Bare Bones Magazine: Stella Maris

Bare Bones Magazine is proud to bring you two unique views on life, told through the medium of photography. We present to you a juxtaposition of film and digital storytelling. The arguments for either medium can be found across the internet. We're not making an argument. We're celebrating the beauty contained within the idiosyncratic nature of each respective format.

Part One: Film Photography

How does personal experience change your view of life? Is there an objective way to approach existence? Immanuel Kant might argue that. I, however, have a theory that everything we see, touch, say, or - most importantly - create is colored by our experiences, personalities, and all the rest that makes us absolutely human. Objective existence, as far as humanity is concerned, is a myth.

Film has a beautiful tendency to reflect this notion. You raise the camera to grab a moment in time and distill it into flat space. And yet, it seems to fade as soon as the shutter is snapped. So much is left to chance. It's a delicate and messy affair, often capturing moods, tones, and feelings in ways that no other artistic process can. Film feels, stresses, ages, and reacts. You feel, stress, age, and react. A medium that directly reflects the moody and distracted emotions inherent within the human body, all mixed with chance and skill.

It's extremely telling, what a person chooses to take a picture of. Anymore, it's somewhat pricey to take pictures with actual film. It's risky. All good art involves a little danger. We should pay attention to these costly experiments at capturing moments in time, if only because they show so wonderfully what it means to be young and observant.

Alison Donohue.