Jesse Kilmon is a photographer despite his wallet’s best wishes.

A person wearing a gray baseball cap and white shirt operating a professional camera mounted on a tripod, capturing a scenic view of the Grand Canyon with its layered rock formations and deep valleys.

Me, visibly cooking, at the Grand Canyon with my old Toyo 45E

My photo journey began with a small gift from my mother when I was just finishing high school, a small Canon point and shoot that I immediately fell in love with. That little camera made something click in me and changed my life forever. Shortly after I bought a Canon EOS Rebel that used 35mm film which kick-started my romance with analog photography. From there I spiraled from 35mm to large format with a toyo 45E, a heavy, slow, and very specifically studio oriented camera that I drug around the country shooting landscapes on a tripod that was absolutely not meant to handle a monorail camera. Now, my go-to is an 8×10” built by Gibellini Cameras. this beautiful camera has been with me to over 20 countries and almost every state in the USA. It’s my workhorse that shows the years of withstanding rain, dust, unrelenting sunlight, and being slung around in a backpack the size of my torso.

‍ ‍Large format film certainly has it’s limitations, primarily with the expense often exceeding $30 per shot and being slower to set up. However, with some patience, it has many advantages as well. My draw to this format primarily comes from the sheer resolution it’s able to provide. With relatively low resolutions scans or enlargements, prints exceeding 50” wide isn’t unheard of, especially with my own work. Film as a whole also gives one of the most important benefits to me, permanence. Digital files come and go, but physical copies of my work are what’s most important to me. With large format I could lose every hard drive and still have a large portion of my photos safely stored in an archival box ready to be scanned again for future use. Modern film stocks last decades when stored correctly.

Lately I’ve fallen into a comfortable routine of PNW summers, autumn colors throughout the Rocky Mountains blending into winter in the high deserts, and spring blooms throughout the western US. While our less than stable climate the last few years hasn’t helped in consistency with these trips, I always try to stay flexible with what opportunities for my next shot are given to me. If you would like to support my journeys documenting our wonderful planet, feel free to look at my Printsor Donation pages! Every dollar goes towards my photography and Kodak’s shareholders.

If you’d like another method to see my work:

Instagram: JK8×10