I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I went to sleep last night thinking about the 120mm lens that’s coming on Monday for my Pentax 645, and apparently, my brain decided to latch onto the notion of film photography while I slumbered. I woke-up this morning in the midst of a dream where I was interviewed for a podcast about why I like film photography. Weird, I know, but it did get me thinking about the subject in a fully conscious state, and since I’d come-up with something interesting during the dream, it seemed to be something I should write down.
Continue reading…Wesley King
Review: KEH.com; Making Used Gear Easy
It’s been nearly 20 years now that film photography started its downward trajectory, and while the vinyl-record-like resurgence of film is encouraging, and all signs suggest that film has stabilized,* it’s not been helped by a general decline in photography over the past 10 or 12 years or so — essentially the point at which smartphones came onto the scene, and became everyone’s default camera.
You can argue the timing, and you can argue the facts, but one thing is tough to refute: Camera shops have basically died off, helped by the rise of e-commerce, and we’re left with scant choices when it comes to photography gear in general, and film photography gear specifically. So what’s a photographer to do?
Continue reading…Flickr: The Value of Going Pro
Just over a year ago now, SmugMug announced the acquisition of Flickr from Verizon’s Oath (née, Yahoo). At the time, I didn’t much care, frankly. My use of Flickr was the same as many people who were suckling at the free storage teat that the site offered; I had (and still have) about 4,000 digital photos uploaded which I put there for accessibility to family and clients.
Then late last year, SmugMug started sending lots of e-mail to me and others: The free ride was, in large part, coming to an end. Or, at least, a truncation — only the newest 1,000 photos would be retained unless I acted promptly. I hemmed. I hawed. And in the end, I paid. Why?
Continue reading…Light Meters: Why Didn’t I Do This a Long Time Ago?
I’ve known about light (technically, exposure) meters for a very long time. They seemed — and still seem — like some old-skool relic from a bygone age. And yet companies like Sekonic and Gossen still make them, which sort of implies that someone still uses and buys them. Count me now among those people. Why on Earth would I choose to buy a light meter? Well, it’s complicated.
Continue reading…Exploring Expired Film
When I started rediscovering film photography earlier this year, I went on a hunt — initially to find my Polaroid OneStep, and in the process, discovering all my old cameras, including my Minolta XG 1, and Canon Rebel G (500N). I also found something else.
Continue reading…Review: Lomography 800 Color Negative Film (120)
With limited choices in film stocks these days, I feel compelled to try as many as possible — and actively support all of them I can, whether color, or black and white. That’s part of what drove me to try Lomography’s various color negative films. Well, that, and the low(-ish) price points. One of their film stocks that proved most interesting to me at first is Lomography Color Negative 800, or as I and many others call it, “Lomo 800.”
Continue reading…My Polaroid Experience
In early April, I did a blog post on Polaroid, right at the very beginning of my renewed interest in film photography. (On another note, I can’t believe it’s only been a month and a half; it feels like it’s been a year, given everything I’ve been doing.) As fascinated by and happy as I am about the former Impossible Project (now Polaroid Originals), I’ll be honest: I’ve been pretty disappointed in the reality of it. Just yesterday, I read this blog post over at Emulsive that really resonated for me.
Continue reading…More Film Processing Back; More Mixed Results
Late last week, I received back from The Darkroom my latest batch of film processing. It was a mixed batch; four cameras, six rolls. And the results were also mixed. To be sure, there were some photos I really liked and am proud of. And there were also a ton of duds I didn’t even bother uploading to Flickr. But this process has gotten me thinking about film, about control, and about those results.
Continue reading…Wading Into Focal Length Equivalence
If sifting through Google search results is any indication, I’m wading into fraught territory here. But in looking to acquire more lenses for my Pentax 645, I had to get some basic understanding of focal length equivalency, because my familiarity with what you get, picture-wise, with a lens of x millimeters in focal length is rooted primarily in the 35mm world — and to a lesser degree in Canon’s version of the APS-C world.
Continue reading…Rediscovering Film: Part Four
In Parts One, Two, and Three of this series, I talked at length about getting reacquainted with old friends: film cameras. While I’ve not taken the Polaroid out since Part One, I have shot film in my old Duaflex (Part Two), and my Minolta XG 1 (Part Three), and have finally received them back from the lab.
Continue reading…