Geometry of Film Fragments: The Art of Letting Go

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A few weeks ago, I decided I had to put some time into tackling my ever-growing film catalog—because, apparently, I thought hoarding negatives like a dragon hoards gold was a solid life plan. I’ve been diligently sorting through binders stuffed with film that will never see the light of day, let alone a print. When I have a moment, I flip through pages of negatives, selecting the worthy ones and sending the rest to their dramatic demise via paper shredder. Sounds harsh? Maybe. But let’s be real—if I haven’t cared about a frame in decades, it’s probably not a lost masterpiece.

Once I’ve whittled down a binder to just a tiny pile of strips, they sit on my table, awaiting the final cut—cue dramatic music. Whatever survives this ruthless culling gets mounted as slides, but first, they need to be trimmed to size. I even wrote a post about it: Cutting Film with Precision: A Guide to Stress-Free Slide Mounting—because, believe me, stress-free trimming is an art form in itself.

Now, let’s talk about the happy accident that led to my abstract image, Geometry of Film Fragments. As I was trimming film, the castoffs naturally landed on my lightbox in an oddly compelling way. Instead of sweeping them into the bin, I gently lifted the entire lightbox, placed it on my copy stand, grabbed my Fujifilm X-Pro3 and the ever-faithful Zeiss Touit 50/2.8 macro lens, switched on the lightbox, and voilà—a new piece of art was born.

Honestly, this might be the easiest image I’ve ever made. Well, aside from photographing my baby boy when he was an adorable little whirlwind of curiosity—though back then, keeping up with him was a whole different challenge.

I know abstraction in art and photography isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I like it. And this little “incident” has rekindled my enthusiasm for exploring abstraction with my camera again.

So here’s to finding inspiration in the most unexpected places—sometimes, all it takes is a sharp blade, a little luck, and a willingness to see beauty in the scraps.