….made a few really great friends.
PS: Really good homepage, already bookmarked it. And thank’ s Bellamy for your homepage. Always an inspiration!
Could you tell more information on the photos?
I just found the colors and sharpness to be out of this world. What film did you use? What lens was used?
Any more information would be amazing :)
Hi Donzash,
Very late responding here,
I shot about half these on a Bronica ETRS with the 75mm & 150mm lenses. The other half were shot on my Fuji X-E1 digital, with the 18mm & 35mm lenses.
As for film, I used Kodak Tri-X, Portra 160&400, and Kodak Ektar. Looking back with what I know now, I really should’ve shot more Ektar! Brilliant film, if a bit more challenging exposure wise. I used all Kodak as I think the color rendering suits India marvelously well, though when I’m here in the States I like Fuji 400h because it’s a bit easier to match my digital files with. Hope that helps!