Hannant goes with what he knows
They say that to be a successful writer you should write what you know, and the same might apply to photography.Photographer Roger Hannant repairs boats out of a boatyard in Mills Creek boats and boatyard equipment feature in his work now on exhibit at Rock Island Coffee on Reid Street.Through his lens, objects like an old rusty boat propeller, red boat rope or old rusty barrels take on a certain dignity and become objects of visual interest.“The pictures I take are off-the-wall,” said Mr Hannant. “I like lines. I walk around with a camera pretty much all the time. I am self-taught and I have never taken any lessons.”His photography show is on now through March 27, with pictures selling for $200 each.Mr Hannant has been taking pictures ever since he got his first 35mm camera in 1969. Some of his work has appeared in group shows at the Bermuda Society of Arts. He had his first solo show earlier this year, also at Rock Island Coffee.One of the photos in the show is an orange sunset, but Mr Hannant is dismissive of this type of picture.“There is one sunset picture in the exhibition, but I hate taking sunsets,” said Mr Hannant. “It is too conventional for my taste, but a lot of people like them. I get the most comments on the sunsets when I post them on Facebook. What I enjoy about photography, is the end result, I guess. I like capturing what I can see. I have a strange eye compared to most people.”The pictures were taken with an $800 Leica digital camera. He only switched over to digital photography a year-and-a-half ago, somewhat reluctantly.“Before that I was a film guy using Kodachrome 25, but they stopped making that,” he said. “Film is better. Although now, there are some cameras that will do 24 megapixels which they say is comparable to film. The camera I am using does ten megapixels, but I am happy with it.”