Fill The Frame with Richard Stainthorpe and the Sprocket Rocket

Richard Stainthorpe, better known as super.sampler on Instagram is based in the North East of England and enjoys experimenting with a variety of Lomography cameras. We loved his purely analogue feed and asked him a few question about some recent Sprocket Rocket photos he took around his local area.

Hello Richard, please tell us a bit about yourself.

I was raised bouncing back and forth between England, Ireland and Germany because of my parents work. It probably sounds more bohemian than it was, before settling in the natural beauty and the harsh industrial landscape of the North East of England.

How did you get into film photography?

I went on to do art and design after school, later specialising in graphic design at Cleveland. These courses always, for some reason had a photography side tagged on to them, which was a massive blessing for me now.

I learned how to develop film and print photos, as well as how to properly use a camera and given so much freedom to shoot rolls and rolls of film. I’d always see things around me that I’d want to capture, be it moments or places and so my love of photography was able to grow greatly during these years.

What's the appeal of shooting with the Sprocket Rocket camera and what do you most enjoy about it?

The panoramic look really intrigued me straight away. I was drawn to its whole aesthetic really and just loved it. You know when you get the photo right, it will look great. It’s a simple camera that is unforgiving if you get it wrong. The Sprocket Rocket really makes you think about the photo. How best to fill the frame, what to keep in and what to lose, because unlike most cameras there is not a lot of editing you can do after with the sprocket holes, be it cropping or trying to straighten the composition.

Tell us about these photos.

They’re locations near and around me, that give me the most inspiration at the moment. Already knowing the areas I am traveling to in the North East, I’ll have ideas of what best to shoot. I do plan to travel further next year once I have built up a body of work I really want to expand on and go from there. I mainly shot on Kodak for colour and Ilford for black and white. They are my tried and tested go-tos.

If you were to invent a film camera what would it do?

If it’s a wimsical magical camera, one that when you took a photo, it’d show what was happening at that spot, on the same day in the past. I don’t really want to know about the future just yet. An actual practical one would be a lomo camera that shoots excellent photos in any super low light and dark northern skies with minimal fuss.

You can see more of Richard's Sprocket Rocket shots over at his super.sampler Instagram page.

2022-12-15 #news #people #uk #sprocket-rocket #super-sampler Share Article