Artists of Downtown Camera Feature
Hey, I'm Karson Pilote. I am a Filmmaker and Photographer. I’ve had a lot of “first” interactions with photography, but my first interaction would be when I would just mess around with a Canon T5i that I got to make films in high school with. I would completely overedit all my pictures, cranking everything on the sliders, having no idea what I’m doing. But when I really started to become a photographer was after I graduated from the Advanced Filmmaking program at Fanshawe College in London Ontario, I found my Grandfather’s Minolta Maxxum 7000 35mm camera. I took that camera with me everywhere, and even though my first rolls weren’t fully successful I felt I had to stick with it because the shots that did turn out were really rewarding.
I’m a jack of all trades when it comes to film photography, but I mainly shoot most of my photography on my Leica R4s, 50mm Summicron lens with a pro-mist 1/4 filter. I also use a Yashica-A medium format, a Porloroid Cool Cam 600, and a Canon Auto Zoom 814 Super 8 to make all my music videos with.
My favorite film stock for photography is Kodak Vision3 500T, because I like how versatile it is. and being able to shoot in all conditions, day and night. I’m also a sucker for movies so shooting on cinema film is just what I gotta do. My Favourite Black and White Film is Ilford HP5 400 and I push it to 1600, because I like the grain and contrast it gets when you push it. I shoot more color now, There was a while when I'd only shoot black and white, but now I just do both. It's nice to mix it up once in a while.
The reason I shoot Film over digital is that even though film pictures may not be perfect compared to digital, film creates a feeling of a past memory to me because memories are not perfect. It’s about how a memory made you feel, is how I look at it and my photos.
Who inspires me are other Artists/Directors I look up to like David Byrne, Leonard Cohen, Paul Thomas Anderson, Sofia Coppola, but the quote I needed to hear for my own art/career was from David Bowie; “Always remember that the reason that you initially started working is that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you coexist with the rest of society. I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations — they generally produce their worst work when they do that.”.
Other things that inspire me are watching films because when I do my photography I like to imagine it could be a still from a movie or an album cover.
I’m currently working on some screenplays, music videos, and a photobook I’d like to take 2 more years of photos to save up and create. Even though I feel like I'm at my peak for creating great photos there’s still lots I need to learn, but getting uncomfortable with art is what drives me and keeps me learning and coming back.
I’d like to thank Downtown Camera for thinking of me for #artistsofdtc because if it weren’t for them I wouldn’t be doing film photography. I’ve been going to them for 5 years now and they’ve done nothing but give me the best service and results.
One last quote from me before I leave is “You have to take bad photos to take great ones”.
Have a great one,
Karson Pilote