Snap it up

By Cindy Landrum  

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 11:19 a.m. (0)

As a professional editorial and commercial photographer, Ian Curcio has access to some of the best photographic equipment on the market.

Sometimes, though, he just uses the camera on his iPhone.

No dials to turn. No settings to change. Just press the shutter button.

“No working photographer would ever argue against the premise that the better your equipment, the easier it is to get good images,” Curcio said. “But the equipment is not what makes the photo. You could give me Ernest Hemingway’s pen and that doesn’t mean I would be able to write like him.”

One hundred photographers will soon find out how true that is.

Snapshot Spartanburg, a community photo project sponsored by Hub-Bub, begins Oct. 6.

For a $20 entry fee, each photographer will get a 27-frame disposable film camera to use to take images in Spartanburg County. The cameras have to be turned back in at Hub-Bub no later than Nov. 1.

“We want everything shot in Spartanburg County but it doesn’t have to be a recognizable space,” said Stephen Long, director of the Showroom.

Hub-Bub did a similar event a couple of years ago when participants got an assignment on Friday and turned in their photographs on Monday, Long said. It was popular, but organizers decided to tweak it this year.

Using disposal cameras evens the playing field, Long said. “Disposable cameras really challenge you creatively because you’ve got this cheap, crappy camera,” he said. “A photographer can’t rely so much on the quality of the camera. He has to rely on composition and interesting lighting to make a good image.”

Snapshot Spartanburg kicks off on Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. with SnapYap: An Evening with Four Local Photographers.

Photographers participating in Snapshot Spartanburg will be able to pick up their disposable cameras at SnapYap or at Hub-Bub weekdays from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m.

During SnapYap, four local photographers -- Curcio, Spartanburg Herald-Journal photographer Alex Hicks, Wofford College photographer Mark Olencki and Hoteye Photography owner Carroll Foster – will discuss their work for 15 minutes each.

After that, they’ll give Snapshot Spartanburg photographers advice on how to get great shots from a disposable camera.

“Using a disposable camera is a way to be creative without being bogged down with the technology. All you have to do is point and shoot,” Curcio said. “It allows you to stay focused on being creative and not to be hung up on all the features of the camera.”

And, Long said, since some people have never shot photographs on film, it requires a skill not required of photographers who use digital cameras – patience.

“Not being able to see it instantly is kind of foreign to us now,” Long said. “Using film is sort of retro.”

Curcio agrees.

“It’s sort of whole new feel, well, actually an old feel that is becoming new again,” he said. “There’s a surprise element with disposable cameras that is not there with digital.”

The simplicity and surprise take the pressure off, he said.

Curcio, who worked as a photojournalist for the Spartanburg Herald-Journal and the Greenville News and as a staff photographer for a travel magazine based out of Nashville before he became a commercial photographer, once did a 365-day iPhone photography project where he took an image a day with the phone’s camera.

Curcio said that while that project is finished, he still uses his iPhone camera a lot because it only requires pushing one button.

“It takes all the pressure off of doing complicated photography off,” he said. “There are no filters, buttons, menus, bags and suitcases of equipment. It’s just pressing one button.”

Many times, the photograph will turn out differently than expected, he said.

“But it is no less interesting,” he said. “There are a lot of happy surprises.”

Disposable cameras do have their limitations. There’s no way to change the aperture or shutter speed. Bright daylight will work, but high noon doesn’t look good in any photograph, he said.

Curcio said he’s been sticking colored pieces of plastic in front of his iPhone to make photographs that are unique and different.

“There is no wrong way to do this and that’s the beauty of it,” he said. “You can be silly, experiment and have fun.”

And, he said, not every photograph will turn out.

“That’s the dirty little secret photographers won’t tell you,” he said. “We shoot hundreds of pictures to get a few that turn out great.”

The disposal cameras used for Snapshot Spartanburg will have flashes and 400 speed film.

After the Nov. 1 deadline, Hub-Bub will have the film in the 100 disposable cameras developed.

All 2,700 pictures taken will be displayed as 4-inch by 6-inch pictures in an exhibit at Hub-Bub.

The exhibit will open Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. Ten winning images will be selected and will be displayed as 11-inch by 17-inch prints.

The three grand prize winners will get Holga cameras. Holga cameras are medium format plastic toy cameras manufactured in China.

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