Many moons ago, when I was young, my friend Mark and I would go out to the local cemetery and shoot rolls of film with our fathers' old cameras. In fact, they were the exact same cameras: the Mamiya/Sekor 500DTL. My father got his around the Vietnam war era and I forget when Mark's dad got his. This was about ~2002. We would drive out in my jeep with the wind in our hair and sneak about with hotboot flashes firing off shots.
Fast-forward to this year. I found myself completely enamored with lomography. I like the way the pictures look, it reminds me of how the photos Mark and I took looked.
In the beginning of my foray into this mystical art I was using an Olympus 600-UZ set to the pinhole setting. I'd enhance the vignetting and then Photoshop the color changes to make it look cross-processed. After a while I was playing with "multiple exposures." And this was entertaining for me. But... it didn't feel right.
Some time ago, maybe 5 years ago, I found myself believing that digital was this hot thing. My wife was utilizing film at the time and we were trying to save money. I calculated that spending a good portion of money on a digital camera would end up eventually saving money as we wouldn't pay for processing. So, somehow I ended up with a digital camera and doing what I'm doing.
Recently, since I've taken up the Diana Mini, my thoughts have changed. With the Diana the film becomes a canvas on which to paint with light. There isn't instant gratification. I can't just shoot shoot shoot (if I'm in square format I can't, I guess. But, if I'm in half frame on a 36 exp. roll 72 shots sounds like forever); there's thought that goes into a shot.
So here I am, older... a little wiser maybe; realizing I made a mistake. And this is my journey back to film. This is my catalog of my adventures in analogue.
No comments:
Post a Comment