Film photography is something I have always been interested in and was always scared about trying because I knew little about it. My aunt was the family photographer, and she carried her Canon DSLR film camera everywhere we went - family vacations, school events and day trips. I was always so fascinated by it.
A few months ago, I was organizing my closet and came across a gifted film camera. When I came across it I had a blank stare and immediately a light bulb went on in my head. I don't know what it was but I had this urge to use it and see how the photos would come out.
The next day I picked up film at a local drug store, loaded the film camera and made my way to the city. With every shot I took, I felt like I was in the moment, and wasn't worried about whether or not the shot came out perfectly. There wasn't an electronic display to look at. It was different and I loved it. It was a substantial change from the hundreds of digital photos I take on my day trips into the city. I was more aware of my surroundings, lighting and composition.
After a few hours into my day trip and 36 exposures later - I was ready to take my film to a photo lab to get the exposed roll developed. I asked the Lab Technician to develop the photos and for digital scans of the negatives.
The next day I received a call from the lab that my order is ready for pick up. I rushed over to the photo lab to pick them up, and ran home to see how they had come out. I was in love. The colors were unreal, it was sharp but grainy (in a good way) and it had a look I have yet to replicate in Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop.
Here are a few pictures from that roll:
Film photography is not only a way to improve what I already know about photography, but it forces me to learn something I think everyone needs to learn more about - patience. I have now moved onto shooting medium format film, but that's a different story.
-Lorenzo
