My Journey with Film (f.y.i., I’m at mile 1 of 2459)

Back in June I purchased a Mamiya 645 1000s, a medium format camera from the 80’s that I knew nothing about. Truth be told, it intimidated me so that it sat in it’s ebay box for almost two weeks.

Then, just like everything else I’m ever afraid of, I came to the realization I needed to get over it. I knew I was going to be clueless, but I was ready to make a ton of mistakes and learn along the way. I knew film was something I wanted to learn, for lots of reasons.  The main reason being that the look and feel of images on film is so beautifully timeless, and creating the same look with a digital camera just isn’t the same.  Also, being someone who tends to overshoot just to make sure I’ve got the shots I hope to get, I also knew film would slow me down a bit and make me think before pushing the shutter release. You only get a few images to a roll, so unless you have unlimited funds (I don’t) then you better be sure about your shot.

So here we are, nearing the end of summer, and I’m pretty much still an infant in the film world. I just can’t be sure of what I’ll be getting back from the lab. Case in point, I just got my scans from our vacation, and let’s just say there were (many) disasters…

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a few happy mistakes…

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and some that give me hope that I’m taking baby steps in the right direction…

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Yep, I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m pretty sure it can only go up from here. Too late to turn back now! I’ll keep you posted on my film journey and provide tips and tricks as I learn them, in case my mistakes end up helping someone else learn the beauty of film, too.  Thus far all I can tell you is that Kodak Portra 400 is wonderful for beginners, and the color you achieve from it is well worth the frustration of learning how to use the camera it’s in.

And now I’m off to master the art of manual focus….