LIFE + FILM PHOTOGRAPHY WITH NESRIN
GUSTO35 ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
WRITTEN BY ALEC WELSH
Nesrin grew up in the small university town of Corvallis, Oregon with a population of just under sixty thousand. Early inspiration seemed to come from getting out - whenever it came to a school field trip or a summer camp, she always had disposables on her. "One out of thirty photos would come out kind of okay".
Fun started to go in a more serious direction at a young age, during her freshman year in high school, "I really liked hanging out in the darkroom developing my own stuff, I thought it was really cool to be able to tangibly make something".
Learning quickly, she was on yearbook duty her junior year, using the cameras her school provided. And by her senior year she was editing in Lightroom and Photoshop. "I had great teachers that knew all about it and they just kind of let me do what I wanted".
When she was eighteen she moved to Portland and has lived there ever since, but she's always flying down to Los Angeles for work."I like to shoot film for fun". When it comes to work, there are quick turn arounds and Nesrin doesn't have the type of luxury to wait around to see what's going to come off the roll. Despite this, "I take my film camera everywhere with me, its always in my bag or in my pocket... it's more like my personal memories on film". When asked what she's looking forward to with film, it's definitely getting back to experiencing more life with friends, with a new camera.
"I got a Leica, so I'm really excited about it".
The Pacific Northwest does a great job of keeping her inspired, perhaps that's why she's never left. Although she travels often for work, we were curious if she's ever felt the pressure to move to a city like Los Angeles or New York. "Music photography is my favorite thing to do, so wherever that ends up taking me", going on to say that, "Maybe there is more opportunity but its also so saturated, I think it sets me a part a little bit to live somewhere else".
For the past few years she's been using a small Kodak point & shoot that she found in her dad's garage, "It works great, the flash still works and the film comes out amazing".
Later she looked up the retail price of it on eBay and it only costs seven dollars. So her advice for anyone looking to buy their first film camera; "You don't have to spend a lot of money to get something cool... but I would see it in person, you want to make sure everything works".