Meet Sean Rohde, a Registered Nurse from Arizona with a unexpected interest in toy cameras. Although Sean has no formal training or professional experience in photography, his images are brilliant and used as inspiration all over the internet.

Meet Sean Rohde

interviewed by Meagan Long

Where do you reside? =”font-weight: normal; “>Phoenix, AZ (for the past 12 years).

What do you do for a living?RN on a cardiac unit

How long have you been interested in photography? Off and on my whole life. My first camera was a Polaroid (I think a Super Shooter). I didn’t take classes until college and shot film until 2000; then I pretty much just shot digital from about 2000 to 2004 until I became interested in toy cameras.

How did your interest come about? The interest in toy cameras came from browsing the Internet at my then job. I found myself being drawn to Holga shots. After I bought a Holga, it took me about a year to really get rolling with it and other film cameras. The re-interest in Polaroid came from Flickr and a friend.

Do you make any income off your work? Nope, not really. I’ve been published a few times and done some other projects, like CD covers, but I’ve never made any money off it. I have a job; I want photography to be something I want to do, not something I feel I have to do.

Do you work with any other media? I like to draw and took an oil painting class a couple years ago. I’d like to do more of that in the future. Also, I am well versed in Photoshop and Illustrator. I recently designed a logo for Filmwasters.com.

Where did you receive your education? I got my BS in Education in Indiana. My RN came from Phoenix College here in Phoenix, AZ. Though I did work for a publishing company for 10 years doing page layout and ad work, so I didn’t really use my first degree. I’m self-taught in all of the publishing stuff.

Have you ever had an exhibition? t-weight: normal; “>No. I had the opportunity to be part of a show recently, but I was busy with starting a new job. I’d like to be more involved with the scene.

Have you ever had work published? Yeah, I’ve been in various issues of Lightleaks (which I also set up for the first three issues). I also have two photos in Lomography’s Holga: The World Through a Plastic Lens. I have a photo on the cover of the latest Crowfish album, and possibly another CD cover (for someone else) soon. A couple photos appear on the cover of an e-book called Birthday Girl by Diana Wright. I think she’s looking for a publisher. I’m all over the place on Internet blogs as well (and I’ve seen my stuff used without permission in some online magazines). I think that’s it. Seems like I’m missing something, but maybe not.

What cameras do you use? Geez, there are so many! I have at least 80 film cameras. The most often used are my Snappy (a Diana clone), Holga, Kowa Six, Great Wall DF-2, Fujipet; and then various Polaroid cameras, like the 180, 195, Colorpack III, Square Shooter, SX-70 and Big Swinger 3000.

Where do you buy your cameras? Mostly online - mostly eBay.

Do you prefer film or digital? FILM! I don’t hate digital, but I mostly use my digital camera to take photos of my film cameras. It’s a circular argument; but I think digital is a bit soulless. You can do some pretty awful things with digital as well, like HDR. But there are plenty of bad film shots out there too. I like to think that what I shoot on film and Polaroid is a bit more individual - that you couldn’t go to the same spot and shoot the exact same shot with ease.

Where do you find film? Online. It’s cheaper. Most of my 120 comes from freestylephoto.biz. Expired film and Polaroid usually comes from eBay. You can find some great deals if you are patient.

What subject matter do you like to work with? I really enjoy shooting people, but I currently don’t have anyone in particular to shoot. I like to drive, explore, and check out all of the small towns in Arizona and California.

Does your work have any themes? Lots of desert and lots of abandoned themes happening. That’s because I live in the desert and I enjoy exploring.

Do you develop your own film? Yes. I always develop my own black and white, and prefer to develop my own color, even though it’s kind of a pain. But I can buy a color kit for $14. The local shops charge something like $11 to develop one roll of 120 color. I’m a DIY kinda’ guy.

What special techniques do you use in the photographic process? Cheap cameras, expired film! Well, even my expensive cameras get the expired film. I prefer organic color shifts.

Are you self-taught or have you received education in photography? I took three semester of photography in college (1988-1990), but that was all that was offered. Gave me a good basis for comp and the technical aspect of developing. Though I had to re-teach myself.

Have you ever done a series? Not as a specific goal from the outset, though many shoots are really series, as the theme and setting tends to be similar in that set.

Are you working on any special projects? No. I’m always thinking about something to do. I like to take things apart and rebuild things, to experiment a bit.

I found you through someone’s tumblr. Do you have an account? Nope. I’m familiar with it and have seen it used on some Websites. I have too many things to keep track of online already! I can’t keep up with much more.

Do sites like Flickr offer you more opportunities or help to create awareness of your work? Most definitely. I wouldn’t have had nearly the same experience with photography without Flickr. I’ve met some great people and have been exposed to so many different styles and ideas. And it’s an easy way to share your work to the masses. I do have issues of course with some aspects of it. Naked women get 30 times more views than anything else. Or when I see a digital photo of some balloons in the sky with 30,000 views and 250 comments, I can’t help but roll my eyes. Everyone likes what they like though. As long as I’m enjoying myself - whatever.

Do you subscribe to any magazines? Outside Magazine. EGM until they just recently closed up shop. I pick up New Times on occasion.

Do you have a website? Where else can we find your work?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sjrohde/

http://moominsean.blogspot.com/

Pretty much everything I have available is on one of these two sites. Though, I have a Polanoid account as well and regularly converse and post at toycamera.com and filmwasters.com.

Anything else you would like us to know? Film will never die! And I hope Polaroid has a future. If not, I’ll keep stocking up.