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Nechama "BoomBoom" Brodie fought her first amateur bout during a "white collar boxing" tournament in Johannesburg last night. I documented the evening on both my iphone and my professional gear.

To see the iphone images visit: http://2point8.posterous.com

To read more visit Nechama's blog: http://gratuitousjewess.tumblr.com/

Digital photography has in many ways changed me as a photographer. Many of those changes negative - 'cuse the pun. It's destroyed much of the magic of making, yes - making photographs. It's too clean, too colourful, too TV. That's why after 4 years of doing very little film photography I decided to take a weekend away from immediate gratification and only take medium format film cameras to Africa's biggest rock festival - Oppikoppi.

I took my Mamiya C330 6x6 twin lens reflex and the Fujifilm 6x4.5 and a cooler bag of 120mm film. I worried that I'd forgotten how to load, how to meter, how to shoot without the crutch of the LCD. But 10 years primarily as a film photographer doesn't leave you, emulsion gets under your skin. Making pictures took a little longer, much more care. 

The tool became a speaking point of Oppikoppi, a method of introduction. There were young adults who had no concept of a non-digital reality and thought perhaps I was rude when I said I couldn't show them the picture. A few were impatient that a portrait took a little longer than a snap with a cellphone camera. But most asked to hold it, to look in it's eye.

I made a new relationship with the only film lab left in Joburg, and suddenly photography was a team effort again. Then came the process of making it digital again. That was not as fun.

I think I became a better photographer this weekend.

Visit the Photography Feature section to view the new Oppikoppi pics.

"Photography is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses to awareness. Much depends on the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought. Someone – or perhaps many – among us may be influenced to heed reason, to find a way to right that which is wrong, and may even search for a cure to an illness. The rest of us may perhaps feel a greater sense of understanding and compassion for those whose lives are alien to our own. Photography is a small voice. I believe in it. If it is well conceived, it sometimes works."

"I have tried to let the truth be my prejudice. It has taken much sweat. It has been worth it." W. Eugene Smith died with $18 in the bank.