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After graduating college and moving back to the Bay Area my life became monotonous and repetitive. As winter moved to spring I made a promise to myself that I would make the coming summer especially memorable.
With that promise I embarked on a project where I would bring a camera to film with to all my summer activities. So for every camping trip, family excursion, roommate bonding, college friends reunion, photo shoot, and beach day I filmed a few clips of B-roll.
My key focus during editing was faces and atmosphere. I had many many shots of gorgeous nature b-roll but without context they did not have much substance. Editing all that footage into five minutes was difficult and I had to leave much on the proverbial 'editing room floor'. However I am quite happy how it turned out.
A special thanks to my friend Greg Fogg for giving me permission to use the song Venus from his group My Evergreen Soul! Check out the links above to more of his group's work.
And a huge thanks to everyone who helped make my summer so memorable. It has been a rough year for me, for more reasons than outlined above, and having such great friends to share this summer with truly has meant a lot to me.
It’s been a long minute since I’ve sent film to the lab to be processed. Honestly it’s been a while since I’ve even developed any film for myself. This year and the recent odd times have certainly skewed my perception of time and creativity. So it was a great surprise when I was gathering together a batch to send to the lab that I found a mystery roll deep in my freezer. I look forward to rediscovering these forgotten rolls and enjoying one of the more unique aspects of shooting film.
As you become familiar with your large format camera and experiment with composition, focus, and movements it is best to start creating your own unique workflow. Much of the early parts of experimentation mean simply shooting a lot and belaying the associated costs can make a lot of sense. No reason to break the bank until you’re comfortable doing so! There are ways to save money when first getting into this format. Below are a few I use to help ease some of the costs.
Photography has been a hobby of mine for well over a decade now. I’ve yet to find another interest in my life that combines such a unique since of mystery, challenge, frustration, and finally satisfaction – often experiencing all of those over the course of an extended shoot. As with many of my hobby related interests photography waxes and wanes in appeal to me throughout the year. It is an odd cycle and yet whenever I feel my passion for it yielding to others it comes back in full force.
A film based workflow has been the foundation of my photography for over the last half decade. My journey of discovery through learning about, shooting, and experimenting with film and chemicals is what has made photography exciting to me. This journey has been a path ladened with enigmas and mysteries that I’ve sought out to solve by exploring every facet imaginable, and possible.
When it comes to landscapes analog photographers traditionally would choose slide film. Before the widespread availability of high resolution digital cameras slide film offered the highest fidelity of image quality. Fine grain, impressive resolving power, and colors that leap out at you are just a few of the qualities that bring chrome films to landscape subjects. Those great features also came with a price in several senses of the word. Slide films are literally becoming more expensive than their b/w and print film relatives in unit cost and processing. In addition they can be notoriously unforgiving with very limited dynamic range having exposure latitude in the 6-8 stops range. Even with all that in mind there are perhaps few pleasures as wonderful as holding a positive image in hand.
One of my best friends who has made several appearance on my blog already is Jo. She is just the person to provide me with proper perspective and show me around the lesser known parts of St Louis.
The weekend excursion began with some mild urban exploration. St Louis being on the Mississippi river has always been a major hub of industry. However with shifting times many old factories and warehouse now lie dormant and vacant. Making our way one of these areas we braved the freezing 30 degree weather to scout and snag a few shots.