I mentioned in this post that I brought my Holga with me on our hike at the Sandy River Delta. I finally got the film developed and scanned the negatives. I am getting better at scanning medium format negatives with my film scanner. I also learned that I had the settings all wrong for black and white which made the last batch of black and white negatives look weird. I'm going to re-scan them at some point (note to self). . Anyway, I am super happy with how these turned out! Seriously. I am in love with black and white film. I don't know if I want to ever go back to digital. I just love it that much. I love that this is how it looks pretty much out of the camera. Admittedly, I adjusted contrast and maybe exposure ever so slightly, but that is it.

I brought a roll of black and white film, Kodak Tmax 400 35mm, to the beach with me yesterday. I noticed the differences between shooting with film vs the immediacy of digital. With film you have to let go the notion of being a control freak. It's more about taking the shot and then letting it go. You take your shot and hope for the best and then wait (sometimes weeks or months) to see what it looks like. And there is something magical about that space of time in between taking the shot and seeing the image. It's like waiting for Santa. Sometimes you are disappointed but sometimes you are happy beyond your wildest imagination.

Film used: Kodak Tmax 400 Camera used: Holga

When I bought my Holga to the beach with me on Christmas, I bought a roll of color film and a roll of black & white film. Since it was a beautiful day I decided to shoot the color roll first. I took the black & white roll with me on our trip to Long Beach over Christmas. It is crazy how quickly 12 frames goes by. I'm spoiled by digital photography and the compulsion to take shot after shot of the same thing. Film photography is going to force me to be a bit more cognizant of my present moment and what I decide to shoot for each frame. Related to that, I had forgotten how expensive film photography is! I did not get prints made from any of my negatives but I did have them scan them onto a CD so I could have digital copies. I am saving my money for a film/negative scanner so I can do this myself. When Raf and I were looking at these he remarked that he really felt that film photography has much more depth than digital photography, and really noticed it with the black & white shots. I could totally see what he was talking about and I have to agree with him. There is something about that image being burned into film that gives it way more depth than what you get with a series of zeros and ones (digital photography).

The fact of the matter (and now I'm going to get all metaphysical) is that in film photography the light (or the energy) of a particular moment is actually being burned into the film. So, essentially, that moment is that photograph. Does that make sense? Perhaps I've been listening too much to the crazy people who talk to me at the library. But I do think it is an interesting thought. Something to ponder, anyway.

Film used: Kodak Tmax 400 Camera used: Holga