A wise person once said, “When someone asks you to do a hipster photo shoot, you say YES!”
…so when my roommate, Alex, suggested the idea this past week while we were hanging out at home I said, “YES!”.
I’m going to give a little back story as to WHY this idea came up.
My best friend in the world, Cengiz, and I are constantly tormenting each other with our photographic media preferences. I tell him digital photography is for those who can’t shoot film and he suggests film is dead and calls me a hipster. He ALWAYS calls me a hipster for my relentless suggestion of using film over digital and for how much I love it. I experiment with all types of film as well as formats of cameras. I fell in love with large format 4×5 photography in college, use my 35mm film camera all the time (luckily I have a darkroom I can develop film and prints in) and even occasionally use lomography cameras! My favorite camera though, is my Mamiya RB67 medium format camera. love, love, LOVE that camera! …but it’s the DianaF+ Lomography camera that I believe started it all. …all the ‘hipster’ name calling I mean.
One of Cengiz’s posts on my Facebook wall in which he was calling me a hipster because of one thing or another was seen by quite a few people who quickly realized how defensive I got when he called me said name and they all decided to join in on the fun as well. For about a month after that everything I posted on Facebook was accusatorily commented on with nothing more than the word, “HIPSTER!”
..and so it begins..
One of the people who caught onto the game is Rick. If he must be labeled, he could be considered my uncle, I guess. He’s more of a friend though. He is a friend of my parents and every time we all get together something happens in which he calls me a hipster, all of my ‘cousins’ laugh and join in and this obviously starts a conversation amongst us all – I defend myself and say I am not one and he (they) points out all of the reasons I am: I listen to vinyl records, I like photography, I own a mac, I’m cool, etc. I always deny that I am one, no matter how many things I have in common with this subculture.
Actually – one of the main things that makes you a hipster is your denial of being one, so it’s a real catch 22 when this topic gets brought up. Rick will even google search the definition of one to point out even more clearly that I am, in fact, allegedly, a hipster.
So this has become my life. Every time I do something, anything, I get called a hipster. (I will always deny this, of course. Does that make me one?? Oh, Crap!)
If you, my readers, are confused as to what a hipster is, please use these articles:
And if you want to read some rules on how to become one click here. The whole ‘denial’ part of it is cited as well. It’s a really funny article – I definitely recommend it even if you don’t actually want to become one. It will definitely help you understand all the ins and outs of the subculture with a sarcastic undertone.
Ok, back to the hipster photo shoot:
When Alex suggested the idea I thought it would be a lot of fun, so I started setting up my studio lights. Halfway through the process Alex turns to me and says, “You must never show Rick these. You will never hear the end of this.” and I laughed, knowing she is completely right.
Alex and I went through all of our stuff and found the most hipster outfits and props we could find: winter hats in the summer time, American Flag Fake Ray Bans, Lomography Cameras and the like… It was shaping up to be a lot of fun, and that it was! We were laughing hysterically at ourselves, our outfits, and the faces we were making in each shot. I photographed Alex and then she took a few of me. Enjoy these! …and please, whatever you do: DON’T SHOW RICK!
This isn’t the first time I’ve taken inspiration from what my friends have called me. A few months back my friend AC called me a hair monster. This immediately inspired a Cousin Itt themed photo shoot, which I loved the outcome of. You can check those photos out by clicking here.
…and by the way: If you want an update on the ongoing battle between Cengiz and I… I think I’ve WON! Cengiz is a photojournalist and recently photographed the NATO Summit in Chicago for Getty Images. He photographed digitally for them and at the same time for his own personal work he documented the events in 35mm black and white film. His documentation of the events are unbelievable. Check out the documentary by clicking here.
