A Walk With Darcy

Experimenting with pairing the world's most advanced DSLR (mirrorless) camera & some vintage Nikon glass put me in need of a subject. I found that very easily with my daughter, Darcy. We often spend the weekends together and as each day/week she changes and develops into the next version of herself - any moment captured is so precious. I was testing ahead of a small solo shoot where I would be both directing and self-shooting - so often these days, I work with my DoP to shoot whilst I am hands-off directing.

There's 40 years technology between the Nikon Ai-s 50mm 1.2 and the Nikon Z9 but some things in engineering were simply nailed when they were first developed (When things were made properly!) and this seems a match made in heaven. It's the same with hi-fi equipment - we've spent years trying to better it but the noise and imperfections we were trying to rid ourselves of, we've all realised it's what makes things 'human' and what we ultimately connect to; in art at least.

Digital camera tech is so precise and detailed now - it's incredible what has been achieved. But, for a lot of photographers and film makers, it's the imperfections which count - it's these things that bring us warmth, connection, perhaps a point of relatability. Over sharpness of lenses and the loss of 'character' and flare etc is what makes photographers like me look backwards. Don't get me wrong, these all come with their issues and I wouldn't be able to satisfy my commercial clients with this setup - I often need, instant, accurate, detailed, reliable etc... but when you're looking for a bit of 'feel' and inspiration to see a frame differently, sometimes (just sometimes) a change in gear can help.

This is a short film (click here to view on Vimeo) I made whilst out on a little 'hike'. Chasing a toddler whilst hand-holding a camera with no stabilisation, pulling manual focus at the same time as stopping both her and me tripping and falling into a river... it's a task! But I couldn't help put this together - a small snapshot for the time capsule, cut to the sound track of a friend's cover of Landslide by Fleetwood Mac.