Q1 2021, on film
I have a terrible habit of capturing memories and leaving them unorganized in my hard drives and baskets of prints. With my most recent work journey coming to a nice conclusion after almost 7 years, I’m resolving to build better habits for the rest of my life, one of which is to do more with the photography I make.
I dabbled with film before 2021 but started running through rolls in Q1 of 2021. Here are some selects from those rolls.
This quarter was shaped by our love affair with Lake Tahoe. We began to fall in love with the area in 2021. We’d traveled to the lake off and on for years to ski and enjoy some summer fun, but we dedicated ourselves to it this year. We were fortunate to have friends with similar-aged kids who also love to ski, and we spent our time with them at Northstar. In between trips, we enjoyed the mild San Francisco winter by biking through Noe Valley and enjoying playgrounds with the kids.
Pasta, Fujica GS645 Pro, Portra 400
Heavenly Ski Resort, Leica Minilux, Ilford HP5 @ 1600 ISO
Northstar Ski Resort, Leica Minilux, Ilford HP5 @ 1600 ISO
Upper Noe Playground, Leica Minilux Portra 400
Noe Valley, Fujica GS 645 Pro, Portra 160
Golden Gate Park, Fujica GS 645 Pro, Portra 160
Backyard, Nikon FE2 + Voigtlander Ultron 40mm F2, Fujifilm Superia 400
Lana starts skiing, Leica Minilux, Fujifilm Superia 400
Lucas starts using poles, Leica Minilux, Fujifilm Superia 400
Steve’s Balcony, Nikon FE2 + Voigtlander Ultron 40mm F2, Fujifilm Superia 400
Tahoe Blue, Fujica GS 645 Pro, Provia 100
I dove into the deep end collecting cameras and shooting film this quarter. I learned how delicate these little antiques can be.
The Minilux renders beautifully, but it hates cold weather and has bricked on me twice in 1 year, both times in the cold.
The Nikon FE2 viewfinder is a joy to look through, but the light meter needle broke when the camera hit the ground from a 2 foot drop. It still meters in aperture priority, but doesn’t communicate what it’s doing. It’s an SLR point and shoot now.
The GS645 Pro also renders beautifully, but I fucked up the rangefinder alignment by attempting to calibrate it (unnecessarily) on my own, and it has since developed a pinhole in the bellows, which now leaks light.
Both the Minilux and GS645 are due for repairs and I want to shoot with them both again. As of mid-2022, I’ve rediscovered the fun of shooting the Nikon and now I want an FM3A.
Regarding film stocks, I experimented across the range of brands and ISOs. I initially gravitated to low ISO film so I could open up my aperture when shooting, a crutch for subject isolation which I still relied on a lot at the beginning of 2021. Since then I’ve come to love the grain of higher ISO films and stick mostly to 400+ ISO stocks now.