Sup. You’re Zach, right? Everybody in the friend group calls me Cam. They probably would even if my name wasn’t Cameron because I bring my K1000 everywhere. In the summer, anyway. It’s an easy toss-around-the-neck sunny day shooter. In winter, I bring out something more serious. If you’re still in the friend group by November, you’ll see what I mean.
My mom gave me my first camera. A little F-Stop 17 with a detachable 99. She said, “See the memories as they happen and share them with the world,” and that’s what I’m doing. Sometimes I tag her in a shot I’m extra proud of, like when I saw Andy standing on the opposite train platform and he was looking at his phone with like, this look. A look that said–
Never mind. Sorry I just get so moved by my friends sometimes.
Your deal is Polaroids, right? That’s cute. I don’t mean that in a condescending way. One of my favorite things is taking a snap of all the Polaroids at the end of a fun night. Fanned out on a table at Golden Nugget? Nothing better.
I like being a witness to history, to our little histories, plural, and being a reporter of like, life. The life of the organism that is this friend group. There’s an art to it, beyond the photography, which is one of only a couple true remaining arts, besides tennis or maybe being any kind of award-winning chef.
No, aside from my eye, the most important thing I bring to the table is positioning. No one else knows the perfect vantage point for candids at a party. Did you see the February drop? Dude, you gotta request to follow my second Insta; you’ll love it. February, Hannah’s roommate threw her a surprise thirty-first. Here, flip through these. Angles, distance, composition. If you saw how tiny that kitchen was in person? Well, you’d see it as tiny anyway; but I knew better. I call it casting.
It’s vital to keep the familiarity of a friend, but the distance of a documentarian, or a detective. Wait it out. Choose your opportunities. You don’t want your friends feeling like they’re being hounded by paparazzi, all click-click-click. Devin was in a play at the Goodman once; Paige is on a Harold team. These people value their privacy.
I’ve captured all of this friend group’s Moments, capital M, for three years now. Hannah’s surprise thirty-first, obviously, but also when Steve scattered his dog’s ashes, Mike and Danielle’s wedding reception afterparty, and that time at Ribfest when the cops came. Here: This is my mom pretending to browse tourist pamphlets in a hotel lobby in Branson, Missouri the summer before I switched high schools. What was she even doing there? That’s not where we were staying. And who’s the other woman? That woman right there, Zach. The woman in the corner with the tote bag. Jesus.
You can Polaroid if you please, my dude. Write something funny in fridge magnets and line everybody up in twos and threes. But that’s not how you grab humanity in a split second. That’s not how you get the girlies in wigs toasting with coffee mugs. It’s not how you catch straight guys laughing with their mouths open.
Yeah, I’m not in most of the pics. I guess I’ve always just been more of an observer. Once in a while I’ll snag a selfie, say if I find a vintage mirror in an alley, or the sunglasses of a baby in a backpack at a music festival. Do I sometimes wish I was in the group shots? Sure, when everyone’s dancing, or hugging, or like, a stolen moment of eye contact with a casual or close or best friend or stranger. Scattering my dog’s ashes, scattering my dad’s ashes, a surprise thirty-first or thirty-sixth, yeah I’d be down. Throw me a party, my kitchen’s bigger than it looks too, right? My mom’s new husband’s name is Randolph. She wants me to meet him but I’m probably not gonna. When I was eleven I saw her shoplift lip-gloss, even though we like, owned a boat?
It's basically a second job. By the time I develop, scan, and pick the best six to eight shots for the monthly batch, I’ve dedicated a lot of time to this friend group. More than anybody maybe. You ever been in a darkroom? That red light thing from movies is fake; you can only have it on for a split second. That’s my favorite moment of the month. Heaven is an instant, my dad used to say.
Also, I do headshots if you think you’re gonna stick with improv.