Ink, Yarn & Beer

I am beginning to really enjoy taking pictures with film these days.

As I’ve said, in my early days of photography – back in the 80s when digital didn’t exist – my experiences were all really bad.  I had no training and no idea what to do.  Maybe it is because my own family didn’t take pictures, so my experience with photography was very, very limited.  I had no idea what made a good picture as far as composition, and no idea how to make a good exposure.  Hundreds of dollars in printed ugliness was no reward, but the best deterrent!

Enter the digital camera, some classes, lots of reading, and now I think I can go out and take a few shots in film without screaming at the results.  One reason is I can get digital images, rather than prints.  Costs are $10 – $11 / roll of film.  I have my own scanner.  Now, I am learning how to shoot film, such as lowering the iso for richer color and better contrast.  I am learning how to use my software to do post production, which may seem like cheating, but it is simply a digital vs. chemical darkroom.  Film still retains the quality of film, even if digitized – at least, it seems to me it does!

One of the most fun things about film is trying out different types of film, and finding ones I like.  I have tried Tri-X, T-Max, Superia, Rollei Crossbird, UltraMax, Ektar, and have a few others.  It’s really cool.  Developing B&W is going to happen with greater frequency, and later, developing color.

What have I gotten out of this?  Patience with composition.  Appreciation of digital and analog film processes.  A sense of success.  And a whole hell of a lot of fun!