Nina Ahn
is a film photographer using a Minolta x-700, Konica Hexar AF and Contax T2. She currently resides in Seoul, South Korea. She has a certain delicate approach to her photography. Whether people or travel, you almost feel as if you’re peering into a private moment.
The Simple Minolta X-700 and More
She uses a few cameras. And has had the experience of others. Like I said, she uses a Minolta X 700, (with a 50mm or 28mm lens), Konica Hexar AF and Contax T2 right now. She has also used Nikon F3, Canon EOS 5, Olympus mu II and Yashica T4 Super. When asked about those other cameras, she states the Nikon F3, while taking some of the best B+W photography she’s ever done, was way too heavy for her when carried all day. ( the Minolta X-700 is much lighter) The others just broke after extensive usage, and she just decided build and AF accuracy were more important characteristics. Hence, the very well built Hexar and Contax.
Nothing is Mundane
Nina Ahn finds beauty in the most mundane of subject matter. In fact, she’s taken many pictures of a tree near her house. She says that every time she passes it, she finds something new. Her travels are also approached in a similar matter. In England she found beauty in the skies and cloud, in Istanbul it was the wild house cats that seem to abound and in Japan it was the almost ghostly daytime streets.
The unique thing about Nina Ahn is lacking any goals to be a photographer. She just loved film and taking photographs. It wasn’t until some magazine editors clamored for more that she realized that maybe she was a photographer, after all. She has since been published in a gaggle of magazines, and is starting to produce much more still life and fashion. But her captures of spontaneous and weird lifestyles most appeal to her.
Personal Preferences
Teenagers and young girls are her favorite subjects for their purity and lack of “adult” self consciousness. The spontaneity of it still attracts her. With more shows and high fashion in her future, she is excited to show her “flowers and plant” project. We don’t know the direction she’ll end up traveling, but I’m sure it will be a worthwhile destination. She’s working with mainstream lifestyle magazines in Korea and concentrating on her personal projects.