Uncategorized X-Community X-Series X-User

TAKE TEN: Arron Nathan Moos

March 24, 2022March 24, 2022

2022 marks ten years since the appearance of the X-Pro1, the first camera to use the Fujifilm X Mount. To celebrate, we’re showcasing the best images from our local community. Hailing from Cape Town, Arron Nathan Moos was announced as the Design Indaba Emerging Creative for 2022. We explore what photography means to him.

Why do you love photography?

On the whole, I think what drew me to pick up my own camera was that there was something about the realisation and awareness that we all ‘see’ differently; that despite our shared humanity, we all have unique experiences. Finding out that there is a way to document, preserve and celebrate those moments in photographs – and even create imagined visions of new ones – was really fascinating to me, particularly the idea that there can be an impactful way of conveying an idea or reflecting on a certain time period.

Yet, on another level, photography has become this medium of expression that delivers a promise that one can and can’t keep. While the image may remain intact; its meaning, relevance and impact will tend to shift and evolve over time. In the same way that those fleeting moments are made and remembered.

It is then these associated elements of storytelling and perspective beyond the image that become intertwined with my practice. There is magic in those seemingly mundane moments, and all is a gift made visible, tactile and relatable through the wonders of photographic and artistic mediums.

What made you switch to Fujifilm and when did this happen?

I made the switch over to a Fujifilm X-T3 in the middle of 2020. I had been considering what the upgrade would be for an extended period of time and the X-T3 came in at a suitable price point for a combination of excellent glass (18-55mm f/2.8-4), intriguing film simulations, high-quality photo and video with added connectivity.

What do you love most about the camera?

The build quality, lens quality and range of colour profiles are as good as a chef’s kiss. It’s also fairly compact in comparison to a DSLR. I tend to lug it around with me as much as I can to document those little day-to-day moments – which is also where the analogue look and feel comes in handy as it makes it a touch less intimidating to people.

Tell us a bit more about your photography and what you would like to achieve through this.

Over the past 18 months, the nature (and power) of images as artefacts of time, whether factual or not, has been a recurring reflection in considering approaches to how I choose to capture moments. Informed by our time and the ‘slowness’ felt recently, I’ve tended to engage more thoroughly with South African photobooks, essays and various narratives portrayed across visual mediums. These have contributed greatly to evolving my own understanding of voice, identity and perspective. Whether in an artistic or documentary sense, the intention remains the same: reflect moments imbued with all their hues of emotive feeling and beauty – with a touch of relatability included too.

There’s a Goldblatt quote that comes to mind from The Last Interview (edited by Alexandra Dodd) where he reconciles images from parts of his practice as ‘something lovely to share with whomever will understand it’:

“The photograph by its very nature is from the past, so it carries with it a whole bundle of ideas and values that are embedded in another time and whether that other time [and place] is menacing or benign, interesting or boring, will depend on you the viewer and what is disclosed in the photograph.”