“Make every picture count.”

That’s what Martin Wilson’s dad told him when he gave him his first camera for Christmas in 1973. Now he pushes that to the extreme.

That’s probably why my work looks like it does today. I’ve arrived at a way of working where I put every frame on display. The entire film is visible. The numbers underneath each frame show that each picture is taken consecutively. Perhaps subconsciously I’m trying to prove to my dad that I haven’t wasted a single shot.

My pictures are painstakingly created frame by frame on 35mm film. I get the whole film developed, scan it, then piece the final image together on the computer, making a large contact sheet. It’s only when the completed film strips are laid out side by side in the contact sheets that the final image appear.

Pretty amazing.

Martin Wilson via NPR