Summer on Film - Part One: The New Camera

Well, hi! This is a ghost town of a blog, demonstrating that the combination of a lack of perceived success and financial margin ended my Film 365 rather abruptly. But! News! I have plans for a New Film Project that might actually Come to Fruition. Announcing my Summer on Film project that I've been concocting for 2017.

My first step towards this project was purchasing a new-to-me Nikon f100 35mm camera off of ebay. I did this primarily for 1. Autofocus and 2. Autofocus. Other perks are: I can use all of my regular camera lenses! Most of the controls are second nature to me (because it has a similar layout to my regular camera)!

When we traveled to the Black Hills at the beginning of May, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to have a bit of pre-Summer on Film and test out the new camera. I had a roll of recently expired Kodak Gold 400 (I rated it at 200) which I thought would be perfect to run through the camera and see if it was functioning properly.

As is my custom, when I shipped off my film to the FIND Lab, I pulled out three of my old mystery rolls of film to be developed as well. Two days before my scans were due back, I had an email from the lab informing me that one of my rolls was only "half exposed." I couldn't really remember what the mystery rolls of film were labelled as, but the roll they described DID match the roll I had taken in South Dakota. Nooooo! Enter much gnashing of teeth; googling to see if other people had this problem with f100s (they didn't); reading the manual to see if I had messed up some setting; and general fretting. The camera had appeared to be advancing and rewinding appropriately, so I was flummoxed as to how it could possibly only exposed half of my roll of film.

Two tortuously slow days later, the scans were in. Lo and behold, it was not my South Dakota roll that was so very broken! It was, ironically enough, not even my roll of film.

Apparently one of my baby sisters had taken some photos on some janky camera of my then-boyfriend-now-husband (note the baby face) 8 years ago while visiting me at Bible college. This was one of about four surviving photos from the roll.

Fun fact! This young lady actually just finished a year of college at this same Bible school. Whaaat.

So all of my anxiety was for not. Not only did my new-to-me camera work, it performed fantastically! The day I used it in South Dakota had challenging lighting, with harsh mid-day light and some mixed light as well. My digital photos from this day can hardly be compared to the colors and lighting in the film photos.

Getting ready to head out on our hike up Harney Peak!

Even though I was really pleased with my exposure, the autofocus of my new camera did not solve all of my focusing woes. I still missed focus in the majority of my photos, which was a little disappointing. I was using a lens that is finicky with focusing on my digital camera, which could account for some of the focusing issues. I am also going to experiment with some other focusing modes to see if it helps me with more accurate focusing.

Since I didn't miss focus all the time, I'm going to say it was probably more user error than equipment error. 

All basic scans from the FIND Lab. Minimal adjustments to the highlights and contrast in Lightroom.

Intentional focal point here, promise. The girls point out our destination...that tiny little peak across the valley that is still way too far away.

And we made it!

In reality the contrast between the bright highlights on the stone and the dark shadows in the interior was really drastic. Film is so cool to retain both aspects so well.

Heading back down, it was a challenge to keep our spirits up.

Even though it took us about half the amount of time it took us to go up!

Phoebe totally did a victory lap and walked the last 1/10 of a mile or so. The first she had walked of the 7 miles we hiked that day...but you would have thought she had done the whole trail from her strut.

Can we just take a moment to appreciate that the horizon was that straight on the scan? Does film have magic to make me no longer shoot crooked photos?

Much anticipated rewards from the Rock Shop for our successful hike.

And this was the photo I shot to finish off the roll and it's probably my new favorite photo ever. The colors! The lighting! Yay film!

I'm hoping that I can see my project to completion as I photograph the big events, vacations and stereotypical summer moments. I'm looking forward to seeing how utilizing a new medium helps me to develop (ha) as an artist and to hone my technical skills. Thanks for your patience as I fumble through the obvious and wax eloquent on on newby problems.

Back to the Classics Challenge 2016: Reading List

Levi and I have a goal of listening to twelve classics on audio book this year. I'm combining our goal with this challenge over at Books and Chocolate, which I think gives us a nice variety of genres.


