Moving away to college is hard for everyone, and even harder when you’re doing it alone. Despite how close my friends and I are, we all made our college decisions individually resulting in each person attending a different school. Being separated for nine months can take a toll, however the cheesy quote “distance makes the heart grow fonder” has proven to be truer than ever.
When we all came home for summer break, we each had full time jobs. With time being limited and each person being extremely busy, it became even more of a priority to make time for hanging out with each other. These photos capture some of the time we spent together over this past summer. These events range from a visit to the Detroit Institute of Arts to our spontaneous decisions to meet up at the local coffee shop downtown.
If there’s one thing that I love about film photography it is the authenticity of the results. Some of these photos were taken with a disposable camera, which is one camera that does not hide imperfections. The harsh flash helps to give the photos a special edge that personally transports me back to the moment that I pressed the button.
Another thing about the disposable camera is the lack of camera presence that it has. In both photography and film, there is a concept showing that people tend to change the way that they present themselves once they notice that they are being photographed or videoed. It makes the content less authentic. With disposable cameras, they seem less intimidating, which generally makes for a nicer product where the subject is less tense and more natural. Lots of the photos from this past summer have that genuine feel to them where my friends seemed to ignore the camera and just be themselves.
Summer 2019 was likely my last full summer at home with the freedom to see my friends every day. The future holds a lot of really amazing things, but it is also absent of the life that I have always known. As I will be making my journey to study abroad in London during this upcoming summer, I will be sad to miss out on countless trips to the McDonald’s parking lot but I take solace in the fact that I will have these photos to remind me of my wonderful friends at home.
35mm Ce 