Happy New Year! 2023 was a really busy year for us. Bode needed a tracheostomy to help him breathe and we’ve all been adjusting to his new medical needs. We also took our first family trip to Joshua Tree National Park. The boys had a lot of school events, Minhan’s family came to visit during the holidays for an extended time, and I got a job promotion. I also fully embraced film photography and shot with many types of film. Learning to shoot completely manual has been quite the journey, and I’d like to share a bit of it with you. I’ll dedicate some individual posts to certain events, and I’ll be adding posts to showcase specific films as well!
The Nikon F Photomic SLR Camera
While attending the California Educational Learning Lab annual convening, I chatted with someone who has become a colleague and friend. We both agreed to not talk about work and just get to know each other as people, and it turns out that we both love photography! Over an hour later, he says he wants to send me something in the mail. A few weeks later, this beautiful Nikon F Photomic SLR camera came in with a letter he wrote.
I’m not sure of the exact manufacturing year, but I believe it’s around 1962. This hefty body works really nicely and is completely manual. It took a lot of research and experimentation to get used to shooting film compared with digital. Plus, with only 24-36 shots per roll, I learned to be more intentional with shots. Needless to say, it’s been quite the experience and I’ve loved every step of the way. I’m still learning so much about shooting film completely manual, so I hope you’ll enjoy the journey!
So Many Films to Choose
There are so many options for film – it’s honestly quite overwhelming. Many different brands that sell films of different ISOs, or films that have color shifts, or exclusively black and white films…the list is really quite huge. I started with Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 400, and got the rolls developed at CVS not knowing any better. Now I know better and get my film developed at The Darkroom. They give back the negatives and have so many processing options.
Here’s a shot of Minhan lighting some incense during Vietnamese New Year:
The Fujifilm shoots nice enough, but the focal planes are a little uneven, and the results look a little flat. I switched and tried the Kodak Portra 400 and 800 films, which are my current favorite color negative options. Here’s the Kodak Portra 400:
And here’s the Kodak Portra 800:
I love both. The only difference on paper is the ISO value (400 vs. 800). Since I shoot mostly indoors or in not-ideal lighting, I favor the 800 a little more. Both films show off vibrant colors and have great contrast, resulting in a decent amount of depth. I’ve realized that shooting film photography requires patience, but the effect is hard to replicate with digital.
I’ll highlight one more film for now, which is the Ilford HP5 B&W. I absolutely love this film for black and white. Before I show you a shot from this roll, here’s a black and white from a generic Extra Sharp 100:
There’s a decent amount of grain, but the image ends up feeling soft and flat. Also, the contrast isn’t that great. I shot in very good light as well! In contrast, here’s a shot from the Ilford HP5:
Just look at the depth of that image! Booker is clearly in the foreground. There’s less grain, but still a good amount. Booker is also in focus, and there is a clear gradient of bokeh moving backwards into the photo. The contrast is great, and I like how the overheads lights add an almost vignette effect at the borders. This shot was in decent indoor lighting, but definitely not as good quality lighting as the other black and white photo.
I’ll write another post about black and white film for sure. I think that the results are much better than shooting color then converting to black and white.
Double Exposure
As you can probably tell, when shooting film photography I like to shoot portraits a lot more than landscapes. I’ll write another post explaining why I like shooting landscapes with my Olympus DSLR.
A fun, albeit slightly nerve-wracking, technique to do with film photography is double exposure photography. In this technique, you shoot a frame, then use the advance/rewind feature to rewind the film a frame. After, you shoot another frame of something different that will end up overlaying the first frame:
This was my first attempt. It’s important to keep in mind that the initial frame will be exposed to light twice. This means that you should adjust your shooting parameters to compensate for the increased exposure. I’m working on my composition for these sorts of shots, but I might be hitting the limit of the Nikon F Photomic. If I can get my hands on a good Nikon FM2N camera body, I can take advantage of other exposure parameters to really make these double exposures pop!
Getting Creepy Surprises
The last topic I wanted to introduce in this post is serendipity. Most of the time, I’m not changing film rolls in complete darkness. The result is that the first couple of shots on the roll are probably not going to turn out right. Maybe even the last shot of a previous roll because there’s no way to 100% guarantee that you’ve rewinded the film all the way. Knowing this, I normally shoot the first couple of shots or the last shot in a roll without much thought. Most of the time, the shots don’t turn out because they are way overexposed to light. But every once in awhile, there’s a gem:
When I saw this photo for the first time, I laughed so hard. This is such a creepy shot that sums up Booker’s x-ray experience at the dentist perfectly. No doubt that technically speaking, this is not great. But the uniqueness of the blue hue of the final shot of the roll is just too good. I love it!
Looking Ahead
Shooting film has been such a great adventure so far. I’m more intentional with my shots because of the limited shots per roll. I can no longer shoot hundreds of photos at once just to sift through later. To illustrate: in 2022, I shot ~1300 photos with my DSLR and phone, and we didn’t take that many trips. In 2023, I shot only ~400 photos with film, and we had many more events during the year. Also, the quality of the photos is different. While film can never get as sharp as a decent digital sensor, the depth and vibrancy of film is better, in my opinion. I can’t wait to continue developing as a photographer and taking you along for the journey!