The Film Experience!

I have been continuing my experimentations with film photography. I started getting back into film almost a year ago, when my Wife bought me a Yashica A twin lens reflex camera for our anniversary. I have also decided to try out some of the other cameras in my collection, such as a Ricoh YF-20, a Minolta X-700 (which I love) and I recently bought a Yashica Minister D rangefinder for a very cheap price. The Yashica Minister D may become my fave camera of any in my collection, it is so fun to shoot and takes amazing photos.

I have been loving the experience of shooting film. You hear a lot of people give their reasons for shooting film. It slows them down, makes them think about their shots more. They love the look of the photos they get. They love getting back to old school photography. They say shooting analog makes them a better photographer.

But my reason for enjoying film photography is the anticipation. What my photos will look like, did I get the shot, did I "nail it"? With digital you can know right away if you got the shot. If your exposure is right, did the lighting work, is your composition good? With film you have to wait, in my case I have to wait till I can get my shots developed since I haven't learned, and not sure if I ever will, to develop my own film.

For example I shot my first roll of film through my Yashica Minister D about a week after I bought it and I had to wait for three weeks after I dropped the roll off at Henry's to be developed. It seemed to take forever. I was "dying" to find out if the camera worked, what the shots would look like. I had never shot with a rangefinder camera before, and I couldn't wait to see if the shots were in focus, were they sharp. I was very pleased when I picked up my shots. This was even more true since I had used a film I hadn't shot before, Kodak's Gold 200. I had heard good things, see others photos but hadn't shot it myself yet. I had bought a box of three with a Christmas gift card at Walmart. I have since bought more because I liked the look of the photos.

And this is the reason I am enjoying the film experience, the anticipation, the wait to see your photos. Yes, you can do this as well with digital, wait till you put them on your computer but the temptation is too big to look right away at your shots. I will still shoot digital for some stuff, paid shoots, some projects and any shoots where I need the shots right away. But for personal projects, and just when I want to shoot for fun I think I will then shoot film. It is just more fun!

Yashica Minister D. Film: Kodak Gold 200