A few weeks ago I got to hang out with a few dozen other photographers for something called Clickin Walk. All across the country, groups of people met to spend time with their fellow local photographers, explore Downtown Seattle, and take photographs. I rarely if ever shoot street photography, so it was great to be pushed out of my comfort zone. I decided to push myself even further by shooting primary on film. I decided to try my very first black and white roll, Ilford HP5, which I rated to 800 ISO for some extra grain (maybe a bit too much in hindsight). Shooting deliberately is something different for me, since with digital you can take as many shots as your large memory cards will hold. Having just 36 frames is definitely a challenge. I will say that the thing that is most difficult for me is to find beauty in images that don't contain people or actual subjects. Try as I might, I just don't have the eye for it. So, as we were walking around Pioneer Square, while many of the other photographers were focusing on architecture or objects, I was searching for people while still trying to not jump into my safe "portrait artist" zone. I am surprised that I do like some of the architecture shots. I should do this more often I guess :)
My first time shooting film | Ektar 100
I've been using a DSLR since 2008. I haven't shot film since high school when I would buy cheap disposable cameras and get the film developed at the grocery store. I've felt in a bit of a rut so I decided that it was time to try something new, so I picked up an old Elan 7 camera on eBay and bought several different types of film on Amazon. I chose a roll of Ektar 100 since it was the cheapest of the film I bought and I figured I would probably screw up, so why waste money. haha. Ektar 100 is contrasty and bright, quite the opposite of how I normally shoot and edit my digital images. I know this won't be my favorite film, but I am so excited to play around. I'm actually quite proud that of the 36 frames I didn't completely screw up a single one. Woo hoo. haha. Next up? Some Porta 800! Wish me luck ;)
