It’s been a while, I know.

Work life, personal life and my per-usual flipflop between hobbies. The past couple years have been inconsistent with shooting, however, during covid I of course scooped up all of my camera gear again and got back after it. Trying to focus more on what I wanted to shoot and not what would get me paid, it helped me explore a more artistic value to my work.

In the past, my photography has always maintained a very technical side. When learning to shoot I solely relied on hours of YouTube and trial and error. Leaving little room to explore and just let myself enjoy the artistic aspect of photography, I got swallowed up in the technical abilities of the cameras I was using. I’m not all that mad that I never honed in an artistic eye towards the start of my work, it taught me to use the camera and experiment with what it could handle and I never grew up exploring my artistic side, it was always focused on athletics. Not that any of this is super relevant to anything I’m about to talk about but I thought I should fill you all in on what I’ve been up to in regards to photography and kind of where I started at to help understand why I’ve spent so much time recently behind the camera, with a whole different approach, film.

Yes, I’ve gone from overly expensive new cameras to older, more expensive cameras. Now, getting to explore cameras and how they work with digital is great because you get instant feedback as to if you successfully exposed an image or nailed your focus. But, there is something to say about shooting film and the coloring being irreplaceable. The way the colors blend together is something that digital can’t replicate, sorry, you just can’t.

Film the past year has mostly been using my Canon AE-1 as well as a Minolta X700 that I picked up shortly after. Two cameras can be fun, especially when you’re learning. When shooting digital you can edit your photo however you please, you can choose to have your photo end up black and white or remain color. With film, that decision is made when you load your film, I prefer carrying two 35mm cameras so I have that ability to switch between the two. When I decided that film would be a primary focus of my work I decided to jump into the world of medium format.

Not knowing what would fit my needs and budget the most, I took to my YouTube research. Finding a handful of medium format cameras on eBay, I finally took a stab and grabbed a Mamiya RB67 Pro S. Most of these were located in Japan and not wanting to have that large of a camera ship overseas, I found one located in California so I knew it had the least chance of showing up damaged. Nervous as always with film, I loaded my first roll immediately, Portra 400 of course, and hit The Circle in Orange. Getting to shoot only 10 images per roll it definitely forces you to take your time and compose and be patient.

After getting the first roll back from the lab I realized I already needed to spend some money, just about half the roll was just slightly out of focus. The camera came with a film back for 220 film, that’s right, they don’t make 220 film any longer. 220 film does not have the paper backing (from my understanding) that 120 does so putting 120 film into a 220 film back can cause a different focusing distance, I’m sure it’s almost immeasurable. Using 120 film, which is the current medium format size film available, can also cause extra stress in the 220 film back. Although they don’t make 220 film any longer you can still find expired rolls on eBay pretty often and most film labs will still develop it so it might be a good idea to keep it intact. The following images are from another couple rolls I shot with the Mamiya, it’s been an absolute blast to shoot.

With all this shooting the past year it’s made my style come much more to life. I have never felt more satisfied about my work at the moment, it’s brought my passion for photography back around. With multiple ideas for current projects I am shooting more than ever, keep an eye out for a zine or photo book as I will be releasing something soon that I am very excited about. In future posts, this blog will help give you a better look at the gear I am using, the techniques I utilize and places I enjoy shooting. Enjoy a few more shots below.

Be back soon.

Film.

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