OCOLOY Collective

Hi I’m Johan Otterdahl Edfeldt. Passion, visions and dreams have shaped me since I was a kid. I never took the easiest route or tried to be normal. I saw things in ways I couldn’t explain until I really got into my photography but I always saw my world like a photographer since as long as I can remember.

Music has also been a way for me to explain myself. The combination of photography and music is always a good match when you’re not feeling like you fit into society. I always believed that if you have an idea or project, then live it.

It was actually the vinyl album covers that got me interested in photography from the beginning, and as a surfer/skateboarder in the 90s, I was exposed to a lot of photography through the magazines I bought. I was always more interested in the lifestyle, portrait and documentary shots from those magazines. The surfing lifestyle took over my life completely by the age of seventeen, and it’s still a huge part of my life. I just got back from a 10-week surf/photography trip through Europe.

My first 10 years of photographing were just to catch memories from travels and friends. I was too busy with my music and surfing. There were never any plans to become a photographer. Good gear was too expensive for me, at least I thought so. Even though I never had good gear, I still have images from the best moments of my life packed in two shoeboxes filled with memories from my late teens and early 20s, all shot on disposable 35mm cameras. I think all the experiences I’ve had in my 20s made it easier for me in my 30s to go deeper into my world of photography.

The way I photograph these days started when my wife and I got a Canon Rebel 550D back in 2011. We went on an eight-month trip to New Zealand, and there, I learned a lot about myself, how to interact with people and how to photograph the world how I see it. From street portraits to landscape and documentary photography. Even though I photographed for nearly 25 years, it wasn’t until I switched from Canon to Fujifilm 6 years ago that I felt this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The feel, look and soul of the camera wanted me to pick it up all of the time. I still feel that way. My X-T2 has been on top of 2500meter mountains, in dry deserts, stormy days, north of the arctic circle, humid rainforests, snowstorms, music festivals, from +45ºC to -22ºC and so on. I owe so much to this camera. For my OCOLOY vol.3, this will be the camera I will use, and I hope it will not die on me. Only one of the two card slots is working, the wheel on the back is not working, the flash hotshoe doesn’t work, and it has reached the autumn of its years. This year will be like a tribute and a thank you to the X-T2. I also think it’s the best bang for your buck if you’re looking for a used camera these days. I’ll probably buy a used one when this one stops working.

Over the years, I’ve tried 35mm photography (Pentax, Olympus, Nikon), Fullframe (Canon), Micro 4/3 (Lumix), 1-inch Sonys RX100s and a few APS-Cs. For me, the APS-C hits the sweet spot. I still have my RX100 for longer hikes when my gear needs to be as light as possible, but for everything else, I use my Fujifilms. I’ve had 1 1/2 years away from my OCOLOY projects, and now I’m itching to get back.

After I finished my second year on the OCOLOY I felt ready to get back to my camera bag, cameras and lenses. On my New Zealand trip last year I had the X-S10 camera for late night photography and surf photography with the XF55-200mm tele-zoom. My X-T2 was my primary camera mainly paired with the 35mm F1.4 and the 18mm F2. I also carried the kit lens 18-55mm, a Konica Hexanon 50mm and my XF50mm F2. None of them got used. So did I get any better images than when I only had one camera and one lens for a year? The quick answer is no. I was more frustrated, carried more gear, always changing lenses where I missed images, and my photography became sloppy and lazy again. I could have done the whole trip with the 35mm, and I’m sure I would have come home with better images. I needed the 55-200mm for commercial work, but all the other lenses could have stayed home. My best images of the trip were all taken with the 35mm and 18mm, even the surf images. The 35mm and 18mm are my two favorite Fujifilm lenses. I wish I just would have brought one camera and one lens. I did the same thing this year on my ten-week roadtrip through Europe, I simply brought too much gear, so now it’s time to go back to basic again. I feel stuck creatively, uninspired and a bit lost, to be honest. My next OCOLOY project will hopefully change all of that.

So, one camera, one lens for one year? Why?
It’s creative, inspiring, fun, motivating, educational, liberating, healing and life-changing in more ways than one.

It’s important to start the project with a blank page and try to photograph through new eyes. OCOLOY suits beginners as much as professionals.

During the first year of OCOLOY, I walked longer, met more people, and changed the way I photograph and how I see the world. Even though I used my oldest digital camera with my cheapest lens, I still managed to have an amazing year with some of my favorite images ever. Some of them have even won awards and been sold in galleries for five times more then I paid for the kit, which really confirmed it is not about having the best gear possible.

For me it all started when I got a used, cheap Fujifilm X-E1 three years ago. During that time, I also found a Konica Hexanon 40mm F1.8 from 1979 in a secondhand store for 20 USD. A very good-looking combo. After I got the converter for the lens I did some test shots with it out in the streets and was pretty amazed by the quality, both on screen and in prints. The 40mm (60mm full-frame equivalent) was a focal length I wasn’t used to and it was the first time I used a vintage manual lens on a Fujifilm camera. It was a big challenge to take on, but I think we all need to challenge ourselves from time to time. The first two weeks of the project flew by easily until I was out of ideas. I had already shot everything I could think of with the 40mm focal length, and that is where the journey began. I decided to make each month a challenge within the challenge. One month with no people in my images, followed by a month where every image had to have a person in it. I did one month of street photography, followed by a month of landscape photography etc. Early into the project I also decided to crop all of the OCOLOY images to 5:4 aspect ratio since I like this format. The months flew by and all of a sudden I was done. My editing approach was very simple. I shot mainly JPGs and edited them quickly in Snapseed on my tablet. All I needed was a small bag for my camera, a few extra batteries and sometimes a mini-tripod.

