I hate cameras. I hate having to take pictures, hate having my picture taken. I have a mental block when it comes to the art and science of photography. I manage to gloss over the photography elements in my journalism training, and the rare occasions on which I am required to take a digital camera with me on assignments today are utter torture. Fortunately, F-Stop isn't about photography or the fashion industry or the world of magazine publishing. And despite this book's subtitle -- A Love Story in Pictures -- it isn't about a relationship either. It's about growing up, about dreams and the dangers of dreams coming true. It's about feeling you're in over your head and about overcompensating to cover one's insecurities. It's about things I understand, and you'll relate to it as well.
Sick of minimum wage jobs and no direction in life, Nick Stoppard has decided to become a photographer. There's just one problem: he has no training and not a lot of skill, and he's having trouble making a living doing headshots for would-be movie stars in Los Angeles. A chance encounter with a top model (and a huge lie) land him a job at a fashion photo shoot, and his poor shots are interpreted as his avant garde style, and within weeks, he finds himself the toast of the world of fashion photography. Money, fame and even a fantastic relationship with a model are all his, but the fear he'll be exposed for a fraud looms over him constantly.
Matthew Loux's style is not the sort of thing we often see in the comics industry, but it's a perfect fit for the youthful, hip tone of this story. Loux's work is the sort of thing I've seen in some commercial artwork, and it boasts an urban quality one might associate with tagging (God, I sound like a grandpa talking about hip-hop). The artist's angular, elongated and cartony style is nevertheless effective at capturing Chantel's sexuality, for example, and Nick's boyish charm. His designs differentiate among the various characters quite clearly. His style is well suited to the comedic elements and the caricatures in this book, but he handles the down-to-earth drama well too.
In many ways, F-Stop is a workplace comedy. Few of us have supervisors who affect phony French accents in order to establish power and reputation, but we've all had those co-workers and bosses we can't stand. Of course, the main character turns into quite the prick as well. On the surface, it seems as though Nick ends up buying into his own hype, but it's clear that his anger and attitude stem from his fears and uncertainty.
Every time I've started a job in a new place, new environment, new carer, I've usually felt completely lost. At scrums with other reporters, I'd hang back and listen to others' questions, keeping quiet myself (and those who know me know that "quiet" isn't a word one associates with my personality). I'd be worried I'd say or do something stupid, worried that people would realize I didn't know what I was doing. In F-Stop, the main character is literally a professional fraud when he achieves success, but despite the more extreme example, it's still the same sort of feeling we've all experienced when embarking on a new job. Therein lies the strength of Johnston's concept: its universal quality. It's dressed up in glitz, money and fame, but despite those aspects, the reader is able to enter that world through Nick's insecurities. 9/10
