Super 8

The Kid is an artist. Practical considerations are besides the point. This year The Kid is taking a class at American River College on film photography, including printing on photographic paper. He's learning the whole darkroom routine. Who needs that today? I can't imagine anyone who still uses roll film for photography.

Except an artist. And The Kid is an artist. I learned photography from the perspective of a journalist. I look classes at Los Angeles Valley College and the University of Southern California. My first newspaper job was as a reporter/photographer. I took photos, developed the film, printed the photos and wrote the stories. I still consider myself a journeyman photographer.

The Kid is an artist. Film -- real film with silver grain, not the ones and zeroes of digital images -- is the medium. The Kid has two shelves in his room of film cameras. One row has still cameras and the other Super8 film cameras.

This is The Kid's self-portrait -- done in film, developed in a darkroom, printed on paper.



For several months he's been taking his Super8 cameras along with the digital video camcorder he normally uses to film the Shughe skate team. The other day he finally got to see what he had done.

The Kid had a half-dozen Super8 film rolls, all but one black and white, none filmed with sound. He mailed them off to a company that develops film and transfers the movie to miniDV tape. (He prefers miniDV tape rather than DVD because of the interface with his computer and his miniDV camera.) He got the film back the other day and now he's put it together in a 9 minute montage.

This is a teenage boy's young man's art film.

It's All Gonna Break from shughe on Vimeo.

The shughe link below the video will take you to his more traditional skate videos.

Someday you can say you knew The Kid when . . .