MELANIN ON FILM

written by Marco Smith                

It has been a while since last time I spoke to our friend Joonbug.  About three years to be exact.  He was actually one of the first people I spoke with when I first started the blog.  Time flies and many things have changed since then.  His locs are a little longer, his beard a little scruffier and I'm in my third year with In Transit.  But the more things change the more they stay the same, and in my never ending quest to stay at the forefront of culture we find ourselves together again to discuss his latest endeavor "Melanin On Film" which is available though his Fresh Kaufee brand.  It's a "Kaufee" table book that serves as a tangible collection of moments with a primary focus on people of color.  The timelessness of film lends itself well to each photo and breathes life into other subjects.  

While this is supposed to be an interview it feels more like we're catching up.  As stated previously things have changed.  He's since relocated to Oakland and has been there for the past couple of years.  "It's been good man.  I was in San Francisco the first year which is a beautiful city but it had these hidden elements that I could only feel that didn't sit well with me.  There is something about the historical part of Oakland with the Panthers I kept seeing and the company I was in at the time that invited me out that just created this change and planted a seed.  Film just kept being this reoccurring theme." he says

-          Never fully embracing digital photography all of the images for Melanin On Film are captured entirely on film and shot with two cameras.  “Digital just never felt right.  I shot with a Pentax K1000 that was given to me by a friend a few years ago and a Canon QL17 Range Finder that I got at a garage sale here in Dallas for twenty bucks.” he says.  But it went past just the technique in which he chose to put these photos together.  Joonbug was on a journey in search of something deeper.   “I saw a pattern.  The art that I do has a common thread of film. Even when I wasn’t shooting with film I was inspired by film.  I’m inspired by a time that was yesterday.  The way that film captures.  Not everything was always super sharp.  It was more about the moment than it was about the technical shot.  And I feel with digital it can be more about the technical shot” he says

And for him intrinsic to that journey was the representation of people of color; hence the title of the book.  “I really like how our people look on film.  Which is ironic because color photography wasn’t initially designed for people of color.  But we tend to have more of an impression in photography.  When I see people of color in photography there is more of a story there.  A story of struggle that I can relate to and that resonates with me” he says

-      As soft spoken as he is, you can still feel the passion from which he speaks “I’m more of a vessel that creates things for people to enjoy.  There is very little representation of us.  Especially when it comes to the internet.  Typically when you search and that algorithm populates your search, there are few people of color.  So I began to ask myself how do you combat that narrative and I think you do it in small steps.  This is one of mine.”

   Go here to order your copy of Melanin On Film