first encounters with 35mm
As you should (probably) know, I’m really into photography. And recently, I’ve been trying to get into film photography.
I inherited a couple film cameras from my boyfriend’s mom about a year ago, and I’ve been experimenting with them ever since. The Pentax most intrigued me, especially since its entirely manual, but I found it a bit too difficult to use as a complete beginner. As a result, I decided to focus more heavily on the Canon EOS film camera: a bit more modern, so a bit easier to handle.
I also decided to start out with black and white film, so that I didn’t have to worry about getting the color composition right just yet. So I started out with Kodak Porta 400 ISO black & white negative film.
Even though I really didn’t know what I was doing, I think I got a better handle of what shutter speed and what zoom to be at when photographing. What I found most difficult was not being able to take 10x snaps of every scene in order to go back and review them. Instead, I had to think carefully about the shot I wanted, and how to best get it.
All that to say, I’m really enjoying this new approach of photography! It’s added an exciting new dimension to my work that I hope will motivate me to continue pushing the boundaries of where art can take me.
Enjoy a few examples of my first ever developed film roll below!
First up: a day in the life @ home
Next, exploring Artscape 2019 during the hottest weekend of the year:
(feat. a cool snapshot of Vagrant Coffee!)
Then, exploring the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, again on the hottest weekend of the year:
The core of it: exploring around Bmore with some fab friends + furry friends:
(shoutout to Bmore Licks!)
And, last but certainly not least, attending the Baltimore Streetcar Museum’s annual crabfest + taking a stroll to the Baltimore Farmer’s Market.
I especially like the cut-off photo of Taylor + sunflowers… it’s a neat aesthetic.
These are far from perfect, but I’m still quite pleased at how well most of them turned out! There were only 2 or 3 images that were completely underexposed. I’d like to work on reducing the harsh contrast for my next roll, though.
I’ve got a few rolls of bw film left, and then I think I’ll try my luck at some color - specifically Kodak Gold ISO 200 that I picked up from bhphotovideo.com. Taylor and I will be in California for the next week and a half, and I’m hoping to go through at least 2 rolls.
Stay tuned for several subsequent film blogs :)