Day At The Beach

I shot a roll of expired Fujifilm Superia X-TRA 800. The majority of the roll was shot at Torrey Pines State Beach. Much of it was downrated to 400 since it was so bright (as previously discussed). Here is a sample of images. See more at my Flickr photostream

I decided to shoot my next roll with Ilford B&W film I bought (HP5+ 400). Plus, I'm seeing my dad this weekend... I'll reunite him (temporarily!) with his newly refurb'ed Pentax K2!

Mistakes

Mistakes are bound to happen. That's life and that's part of learning. I made a few mistakes today before and during a trip to the beach.

My camera was loaded with 800 speed film, and upon arriving at the beach it was fairly clear and very sunny. I was shooting my 50mm f/1.4 lens. After getting out of the car, I took a quick peek through the finder and saw my light meter pegged at the full (+) end of the scale. I twirled the aperture and stopped it down all the way, checked I was at max shutter speed (1/1000), and peeked again...still pegged.

This camera is actually a second K1000 body I picked up and this was my first roll in it. I turned to my resident photog (my wife): "you want fast shutter speed in bright light, right?" I asked. She concurred. "I think something's wrong with my meter. I can't get it down from fully overexposed...that's the plus side, right?"

I thought to myself as we walked...hmmm...

More thinking...

*Light bulb!*

Oh, I'm shooting 800 ISO film. Duh.

I changed the ISO dial down to 400 and checked the meter again. Ah, there you go. So, I shot several frames that way. At this moment, I'm not really sure what affect this has on film, since obviously the speed of the film didn't change. I'll look it up later.

And maybe that's not so much a mistake as a lack of knowledge. Regardless, I'm sure to make more than a few mistakes in the future. That's sometimes the best way to learn.

Here's a shot the wife took of me. Can you guess where the strap is from?

 

My First Shots

So, I got my first 35mm roll developed from the K1000. I'm definitely still learning the camera. It is not so much learning the mechanics of the camera, because it is the essence of basic and simple (though that's still true), but getting used to seeing through the lens and creating an image.

I was pretty underwhelmed by my shots overall, but there's a couple passable ones there. I also need to get used to the grain of film and get a feel for what different films might bring to the equation. There's so many factors that can affect the final image, like the freshness or age of the film, the framing choices I made, the developing, and the scans of the negatives. I know this will just take more time and experimentation and familiarity. Being limited to 24 (or 36 as the case may be) shots definitely makes you stop and think before you click the shutter, though!

You can take a peek at my 35mm images in a set I created at my Flickr page.

Just for Clicks

A History

I've just started into film photography. My current arsenal consists of a Pentax K1000 35mm SLR and a Holga medium format toy camera.

Lomo
Back while I was in college the Lomographic Society was just being established. I can't remember how I heard about it, but I was intrigued by the Lomo and this (counter) culture that had grown around it. I remember getting some kind of introductory pamphlet in the mail explaining how it all worked, and I was quite keen on the idea of the vibrant photos and the figurative and literal "shoot from the hip" philosophy. Alas, I never bought a Lomo camera.

Years later my wife and her best friend began into DSLR photography. I remembered about the Lomo and somehow this led to me receiving a Holga camera either for Christmas or my birthday. Though I was excited about it, I never took the time to actually use it and into a box it went, where it would sit for many more years.

Well, at some point my wife began to take a more serious turn into photography upon deciding how to shoot with the manual controls of the Nikon D70 DSLR that we had bought after our daughter was born. Though I did enjoy taking pictures from time to time, I had other hobbies to occupy myself with.

iPhone
The iPhone 3G came along and it was quite revolutionary with the quality of its built-in camera along with the fact that you took it everywhere with you. In fact, it fit right along with the first golden rule of Lomography: Take Your Camera Everywhere You Go. The iPhone 4's improved camera was another order better. The concept of iPhone-ography became a thing. Then Instagram happened. I was an early adopter. I quickly saw the value in the social network Instagram had built around mobile photography, while early detractors complained about the silliness of the filters that only served to hamstring the improved quality of the iPhone camera. Having been a fan of the Lomo aesthetic I was not bothered by the filters. Sure, filters can get a bit kitsch, but you don't have to use them.

Film
Wanting to share in my wife's hobby, but not wanting to drop DSLR type money on a camera of my own, I thought I could try the film route. Film photography no longer being the main mass market medium, it is somewhat of a different niche now. Toy camera photography another thing, as well. So, I dug up the Holga. I got dad's old Pentax film SLR from my brother, where it was gathering dust. Price: free (Well, sorta. That's another post).

And here we are today. My first roll of 35mm waits for me at Walgreen's.