Many years ago, I stepped away from film photography.
With the onset of digital, I jumped in. First, it was with a Canon point-and-shoot. Then, it was a digital Rebel. From there, I went to a 30D to my current 7D, which I’ve had since early 2010.
I’m a digital junkie, too. I like being able to see things instantly, so I can adjust settings, the setup or whatever else. It’s also nice to have the “digital negative,” so I can correct things if needed on the computer.
I started with digital in 2006 and haven’t really looked back. Film cameras have gained dust, outside of me occasionally using my Holga. But with the addition of a Holga (as well as a Diana and pinhole) lens for the digital camera, I’ve truly phased out film.
That being said, it’s kind of fun to shoot a roll of film sometimes. It’s still kind of cool to go back to how things were and how I learned photography.
Then there’s reality. Shooting film is way more expensive than digital. Film costs money, it costs more to develop etc. Some develop their own (I used to, but never did color), but I no longer really want to deal with that.
Besides that, there’s the whole forgetting thing.
See, this challenge was to shoot two rolls of film — one color, one black and white. When I finished the color roll, I went to rewind. Little did I remember that I needed to hit the button on the bottom. Little did I know, that was big. So I tried to rewind, and instead pulled the roll right out of the canister.
Great.
Thankfully, I had access to an old dark room and had some old reusable canisters. I saved the film, for the most part, so that’s a good thing. The black and white roll went better.
Still, I went without prints. I got the negatives and a CD and it cost me $10 per roll. Consider the fact that when I go out for a day of photo taking with the digital camera, I often take 250 or more shots. I play with settings and do different things. Let’s say I had 36 exposure rolls — that means I will need about seven rolls of film. So, at $10 a pop, that’s $70 if I have a full day of shooting.
No thanks.
I’ll stick to digital and use film on those special occasions. This was a fun challenge. I did it over a couple of days and I like, for the most part, the results. Even with a light meter, my settings were off slightly, but I also was using this film camera for the first time.
So, the rules for this challenge were pretty simple — take two rolls of film with the theme “your life,” making it easy to interpret. When done, do a blog post with 15 of the images. Below will be my 15. Below that is the link list where others who participated will put their links. Hopefully some have done this and there will be some fun things to look at.
Without further ado, here’s my submission …
1. Car Wash is open
This sign is usually out in my town. I have photographed it before, but still love the look of it.
2. Indeed it is
The car wash definitely is open. This is one of the shots, though, that must have caught a little light when I screwed things up with the film.
3. Railroad crossing
I love the look of rail-related things in black and white.
4. Stay off the tracks
Photos of the tracks are always classic and cool, I think.
5. Go buy!
If you need hay, you know where to go.
6. Santa parade
Watching the Christmas parade in town.
7. Mr. and Mrs. Claus
Santa and the missus made a stop in town for the parade!
8. Cold picnic
Hot dogs? Hamburgers? What do you think?
9. Which way?
Oh, the choices. As a baseball nut, Cooperstown is usually the easy choice.
10. Get the map
If you go to parks, it’s never a bad thing to check out the info.
11. Go walk
It’s never a bad day to go out for a walk or an easy hike.
12. Handle with care
This was one of the first shots I took as I was testing settings. I actually like how it came out.
13. Back road
Back roads in the winter are so serene.
14. Hay
I don’t think this is the same hay that is for sale in the photo from earlier.
15. Posted
Posted property is quite normal around my area.
That’s my 15 shots for the challenge. I won’t lie that it was a hard challenge. It’s one I’ll likely do again, but maybe plan a little better. I do like what I came up with, but I also wish I didn’t have the issues I had with my camera as there were six or seven shots that somehow got wiped from the color roll, which is disappointing as one or two of them could have been cool.
Ahhh well.
Anyway, if you were one of the ones who participated, link up below (film only, though)! I look forward to checking out other posts and what you came up with!
Thanks to all who participated and I look forward to trying this again!
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