Italy Travel Story by Harrison McArtor

Our latest feature is a travel story from photographer Harrison McArtor. Harrison traveled to Italy and brought his adventures to life on 35mm film. Here is more from Harrison about his time in Italy…

The following are travel photos from a trip to Italy with my friend Lisa in 2017. My film photography style has always been focused on documentation: friends, buildings, landscapes, weird stuff that I see. My aim is to be able to open up my photo albums and travel back in time. This trip was a bit of an impulse as Lisa had just broken up with her boyfriend and invited me last minute. I’d never been and had just quit my job, so I figured what the hell.

I brought my Canon 5DMarkiii and 5 rolls of film for my Nikon F3. Sadly, within the first week after a long night of drinking Negronis, my friend dropped my digital camera square on the head and broke the shutter inside. So I bought more rolls, and, as a happy result, I was blessed with many amazing memories recorded in film. We spent a month exploring cities, being hungover on trains, drinking beer in the street, and eating salumi.

During this trip, I was really starting to think about lighting and composition, and, for the first time, I tried to really incorporate that methodology into a largely candid approach to shooting. I’m always aiming to capture some sort of nostalgia in my images. Something that can bring back specific moments and that make you feel like you were there again. In the end, I learned a ton, had heaps of fun, and, well, three years later this is still one of the best trips I’ve ever taken.

Analog cameras and films used: Nikon F3 (Find at KEH Camera or on eBay) | Ilford HP5+ (Find on Amazon), Kodak Portra 400 (Find on Amazon), Fujicolor 400 (Find on Amazon)

Connect with Harrison: Website | Instagram

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