Shooting in film really sucks sometimes. Rest assured, for those of you who know me well, I routinely sing the praises of film photography - the look, the feel, the methodology, the technical demands. I love it. I feel my own photography has drastically improved since shooting film. It's one of few things I truly get super, unabashedly geeked out about. And nothing is quite as exciting or satisfying than holding a properly exposed, properly developed negative. But there is a dark side to this: there nothing quite as devastating when the perfect shot is ruined because I flubbed it. Big time. And while this doesn't happen very often, it does happen, and it's beyond frustrating.
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Linhof Photo Samples /
After getting my Linhof Technika III up and running, I was anxious to get ahold of some 4x5 sheet film to try it out. Luckily, my good old buddy Adam (check him and his work out at http://www.contentunknown.com) had an old, and mostly full, box of Arista sheet film. Adam claimed that this film was left in a desk drawer inside a sweltering warehouse for a couple of summers. Then lived in the back of his truck for quite sometime. "Use it at your own risk," he warned.
Read MorePhotographers and Cemeteries /
After a couple of months of unseasonably dry weather, the Pacific Northwest winter rains have finally began to come down. And as a result, my motivation and inspiration for photography have both gone into hibernation. This is pretty typical of the winter though. To be honest, I would rather keep dry and warm in the comfort of my home, rather than out shooting in the wind, rain and cold. Then add the fact that it gets dark at 4:00, so after work shooting is out of the question. But I have felt stuck. This is painfully evident by the fact I've been on the same two rolls of film for a couple of months now.
Read MoreRolleiflex Automat MX-EVS TLR - Test Roll /
After scouring Ebay for a couple weeks, I eventually found a Rolleiflex Automat MX-EVS with a Carl Zeiss Tessar 75mm f/3.5 lens. It was in pretty amazing condition. This particular model was made between 1952 and 1956, and was the first model to couple the shutter speed and aperture dial according to Exposure Value (hence EVS). Rolleiflex's in particular are built like tanks, and are a thing of mechanical beauty. The way everything perfectly fits together and the smooth, solid movements of the knobs and switches are just spectacular.
Read MoreAncient Film /
Last time, I was explaining how I became the proud owner of a darkroom setup, and how I came to receive all my awesome loot. Part of that package was a Watson bulk film loader. For those of you who don't know, rather than buying a bunch of individual rolls, you can purchase a 100ft spool of film and, with reusable film canisters, roll your own film. There's a slight economic benefit to this - at Bluemoon Camera and Machine, a 100ft roll of Ilford HP5+ is $67.50. When you roll it yourself, you get can around 20 rolls or so, which makes it $3.37 a roll vs $6.10 individually. Anyway, the Watson roller provides a light proof compartment, as well as a light trap so you can safely roll your film.
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