If you’ve stumbled across Dohsi Media on Instagram you’ll have come into contact with a page that consists of a wide variety of photo styles and formats. Photographs taken with intent, but with a very different subject matter. Portraits, lomochrome film, vintage cars, medium format, 3200 black and white, landscapes, blurry, sharp, flash photography, the odd skate photo, even some super 8 clips and everything in between. Yet, everything seems carefully curated and meticulously thought out. Recently, when I bumped into Ishod, as I do on occasion, the conversation seemed to land on cameras instead of our usual topic of vintage BMW’s. I had become aware that he had a wide range of film cameras that he used frequently. I wanted to learn more about his cameras, about Ishod, and the eye and mind behind the lens, so I reached out and he invited me over for a studio visit.
I was always very intrigued by it. The first person that I really started shooting with for Real was Zander Taketomo in Philly – he had a Hasselblad. Prior to that, I never had seen a film camera like that. Looking down into that viewfinder looked so crazy. And then over the years, being around photographers all the time, I was just always asking questions. I tried to get into it at one point in my early 20s but it just didn’t stick at the time. I was very busy with skating and was traveling a lot. I didn’t really spend the time to learn. And then I revisited it when I was a little bit older, around COVID times, and I started actually researching cameras and from there it captivated me.
It’s just a funky camera. When I was young, no one had cameras like that around me. Just disposable cameras or some little digital ones.
I really like doing lifestyle shit and street photography. Street photography is very hard, though. To get a moment that feels like it means something and you can feel human connection through the photo. It’s a dime a dozen. I also take photos that seem so mundane, of like my house and what’s happening around it. As time goes on, little things change, and you’re like: “Oh, I remember when I changed the floors”. Also I travel all these places and I want to fucking remember my life because we have a very unique and blessed way of being able to live it. So I want to be able to document it and give that to the people that come after me, my loved ones, just like when I grew up and seen photos of my grandma and my mom when I was little. That tangibility, not digital, something that you can actually hold in your hands. I would go to my grandma’s house and she has a drawer and it’s a very vivid memory and we would open up the drawers and there were all of these photos.
"Most film cameras, you can ask me a question about. I’ve looked it up, it’s a rabbit hole."
I haven’t really got into it yet because a lot of the time when I’m on a skate session, there’s already a photographer. Also shooting skate photos is fucking hard. People trying to kick you out and it’s hard to work with the skaters. You know, they land the trick and then you’re like, “Hey, can you do it again? The clouds were weird”. So if I’m on a session, I like stepping back and taking a photo of the whole scene that’s going on. The homie’s hanging out, the photographer and the videographer doing their shit.
There are a lot of friends that are very helpful to me but I feel like people would always tell me to choose one thing and stick to it, and I’ve never been like that, even with skating. Why not skate everything? Obviously, it’s going to take longer to figure out everything, but at the same time, you’re becoming more well-rounded. So when I really got into it, I would travel around. I would just buy all these different film stocks and figure out what I actually like. It’s a blessing that I was able to do that because film’s very expensive. I have a lot of photos that look so different because it was just so experimental. And it’s funny. After all that time, I come back and I’m just like: Portra 800 and Tri-x 400. These are my money guns unless I’m shooting somewhere specific. The hardest thing was figuring out what I like because not only was I shooting with a bunch of different film, I had more than ten cameras that I would rotate. So like most film cameras, you can ask me a question about. I’ve looked it up, it’s a rabbit hole. My first manual film camera was a Nikon F3, that I learned how to shoot manual on.
The Minolta TC-1 just because it is small, and it has a lot of manual functionality. If you really know how to work a camera as aperture priority, there’s four stops and exposure compensation in both directions, it has a pretty good high shutter speed for how old it is.
I guess so. I also am a person that really likes design. It’s very interesting because the person that designed the F3 also designed a very iconic Ferrari, that’s why it has that red line on it. It was funny that I was attracted to this camera, because nobody put me onto it.
I’d like to mention Nazir Wayman, he is a street photographer from Philadelphia and I actually grew up skating with this kid. Now he’s a sick-ass street photographer and captures a good sense of what Philadelphia is in skateboarding and in life.
Doshi is actually my name backwards and that’s my photography on insta. I just flipped the script and at some point, you know, I want to start designing and making things. So I have Doshi Media and I have Doshi Design – I have designs, but I haven’t put those into play, you know, life is life. But I’m manifesting to do something with it in the future, because the reason why I’m drawn to things in my life are because of the way they’re designed. I gather clothes that I like, that might not even fit me or might not even be for me. I even have women’s clothing that I like. I have bought this vest that I thought was so fucking cool and I either shoot somebody with it or I’ll remake it with the same pattern later down the line.
I feel like it’s a glorified hobby. If somebody supports something that you love and wants to throw money at you for doing it, I would not be opposed to that. But as it stands, I just love to capture my life and document cool people. But if you’re a professional, there’s a certain way that you got to come across. A lot of the time with brands that are going to pay you, they have timelines, and I would say that my workflow as it is right now, I don’t got it down. I know my speed. And as time goes on, I try to be more efficient in the way that I work. Like I said, I like to be well rounded. I try to learn Lightroom and Photoshop and all these things a little bit better every year. But I’m not in a rush because it’s not my job. I just love this shit.
I might be doing a show in the near future with Db. But a book… my prior photography is pretty much me just shooting my life. So me making a book with stuff from the last three years, that’s just pointless. If I want to do something that has longevity, I would wait a longer period of time because looking back on photos is just as beautiful as taking the photos. So, unless I’m going to do a book about something that has a specific point, an ideology behind the book, I’m probably not gonna make a book for a really long time until it feels right. But let’s say, the next year, I’m going to be filming for the Nike video that’s coming out at the end of 2026. All those trips, I could shoot my very talented and charismatic friends throughout that time, and make a zine or a book about that period of time.
It’s very small, has lots of manual controls with a great spot meter and aperture priority.
M mount camera body, so it works with a number of really sharp Leica, Carl Zeiss, and Voigtländer lenses. Aperture priority lock and shutter speeds up to 1/4000. Good bang for the buck, almost like a Contax G2 and Leica M6 mix. Manual focus makes it ideal for street photography.
Unique design with aperture and shutter speed controls on the lens. Manual focus is located outside the shutter release, so easy to focus and shoot with one hand. Bellows that fold up and make it very compact for a medium format camera.
Easy to use lightweight 4x5 that you can use handheld. Modern version of the classic GrabFlex design. Large format film renders high quality images. Supported their Kickstarter campaign and didn’t get ripped off.
Helps you nail your exposure, so you don’t waste expensive film. Fits in your pocket and is easy to use.
