November, On Film
Note to the reader:
A new edition of “November, On Film,” along with more photo essays by 80+ authors can be found here.
Every couple of days I go through photography, art and story submissions. My objective is usually to find images and stories that work well together and are able to form a story. The story can have independent elements but they need to be connected by the common theme and aesthetic. Kind of like The Simpsons episodes: they are all separate, non-sequential anecdotes, but they are all about the Simpsons family.
The theme for this collection, as you may have guessed is November.
Insomnia
After midnight, a walk through the typically busy streets of Toronto reveals a city that’s in between comfortable sleep and complete wakefulness. There is some eeriness added to the streets in the fall at night that comes with the slight chill of autumn winds.
Dreaming of Clouds
I didn’t expect this image to come out the way that it did. How could I? All I saw through the tiny viewfinder of my Diana Mini was a figure of a girl. Ten minutes later it was the clouds — a second exposure on the same frame of my film strip.
Once I got the negatives back, I saw the lines of straight long hair lay gently on a “cloud pillow” while the mysterious figure stared at the shore and the neatly planted trees in the distance. This was a lucky, beautiful shot.
This image reminded of the wonderful dreams that I had when I was still a baby. When I saw it, I remembered my grandpa picking me up and carrying around the room to calm me down as I cried myself to sleep. Everything felt better in his arms. I was flying.
Transcontinental
A few years ago, Betty and I rode a train across Canada, between Edmonton AB and Vancouver BC. We were lucky enough to have a nice sleeper cabin for just the two of us. “Travel in style,” they said, “Sleep in comfort,” they said. But neither of us could get much shut-eye.
The reason: stunning Canadian landscapes that kept us glued to the window from dusk to dawn, unable to blink. Over the course of days, the scenery changed from mountain ranges, white peaks and dark green pine forests to dry, stretching hills. And then back again to something completely new, like the endless prairies of Alberta.
I took this shot in the connecting hallway between train cars as they drifted along at 5 AM in the morning.
Taken with Lomo Monochrome film, loaded in Diana Mini.
The Gardener’s Girl
This shot was created by an accident. Back then I had had an idea for a picture with a red fox and rowanberries. As it usually happens, not all concepts are easy to visualize in reality. That was the case on that winter afternoon. The light outside kept getting weaker and the shots were still very far from what I’ve envisioned.
At a certain moment, I sat on a chair in my room and I saw a rowanberry branch laying on a piece of lace cloth. Although it wasn’t my original idea, I found this combination of colors and fractures inspiring.
The resulting work became quite popular on DeviantArt. Later, my sister gave me an insightful comment about serendipity. She said that maybe I shouldn’t plan my shots entirely and trust in happy accidents.
The Three Wishes
I was walking through a shop when I saw golden glittering candles. Rich, glamorous feeling of their color inspired me for a photo series with golden props. Gold is bold and chic; I find magical.
I wanted to combine that color with elegant yet modest blacks. This photo was taken on the staircase of an old tenement in Wrocław, Poland. Eastern and central Europe is full of enchanted buildings from 19th century.
Water in the Sun
Down near the lakeshore in Toronto, there is a small water park. Where the kids run screaming in surprise and delight past the nozzles that squirt cold water into the air at timed intervals. The droplets high in the air sparkle in the sun’s glow, reflecting the deep blue skies up above. There’s no better place to be for them on this hot summer day.
But the edges are blurred and colors are fading into white as the distant memory of a joyful season fades and gives place to the next one. It’s now time to put on some clothes and get ready to shop for gifts.
This image was shot using plastic toy camera with expired film, scanned in ultra-high resolution with a professional film scanner.
Evening Daisies
A few years ago I spent a month in Vancouver (my hometown) after living for years in Toronto. One week at the ocean and three in the mountains. I took this image on our way from Whistler down to the city where there’s a lake surrounded by giant hills.
There’s a small village down by the docks that had a park with wildflowers. This is a photograph of the daisies that grew there and the rocks that surrounded this beautiful place.
Taken on a small plastic camera, I used my cheap sunglasses to shield the film from the November sun and avoid over-exposure.
Forest in the Fall
My university years were a mix of discovery, stress, loneliness and joy. The campus where I studied was built on an incredibly large lot, surrounded by endless suburbs, adjacent to a park.
I lived there since the first day of school and never moved back to my parents’ home since. One lonely summer, while working on an animation project I went for a walk to clear my head. It was longer than usual as it led to the back of the campus where laid a “nature trail”. A long forest strip that towered over a ravine looking down onto Credit River.
Since then I would always come back and meditate (in my own way). Alone, free of thoughts; no poses or techniques. Sometimes my friends would come along. Years later I brought my girlfriend and we carved our names into a tree. It’s been a long time since; I now live on the other side of the world.
This place is still with me, in my heart. Sometimes I close my eyes and wonder, how tall is that tree now? Can we still reach and touch our names in the bark?
This shot was possible with a special camera that took four shots at about half-a-second interval. The vertical strips are the result of a tiny shutter opening and closing, exposing the film one frame at a time as I pan the device across.
Fall in the Sky
The bright, warm colors of maple lit up the cloudy cold sky of Toronto. The incredible season of fall, when the weather is perfect, was in full bloom. It wouldn’t last, as those leaves would drift towards the ground and crumble with time. In a few days, there won’t be any left. Gone from the branches, hidden underneath the white snow.
This shot was made in Toronto, yet it reminds me of my walks with grandpa, thousands of miles and many years back, in Moscow. We would make our way to the store as he would think of the chores he’s yet to do and I plaid with the leaves. One day we took a few of them home and placed in a book for the keepsake. They wouldn’t last of course, but my memories are still with me. Vivid and bright like the reds of an autumn maple.
Shot on film.
