20th Anniversary Issue: Stan Banos

blog

20th Anniversary Issue: Stan Banos

August 8th, 2023 by fstop

As part of F-Stop Magazine’s 20th anniversary celebration we invited past featured photographers to share with us some thoughts and reflections. We asked each photographer to consider how their photographic work has changed over time, how the changes in photography over the past 20 years may have affected or influenced that change, and to share what they are up to most recently.

©Stan Banos – Brooklyn

First, all due kudos to F-Stop magazine, which has continued to provide opportunity, service and exhibition space to countless photographers since the aughts! A digital original that has somehow managed to survive and provide a sense of online community despite the onslaught of FB, IG and YT…

I was still shooting B&W film when first featured early on in F-Stop, and would do so till 2016 when I decided that digital had finally ‘matured,’ and bought a used Ricoh GR. That said, the purchase made no sense; aging eyes, no viewfinder save for a miniscule back screen hardly visible in sunlight, I sincerely thought I would resell the palm sized toy within the month. Then a weird thing happened- I couldn’t believe the quality images it could produce when taken seriously, instead of just treating it as a toy. After decades of shooting strictly monochrome, I gave up all notion of converting digital files to B&W- I would play to digital’s strength, and go for color!

©Stan Banos – Chewy

Film to digital, B&W to color, and from a 20mm focal length to a 28mm equivalent- a fairly different way of seeing, and yet, there’s more continuity than departure; and I’m loving it! Not only am I seeing and photographing more, I’m enjoying the whole process more and producing more images worth keeping and sharing than ever before…

Location: Online Type: Essay, FStop20th

blog