Virgin Diana and the Produce Drawer
By Matt Patterson
29 Jul 2008
I saw the photos that Mr. T and gang took up in Portland and was very inspired. What a great idea, getting fellow Jpgers and models together for a fun day of shooting. Christina (Jpg intern) set it up at Treasure Island at 11am. I was trying to decide which camera to bring, lens etc. Trying not to have too much or too little. I looked up on my periwinkle mantel (hand crafted and painted) which is filled with my camera collection which ranges from super 8's to Brownies and a few in between. In the center is a Diana F still in the box complete with instructions...virgin. My fridge has an entire produce drawer dedicated to film. My friend Lori used to send me film from all the big wigs in New York. Most of the film is expired by now. I decided today was the day that I brought these two together: Virgin Diana and the produce drawer.
I arrived a few minutes after eleven and strolled over to the group.
"Is this the Jpgers"?
"Yeah. Are you here to model"?
"Ah, no... maybe in my last life?
I had a bit of a laugh at that one. Christina got everyone gathered and we pilled in are cars and headed on to the island. Treasure Island is an old navy base that is falling apart. It makes for a magical backdrop of decay. Burned out buildings, abandoned bowling alleys and a drained Olympic size pool. (don't get your hopes up skaters theres no transition). The island has become a place to make and create and not be bothered.
At first everyone was a little nervous not really sure where or who to shoot first. By the end all politeness had disintegrated into a full carnivorous frenzy of rapidly firing shutters.
"Give me that sad confused look"
"Over here"
"Oh Yeah that's it"
Photographers sound really funny sometimes. It was really interesting to see how different people work. This was the first time that I shot with real live models. I normally shoot people that I know. when I got the film back I was really upset; blurry, light leaks and color shifts were all there. I came back to them a couple hours later and saw them in a new way. Soft eyes. My favorite photo of the bunch is of Holden texting and smoking a cigarette. She heard me and looked up, I put my finger to my mouth, shhh. Don't awaken the others.
