Filmneverdie Shooters - An interview with Marcelo Zacarias

So, where do you come from & what do you do for a living?

I'm from Brazil. But I have been living and working here in Australia since 2006, so I guess Brisbane now is my second home :) As for the second half of the question, I do web and print design for living... and film photography as a hobby.

How old are you?

I'm 36.

How did you become inspired to shoot on film?

I was born in 1979 and grew up through the 80's and 90's, when most of media were still very analogue and tangible. So to me it really feels like the digital option was just a brief break I had from film photography (something I had to use for a while, simply because it was the mainstream natural option for all of us). So this "brief break from film" was just pretty much 2 or 3 years shooting with DSLRs, fuji mirrorless, smart-phones, etc... until finally the analogue bug bit me again and brought me back to film cameras.

All that process and ritual: choosing the right film for you next project, loading your camera, limiting yourself to 24/36 exp, waiting for the big surprises, developing your own film, light leaks, the camera noises, and that grainy raw look... they all took me back to my childhood, and the whole thing was way too fun to let it go. So I sold all my digital gear and got myself a simple rangefinder and 35mm SLR.

What format do you shoot? 35mm, Polaroid, 8 x 10 etc.

35mm.

Why do you like this format?

Most of the time I shoot street photography and some abstract snapshots here and there , so 35mm is the best option for me. Landscape is my second favorite genre, so I'm also considering trying medium format for the first time very soon.

Where do you see the future of analogue photography?

Business initiatives such as Japan Camera Hunter or FilmNeverDie cafe for instance will definitely help and keep the community alive. I see a very promising future really, and it has everything to do with us clients and consumers, the small blogs, the independent photo labs, the big names not giving up (ilFord, Ferrania, Leica). The niche market will always be there in my opinion.

Where can we find out more about your work?

You can find most of my work on my website http://www.streetbyzaca.com or my Instagram account (where I mix film photography with literature) https://www.instagram.com/zacarias_35mm/ - @zacarias_35mm