The Fur (and around it)

Featuring - Lividity (IG: @lividity)
Shot via - Adox 63 (I think)
Shot on Ilford Delta 100 (Likely)
Shot in Saskatchewan (Definitely)

As I've been enjoying the hyper-focus and dopamine post-art market a couple weeks ago, I've been exploring my older film photography sets from back when it was more of a novel thing to try for fun than a specific motivated artistic medium.
This is where I came across a roll of film I shot with Lividity on a chilly winter day in 2019. I was in the midst of a series of gothic inspired milk bath sets on digital and we decided for fun to shoot a roll of film before getting into the bath portion.
It's so interesting. I remember shooting, processing, and reviewing this roll of film and thinking that it was cool, but not the important part of the day. As I said, this was hobby and the focus at the time was still on the shiniest, texturiest digital images I could manage to build.
So here I am weeks from 2026, diving into the archive and coming across this set.
I come across this shot.

I can't really explain why it hit me with fresh intrigue, but something in the pose, something in the framing, something in the expression just feels like something.

I'm caught in this moment of thinking "How did I overlook this set at the time?" and several thoughts come to mind.
Top amongst them are two.
The value of limitations and the evolution of focus.

When I shot digital it was pretty common practice to end up with 2000+ images from a shoot day. I'd shoot with an action shutter as a fail-safe for blinking or capturing interesting hair motion and generally because - why not? It's digital and my card has 128gb of space. The major issue I can see now is that scrolling through thousands of images means details get missed, great shots don't make the cut when maybe they should.

It's hard to appreciate the finer points when there's so much to sift through.
Having less means what exists gets more attention

I also remember being very excited about the milk bath shots. Lividity has always been an incredible model to create with (and just one of the most energetic and positive presences someone could ask to be around) and her fashion industry experience combined with her love of horror and macabre presented some shots that perfectly balanced the allure and threatening aura I wanted out of the series as a whole.

It was hard to focus on anything else from the day.
Today's attention doesn't negate today's potential tomorrow

So, here I sit, end of 2025 picking over photos practically lost to archival history and feeling so excited about what I've found.
Excitement not only for cool photos (and the need to definitely get Lividity in front of a camera again) but also appreciating that there is always a new perspective to find in old work.
While you may have created something a long time ago, new eyes can find new value.
New reflection can see things about the art you missed
About the artists that you couldn't have seen in the moment.
About that moment.

Reflection is an incredible tool for growth.
Everything you do has value and matters.
Everything is art
Even the art you forget.

-dsmsblk