I was overwhelmed by how this project really made me see the world of photography in a completely new way. The fun I had experimenting with the different projects combined with research and seeing the results in print always kept me going further. It was like medicine for my soul, and I felt like a new person. I wish every photographer could experience this at least once in their life. I’ve made a book about the project with over 100 images which I hope someday I can release.

Directly after OCOLOY year one, I decided to start OCOLOY vol.2 the same day the first project was finished. To challenge myself as much as possible, I took my then-least used lens, the XF18mm F2, and paired it with the X-E1, which I had fallen in love with. From 40mm to 18mm was a huge step and I wasn’t used at all to 18mm, but I loved other people’s images with this focal length.

To make it even more challenging, I decided to shoot only in black and white and in the aspect ratio of square crop 1:1, which made the whole year into a long challenge. I took what I had learned from the year before and applied it to the new project. New eyes, new focal length, only black and white and with an autofocus lens. This project made me fall in love with the 18mm focal length, taught me how to compose better with a wider lens and showed me a world from a perspective I had never seen. I didn’t do any monthly challenges with the 18mm since I saw the whole year as a big challenge. I did a lot of printing on both my OCLOLOYs, and it has made me want to print even more.

WHY OCOLOY Collective?
I’ve talked about my OCOLOY project in a few magazines and podcasts. It has inspired photographers to try it out, and so far, the response has been great.

I now want to take it a bit further and start a collective where we can help, inspire and push each other to become more passionate photographers and get better at photography.

I’m calling it the OCOLOY Collective. The website is www.ocoloycollective.com, and the Instagram is @ocoloycollective, where you will find a lot of information, images, challenges, and more in-depth info about the project.

My favorite podcast, The Street Photography Podcast, will soon have an episode about our OCOLOY collective as well.

No membership is needed, it’s totally free and you’ll get the opportunity to get published in printed magazines, on the website and on our Instagram page.

I will also arrange two Photowalks in Gothenburg, Sweden, for free at the end of August and October if you’re interested in meeting some of the people in the OCOLOY Collective. We’ll have a long walk through Sweden’s coolest town, share ideas, and have a few beers or coffees. The only thing you need to bring is one camera and one lens. Gothenburg is over 400 years old, is the hometown of Hasselblad, and carries the nickname” Little London.”

So what’s the catch?
There is none. I want to inspire and help photographers get more creative and expand their passion for photography. Hopefully, you’ll have an amazing year ahead.

The website will have a page for those who want to be a part of this project where you can read about their ideas for the year, see their images and find out what gear they are using. It will be a place to check out once in a while to get new ideas and see how others are doing.

All you will need is one camera, one lens, and use it for one year. If you are a working photographer, then of course, you can use your other gear while working but don’t forget to bring your OCOLOY gear to spice it up.

Try to have a mission with your year ahead but challenge yourself at the same time. If you can’t come up with ideas I’ve written down about 40 different projects you can try or add to your year on my website. It’s good to combine some of them as well to make the project even more challenging or maybe just make one thing a challenge for the year.

I recommend not using a zoom lens and keeping the gear as simple as possible. Maybe use your least used prime, or why not buy a cheap secondhand manual, vintage lens? You could also swap gear with a friend for a year. For my OCOLOY, I always shoot in M mode, taking one shot at a time and never taking multiple shots in a row.

If you are an analog photographer, maybe use only one type of film for a year.

To spice things up, maybe add a ND, CPL or Pro Mist filter to your lens. A good-looking bag for the camera is also a thing I would recommend. A nice bag makes you grab it more often than you think and it doesn’t have to be a camera bag.

For my OCOLOY vol.3, I will be using a manual 7artisans 35mm1.2 I bought for 75 USD used on my old and dusty Fujifilm X-T2. A combo you could buy today for less than 500 USD used. In my first year I did OCOLOY, I spent less than 150 USD on my kit. I chose the 7artisans 35mm since I was missing the analog feel I had in my first year of OCOLOY with the manual focus. I also want to show what is possible with a very cheap but unique lens. I will use it every day and even for some of my professional work. I have two custom film simulations I’ve been working on over the years which settings you can find on the website. I’ll shoot JPG/RAW and do light editing in Lightroom this time. I’ll start my OCOLOY vol.3 on the 17th of May but start my first of 12 projects on the first of June.

Now, what’s your gear, ideas and plans for the upcoming year? Please share on my mail stayuntilforever@gmail.com and I’ll try to post some of them on the website.

If you got any questions please let me know.

Sincerely, Johan Otterdahl Edfeldt
@ocoloycollective