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Saturday, November 5, 2011

The Film Chronicles.

I've longed to shoot film ever since I gained a taste for the quality and aesthetic of photographs shot on film versus digital, which wasn't but a couple years after i got into photography altogether. 35mm SLRs remind me of travelling; documenting experiences, behind the scenes of life; lifestyle photography in general.
The first camera that I myself owned was a Canon Rebel XTi. The first camera I ever touched or used after a small digital point and shoot was some old Olympus SLR that belonged to my sister. Needless to say, going from point and shoot to film SLR was mighty complicated. I didn't look too much into it, but it felt great for the short time that I used it. But anyway, a couple years after the Rebel XTi, my style of editing took on a faux film effect. I started doing some research on film photography. How it worked, the time it was used, darkrooms, chemicals, prints and processes;  it was all overwhelming, but the interest never dwindled. The further I went on with digital, the more I began to realize what was so captivating about film. The entire process behind the images is what makes the whole thing golden. I just appreciate the work that goes into it, as opposed to digital. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike DSLRs, I love them for their speed and efficiency among other things, but there's a certain level of intimacy between a photographer and his camera/photographs when it comes to all that goes into film that you could never get from digital photography.

My first expeditions into film are currently being led with the Canon FT QL. After recieving both the FT QL and the Canon AE-1, I ended up using the FT first because of the AE-1's inability to function at all without having a battery inside (you can't even pull the film advance lever). After spending a couple of weeks holed up, studying and teaching myself the ways of 35mm photography, I finally ordered a couple rolls to experiment with. Kodak Ultramax 400 color negative, and Kodak Tmax 400, which was B&W negative. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to get my hands on a battery for about a week or so, I had to choose which film I wanted in which camera. I had already done extensive research on the AE-1, even before I discovered that I'd have one of my own, and saw plenty of examples of it used with different types of film; speed and color/B&W, so I had some sort of idea what I wanted from it initially. I decided to save the Tmax 400 for it. Shooting in black and white is much more important to me, and though I'm just getting into film as a whole, I know much more about the AE-1 vs. the FT as far as getting the image that i'm shooting for with the least amount of tries. Also, it would benefit me greatly to use the color film with the FT as my first try into it to better the outcome of the B&Ws with the AE-1, so it all works out. The AE-1 didn't completely overshadow the FT as far as which one I found more interesting. The FT actually has my main interest at the moment, simply because I haven't seen nearly as much usage from it vs. AE-1 anywhere, probably due to it being obsolete next to its successor, the FTb. 
I love film for what it does to the way I shoot. I focus so much more than I already do with every composition since my shots are limited, and in return I'm rewarded with being closer and closer to achieving my goal with the least amount of shots taken, which can be seen as an advantage and a disadvantage depending on how I choose to look at it, because I'm a perfectionist >.<. I've got lots of concepts that have been dormant, always waiting for the day I had the time to get into film, and now that I do, I'm seizing the opportunity. It'll be interesting to see what my this does for me, and my photography.

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