Around this time two years ago the name “wasteoffilm“ was born. I was searching for something that was more recognizable and offered potential for more and it all started as a coincidence (maybe it all wasn’t looking back?). The whole name came up by chance during a roadtrip through Italy with my buddy Dominik Schmitt . Back then I started to get more and more serious about film photography and recently got a rangefinder (you don’t look through the lens, rather through a window with frame lines displayed). So you can’t tell if the lens cap is off or not (and if you’re used to SLR cameras this is fair change) and also my flash didn’t work all of the time, so some frames were a real waste of film and we got joking about this. That’s how the name came about. And later on I started experimenting a lot more with different film stocks, cameras, ways of exposure and developing techniques. We experiment a lot until we find the right look and also waste a lot of film, but without these rolls we would never have found our individual look. The unexpected and the room for experimentation. Of course our images are not a waste of film, but important memories we want to preserve in a tangible medium forever. A reminder to the frames we wasted, but also the times we accidentally found an unintended look.
But that was just the start. During 2015 I published two books and a zine and that really was my way to rediscover the joy of photography. It also was the time I started to develop all of the film myself. Looking back, this really was a tipping point.
The blog started out of wanting to create more space for sharing work and not another place to talk solely about gear. With the bigger features also came the weekly feature. YouTube is a great way to interact, but it just lacks a good way of sharing work. I hope to be getting back to producing more videos for the channel soon!
In June / July of this year I finally published my fourth book, which compromises the images from a journey to Japan in 2016, which was a crazy year in terms of shooting. And that’s where I decided my personal work should live, in print. Not all images get published online because it wouldn't make any sense taking them out of their context and I also find it hard to share single images on Instagram. There is so much left out and lost.
There are so many things I skipped, but in the end I just want to say that it I am just starting to explore of what this all could be. I’d like to thank everyone for their support and contributions. More ideas brought to life and in the end a never ending process of experimentation.
