I am not giving up or abandoning digital photography. I am hoping to added film as a creative tool to my photography. Much like an artist may use oil paint one day and then water color the next I am hoping to achieve the same thing. Film has a look that is unique and some would say more organic. Digital photography benefits from being more versatile, faster, and cheaper.

Film benefits from the grain, color, and the nature of the emulsion. I have a list of about 8 different color films that I am experimenting. Once I have the films I like I will be using them in my wedding photography on occasion.

Fujifilm Pro 400 H and Fujifilm Superia 200

Currently there is a real boon in wedding photography – and there are a LOT of photographers. And at times – everyone’s photographs look the same. They all use digital, they all use Photoshop, they all use similar or the same techniques to process photos. I am thinking that adding a bit of film to mix it up will help make me a bit more unique.

And it is entirely possible that people will never notice that I am starting to feature some film in my wedding photography – but I think that will be the fun experiment.

Oh, and I ordered another film camera – you can get them for dirt cheap! Woo hoo!

And I will try to avoid sounding like a snotty “purist.” I have heard a number of people claim that film photography is the “pure” form of photography. Pardon my french when I say that is bull pucky! There is no pure form of photography. Everything is a paint brush from what lens we use, to what camera or film we use. Whether we spend time in the dark room or in front of the camera we are all manipulating images to our own artistic vision.

Anyway, I will get off my soap box for now.

Well, I bought one and then for Christmas I received one as a gift – so I now have 2! And here is the first photograph from the camera. It really is everything I was hoping for.

Winter snow with a holga

You can see a bit of a vignette around the photograph. The edges are also a bit smudgy and blurred. I did learn that it doesn’t work very well indoors. I had tried using a flash attached to the camera’s hotshoe and the photos were still dark. But for shooting outdoors it is great.

And since I have 2 Holga cameras I use one for black and white and one for color. I haven’t shot a whole roll of color film on a Holga yet but I think this week will be perfect to do so. And I want to try this on some people.

Why did they do this? Because they wanted to give thanks to their employees for working very hard this year. During this economic fun time (the recession) the company has had a record year. So I want to say thank you to Nu Skin! This money will come in handy – money always does come in handy.

I will probably pay off some bills, buy some small Christmas gifts, and of course invest in photography gear. It is all about balancing the budget – and my goal for the next year is to buy a new Canon camera and 3 awesome lenses while not breaking the bank or going into debt to do so.

So that was crazy event number one. Number two – not nearly exciting – but I shot my first roll of film on my Bronica medium format film camera. I was cheating by using my digital camera to meter the shot. By that I mean – I point the digital camera at the subject – and then copy the aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings.

I will have to go drop off the film later today and wait till tomorrow. This is very exciting. I did make at least two mistakes. One mistake was accidentally pressing the shutter button when I didn’t mean to. The other mistake was taking a second photograph of the same subject.

And the craziness doesn’t end there – later this evening I am going to the SmugMug meeting with a bunch of photographers – it will be the first annual holiday party. Should be a lot of fun. I need to think of something potluck.

Why am I excited? Because I want to learn the fine art of film photography. I found this camera at Allen’s Camera. I have been curious about shooting film for quite some time. I want to see if I can use it as a creative tool in addition to my digital photography. Cameras, lenses, film, digital, are nothing more than tools. And I want a variety of tools to paint with.

Bronica ETRS Medium Format Film Camera

About a year or two ago I started to shoot in manual mode. That was one way to learn to challenge myself. Yes I can have the camera do all the thinking for me. But I find much more enjoyment in challenging myself. And film will be that next challenge. AND this used camera only shoots in manual focus – which is exciting. Getting out of my comfort zone will be good for me and ultimately good for those brides and grooms I photograph.

Bronica 75mm f/2.8 lens

Learning to load the film into this camera took a few minutes and at least 2 tries. And I won’t find out if I did it right until I get the film developed. I am excited to see what I can do with a medium format camera – the film is 4 times the size of a digital sensor – maybe larger. That means I can get some killer details and hopefully even some crazy shallow depth of field – I will figure that out.

I had to read the whole camera manual!

There are also multiple camera backs – this means I can switch from color film to black and white film without having to first finish a camera roll. And if this works well and I learn how to rock film I will probably add a film package to my wedding packages. And maybe have it at least as an option. Digital is still the way to go – but I am excited for the future of film.

Kodak Tri-X 400 film