Here's our tentative list for 2016:

1. A 19th Century Classic - any book published between 1800 and 1899 - The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. A 20th Century Classic - any book published between 1900 and 1966. - A Farewell to Arms by Earnest Hemingway

3. A classic by a woman author - The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

4. A classic in translation. Any book originally written published in a language other than your native language. Feel free to read the book in your language or the original language - Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

5. A classic by a non-white author. Can be African-American, Asian, Latino, Native American, etc - Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

6. An adventure classic - can be fiction or non-fiction - The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne

7. A fantasy, science fiction, or dystopian classic - 1984 by George Orwell

8. A classic detective novel. It must include a detective, amateur or professional. This list of books from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction is a great starting point if you're looking for ideas - The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

9. A classic which includes the name of a place in the title. It can be the name of a house, a town, a street, etc. Examples include Bleak House, Main Street, The Belly of Paris, or The Vicar of Wakefield - Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

10. A classic which has been banned or censored. If possible, please mention why this book was banned or censored in your review - Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

11. Re-read a classic you read in school (high school or college). If it's a book you loved, does it stand the test of time? If it's a book you disliked, is it any better a second time around? - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

12. A volume of classic short stories. This must be one complete volume, at least 8 short stories. It can be an anthology of stories by different authors, or all the stories can be by a single author. Children's stories are acceptable in this category only - The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle (re-read for me).

Film 365: Roll Two - January 20 - February 6

To be honest, I really put off sending this roll in to be developed.  I think I was disappointed that my first roll for this project didn't reveal that I was some amazing film photographer, who was just waiting to be discovered. Sometimes it's hard to just keep plugging on!

I was also nervous because I decided I was going to rate this film at 800 and push it one stop.  I had visions of my metering being completely off and a muddy mess of nothing coming back from the lab.  Fortunately, that fear was unfounded; my exposures were decent (though not stellar).  I would not hesitate to do some more experimenting with rating and pushing differently.

So, here we go, roll two in all of its super weird, grainy glory.  I was bummed that I was still missing focus a LOT, even though I felt like I was getting more accurate with the manual focus.  However, it has been a while since I shot these photos, so my feeling of accuracy may be based more on my current photos than these.  It's hard to think that I was halfway through this roll by the time I got my first roll back and could evaluate my skills a little more accurately. My composition is also on the boring side of things, thanks to, I believe relying so heavily on the split focusing ring (is that what it's called?) in the lens.  Centered comps all the way!  So, goals: shake up my compositions; move away from snapshot land.  I think I missed a couple of days, but I'll just stick in some extras from some other days to make the numbers happy.  My project, my rules!

Once again, all shot on the Sears KS500 with Kodak Ultramax 400 (rated at 800; pushed one stop).  It looks like all of them were taken with the 28mm 2.8 lens.

And I know you're just dying to find out what was on the vintage roll I sent in with this one.  Looks like summer of 2005.  Here's a little baby Charlotte and 4-H action for ya:

Film 365: Roll One - January 1-19

I used to shoot rolls and rolls and rolls of film.  When I was maybe 12 or so, my parents bought me my first SLR camera as a Christmas present.  I happily ran film through that thing, understanding the basic principles of photography (thank you, 4-H and my mother!) and happily getting my film developed by sending it off through the drug store (double prints, please!).  Fast forward a decade or so and I am now a professional photographer who is quite capable with a digital camera. I am ready to take on film once again.

I have challenged myself to take one frame on my trusty little Sears KS500 35mm camera every day this year. I am using a 55mm f2 lens and a 28mm f2.8 lens. I am planning to stick with this camera and use primarily consumer film.  I need to get a new battery for my meter, so I've been spot metering off of my digital camera or just guessing as best I can.  My goal of taking only one frame a day is to really get myself to slow down and consider the photo I'm taking before I happily shoot away.  The additional goal is that I will come to be as comfortable shooting film as I am with digital. I would also like to get more comfortable with manual focusing.

Today, I got my first scans back from theFINDlab.  This roll was shot on Kodak Ultramax 400.  I box  rated it.  Overall, I'm pleased with this first roll.  It has a very yellow color indoors (even though most of my indoor photos were lit with natural light), but I really adored the color in the one photo I happened to shoot outside.  I find that I am consistently blowing highlights more than I would like to be, in the interest of "exposing for the shadows."  I tweaked them all in Lightroom, mostly messing around with the temp and contrast/shadows/highlights.  And some straightening and cropping.

So, even though I'm almost through roll #2, things I will keep in mind for next time: Shoot outside.  Really, really, really take your time focusing (too many missed shots).  Watch your lines. Take notes!

So in light of keeping it all real, here are my photos (the good, but mostly the bad and the ugly) for January 1-19:

Okay, this one was a manually focused selfie.  Not too much complaining.

FAVORITE!!

An extra from this day, because the color was so much close to happiness.

Finally, I promised myself that for every roll of fresh film I sent in this year, I would also send in one of my unmarked, really old rolls that have been waiting to be developed for well over a decade.  The one I had developed was revealed to be from around 2005, I believe.  This was a store-brand roll of film, probably taken on my other SLR, a Sears TLS.  Which I just might have to break out again. Here are some bonus photos of my sister and me dying hand-spun yarn with Kool-aid: