Artist Statement
Michael Hodson believes that film photography's constraints are not limitations to overcome, but essential elements that define and enhance the final image. Each roll of medium format film carries the weight of profound scarcity—just twelve frames that demand absolute deliberation. Every exposure becomes a commitment, every composition a calculated risk. This constraint forces a meditative approach that digital photography's endless capacity cannot replicate.
Working with traditional medium format cameras and hybrid processing workflows, Hodson embraces both the medium's inherent character and the ritual of manual capture. The grain that digital seeks to eliminate becomes texture that speaks. The latitude limitations of film force him to read light with precision. The deliberate act of manually focusing through the ground glass, feeling the substantial weight of the camera, hearing the subtle click of the leaf shutter—these physical interactions create an intimate dialogue between photographer and subject that shapes every frame before it's ever exposed.
This philosophy emerged from over twenty years of working with film, beginning when Hodson first held his father's Pentax K1000. That modest 35mm camera became his teacher in the discipline of scarcity and the patience required to see clearly. Every limitation it imposed—the finite frames, the manual controls, the irreversible moment of exposure—shaped his understanding of photography as a craft of deliberate choices rather than endless possibilities.
Based in Bendigo, Hodson finds central Victoria's landscapes particularly suited to film's way of seeing and this careful, considered approach to capture. Working almost exclusively in black and white, he is drawn to the way film renders contrast and gradation—the subtle tonal relationships that define form and mood without the distraction of colour. The stark contrasts between urban edges and rural vastness translate powerfully through monochrome film's ability to distill scenes to their essential elements. His hybrid workflows bridge traditional capture with contemporary post-processing—professional development and scanning services translate the latent images into digital files, which Hodson then refines using techniques that honor the darkroom traditions of dodging and burning.
The result is photography that carries the fingerprints of its making—images enhanced, not hindered, by the beautiful imperfections and happy accidents that only film can provide. For those who understand that the best art often emerges from working within boundaries rather than despite them, Hodson's work resonates with that same appreciation for the craft's enduring magic.