Fort Worth on Film 2

Back to the ol' 35mm camera. This time I shot the highly acclaimed Kodak Ektar 100 color film. I have read a lot of good things about this film and was expecting a lot. It did not disappoint. The images are sharp and colorful. The grain is very nice up close and from a distance the images appear sharp. I was also surprised to see how much information the negatives retained. I was able to pull a lot of the skies back down from overexposed.

My only regret so far, is that I could not have picked a worse day to shoot architecture. The sky was either completely overcast and therefore bland, or it was perfectly clear which did nothing to help the images. I did have a few that came back with some nice clouds and I was able to pull them in to proper light using Lightroom 4's new highlight/shadow algorithms. This thing does amazing stuff with images.

I will return to shooting film again in the future; however, it is quite expensive so I must take a break every now and then. Maybe I will try the 4x5 Toyoview next time.

Fort Worth on Film

Finally got the prints done for my next series. The idea is simple. Photograph outdoor seating at restaurants, coffee shops, and diners. I don't really know what it is about the absence of people in these images that draws me to them time and time again. It has such a quiet feeling, like the calm before the storm. At some point, each of these seats will be filled with hungry patrons.

As for my experience with film, I still like it a lot. The Canon AE-1 is a great little camera and with the 50mm 1.8 on the front, the images are remarkable. I used Fuji 200 speed film for these shots. My next series will be Ektar 100 speed film. I have heard great things about that film and can't wait to shoot it and get it processed.

There are so many things to think about when shooting with film. It really constrains you and forces you to think about things a little harder. The AE-1 also does not have auto-focus and its Av mode is not really helpful. The light meter works pretty well. I know with film, I have some leeway on how dark and light I can go and still get a great looking image.

So, enjoy the images, leave a comment, and let me know what you would like me to shoot next.