Ever since my parents gave me my first camera during a family vacation, I have been hooked on photography. I was 6 or 7 years old and the camera was a little plastic Kodak Instamatic. I still have it.
I love working with one of my vintage cameras. My cameras range in age from 85 to 45 years old and in film formats from 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inch to 8 x 10 inch. I also love working with alternative processes such as pinhole photography. Somebody said once about one of my pinhole Everglades images that the image Really conveys that Everglades look!. That was one of the nicest comments I have ever received. Is that not what photographers are going for? That moment that the subject, the viewer, and the photographer all become one?
Over the years, I had several solo shows in The Netherlands, one solo show in West Palm Beach, FL, one shared show in West Palm Beach, FL with another photographer, and one shared show with wood turners in West Palm Beach. Currently, I have some work in a permanent gallery inside the Gaylord Hotels and Resorts in Orlando. FL
One of the things I try to focus on are the mystical and spiritual sides of my subjects, especially with my black and white landscape pictures. As a member of the Baha’i faith, the second most widespread world religion, I realize that we are all the drops of one ocean and the leaves of one tree. Everything is connected and hopefully that notion shines through in my work! It is my conviction that to capture a subject as good as you can, you must love and understand that subject. Even if it is just for a very brief moment in time, there is this creation of a relationship based on love, understanding, and respect. When I am at that point, I feel a form of intimacy with the subject, regardless of what that subject might be. This form of intimacy is for me more present and pronounced shooting with film than with digital. Don’t know if it is spiritual, but either way, pretty darn close. That phenomena is even stronger for me with pinhole photography. There are fewer technical things to worry about. Getting into that state of mind with a vintage camera is icing on the cake.
As a passionate nature lover, nature and the environment always come first and the last thing I want to do is to disturb nature more than what is inevitable for the sake of a picture. A such, I am a member of the Nature First alliance. You might remember the Leave no Trace Behind movement, well, this alliance, or movement if you like, goes a step further. Click on their logo for more info and to join. It is free.
Thank you!
Rudy Umans
