Chris Moody is a film-photographer from Maine. He mostly shoots nature, landscapes, and wide open uncharted spaces which exhibit the simple beauty of our planet. At Lenspeople we have special regard for those engaged in film/analog photography. nature/landscape images, when shot with film the shots seem to us more carefully composed and more creative. Looking at the nature photos of Chris brings back old fascination and nostalgia with its exquisite tones and grain. He is a frequent traveler and shoots beautiful images of some solitary mundane places which look captivating and inspiring. It’ll indeed be very enriching to know more about him and his photography:

Hello Chris! Please introduce yourself.

Hi!. I was born in Little Rock, Arkansas in the American Summer of 1992. i spent little time in Arkansas and instead grew up in the Texas Hill Country where I was surrounded by holy waters, views and valleys, and a whole lot of nothing. I have always been into exploring, skateboarding, photographing, and jumping off cliffs into water so that’s what I do and most of them flow into one another which is perfect. I waited for a bit to go to college and dropped out after the first year to pursue my desires without the standardized way. In the last years I have been working with the Conservation Corps and traveling, during the off season or between travels I work $tupid meaningless$$ job$ for a couple of months. I like to see all of what this country has to offer, all of it.

How old is your passion for photography? How often do you shoot?

My older brother got a small digital camera that was the size of a 2x2inch square… he couldn’t manage to control its flash so then taped it up and hated it. My mom was questioning what to do with it once near the laundry and I told her I wanted it. so I got it, and before school every morning I would wait for the sun to rise and photograph the first light. I also began taking photos of my friends and skateboarding more and then began to focus on everything around me, the dead creatures, the rivers, and whatever else. I’ve always had a serious approach to photography it’s just now I have more of a direction, I think.

Most of my work is my hobby, and most of the time whether it be in the woods or in a small city I find beauty, so it’s pretty easy to balance those as they already are balanced. As far as how many photographs I take in a weeks/months time it all depends. (I just had deja vu)

So, what exactly does photography mean to you?

It’s such a crazy thing, as with the rest of technology, but photography is incredible and so much more beyond all that. It’s an obscured look in to the past, it’s a made up concoction of light showing you your dreams, it’s the world around you in a new perspective, it’s the moment you just experienced and never will again, it’s the immortalized.

What do you like shooting most? What about editing and equipment?

I mostly focus my eyes on the vast endless landscapes but am as eager to photograph a situation of wild/boring human life too. I’ve used a lot of disposable cameras and my Nikon FM-10 for the majority of the years with random little cameras getting a roll or two before I pass it on to someone else or something. Currently my equipment is slowly dying, but like all the other dead it comes back to life, but then dies soon after. It’s kind of weird, but it’s true. So yeah I am at a big shortage with equipment right now… As for editing and manipulating… I touch up maybe 1 out of every 100 images I have, I’m a big believer of it is what it is, not trying to make everything “perfect”.

How do you rate your experience with film photography?

I believe that digital is almost all about not having any vision, or more so not really having to master your vision… take 50 photos and select one…. yeah I am not in to that. I prefer to take my time or a quick impulsive snap and take that one shot that really captures the moment, not taking 50 and hoping to capture that “one good image”. I like film, and why yes digital does have it’s few perks and I have used it before. Film takes to you a whole new world with photography and keeps some of the roots alive. the only negative thing about film is finding cheap places to develop or finding the space to develop it yourself, but I’ve found quite a few of those places, thankfully.

What have been your biggest achievements so far?

I created my first zine NATURE SUCKS at the beginning of 2013 and since then it is now all over the USA & UK and also in Sweden + New Zealand which rules to have physical copies of my dreams throughout the world, hoping to get it in even more peoples hands soon. let me know if you want a copy!

How do you shoot your magnificent nature shots?

Thanks! I’ve got to say that mother Earth is doing it all for me and us. I just watch her very closely and find all the beauty. She lights it, she creates it, she is it, I immortalize it. I spend my time with landscapes because they are time capsules, ever changing capsules, beautiful bodies. I am also a little worried about the future of human destruction and want to praise these miracles before they get covered up by cement.

What are you going to do next? Who are your favourite artists and photographers?

My future plans are to continue what I’ve been doing and keep growing from them, maybe teleport to Australia, and finally go down to Mexico! My sources of inspiration come mostly from street art, Earth-space-time and the unknown, and people: Eric Hansen, Richard Renaldi, Built to Spill, Strangers, my mother + brother + father, Earth, storms/rivers/the sun, Explosions in the Sky, Edward Abbey, and so many other things and people and bands. They’re all great. Everything and nothing keeps me motivated.

Say something to our readers:

Whatever you do make it beautiful and full of love + follow your dreams.

Chris Moody links: Website | Flickr

Note: All images appearing in this post are the exclusive property of Chris Moody and protected under the International Copyright laws. Their copying and reproduction in any manner is strictly prohibited without the express permission of the owner.