As an artist whose medium is photography, I’ve spent quite a bit of time trying to achieve a certain look. It’s hard to explain, but Romanas Naryskin of photographylife.com penned this style Classic Vintage Photography – a “vintage-retro-dreamy-low-contrast-film-look.”
What Makes It Mesmerizing?
Back before HD, “all you really had (at least in your family albums) was a range of grey tones. Dark grey, light grey and everything in between. Certainly no six digits and no six letters. And, my word, those photographs are beautiful. Why? … Because it resonates with our memories. It’s nostalgic. It’s… well, for the lack of a better word, dreamy. Personal.”
Of course, back-in-the-day folks experienced life much the same as we are experiencing it – with huge contrasts, (both happy and horrific), and days that didn’t feel productive or worth much.
But time is a healer. The more time that passes, the memories incapsulated in vintage photos seem more “ambiguous and open to interpretation,” with an interesting way of then becoming more personal and nostalgic.
If we’re in the photo, we remember how a moment made us feel (instead of the reality of details, or what went on around us). If we are an onlooker, we imagine ourselves in that idyllic moment. That’s the beauty of catching a moment you can look back on: you provide a way for your future (family, community, or even an older version of yourself) to connect. I love creating Classic Vintage photos because I hope, down the road, my posterity feels as connected to me as I do to my own family through the photos they left behind.
I know life isn’t perfect. Sometimes we need sharp, gritty, clarion-call photos to see (and then change) injustices around us. But I gravitate to softness, kindness, beauty, which can truly be found or created anytime, anywhere.
