The One Roll Story

My newest project was to take a roll of 36 exposure film and try to tell a story that is unified by a single theme. I finished shooting my roll of film this weekend, and I am thinking that I will do this project again with a different theme.

These are a selection of shots from the roll.

Isn't film dead?

For those that may be following me on other media such as facebook or twitter, you know that I have taken up the old film cameras more and more over recent years, especially since I have learned to process my own black and white films. That does not mean that I don't shoot color film as well, it is just easier for me to shoot black and white since I can process it at home and not have to wait to send it off to be processed and then returned to me like I do with color film.

Why film you may ask? To be honest, I just find there is an excitement in film, an excitement of not knowing what exactly I have gotten until after the film has been developed. I can't look at the LCD on the back to see if I got things right the first time. If I want to make sure I got it right, I have to bracket the shot or hope I got it right on the first try.

Another reason to shoot film, is that the cameras don't all look pretty much the same. It doesn't seem to matter which camera(s) I take out with me, if there are other photographers around and the see them, or even members of the public at large, many will come up to me and comment on the camera that they see, whether it is my 4x5 pacemaker crown graphic from Graphlex or if they happen to see me using a light meter to check exposure. I have had a few nice conversations with people and listened to their memories of film cameras, whether it was listening to an older gentleman tell me about how he used to shoot weddings in West Virginia with a 4x5 speed graphic or listening as people tell me about having their photo taken with the family's Brownie camera. At this point, people don't have those types of memories associated with digital cameras, and I'm not sure they ever will. With their similarity in shape and color, someone might remember the brand name of the camera but that will be it. Just a few of the cameras in my collection, and as of this writing I have used about 41 of them to take pictures with, whether it is sports/action photography, like this shot from the 2013 Burnt Gin Hare Scramble: Or this shot from the Sumter Enduro 2013: The first shot was taken with a Nikon F which has TTL metering but is all manual focus, the second shot is a Leica IIIf rangefinder, which I have to use a light meter for. Many times I go for things that don't move nearly as fast since they are easier to take pictures of with manually focused cameras whether they have a built-in, synchronized meter or not. Those things I can stand around and take my time with since they aren't likely to move very much while I fiddle around with camera settings to get the exposure right and all that sort of stuff. One thing that shooting film has made me do is shoot less because unlike digital, I do not have the luxury of deleting photos to free up space and film cans are a little bulkier than card media for transporting photos, but I would not give up the experience of shooting old cameras for anything.

Cameras everywhere

I've come to enjoy the look and feel of old cameras. My digital ones are great for learning exposure, experimenting visually, and fast subjects (roller derby and rugby) but I have to say that since I started shooting some older cameras with film, it has been fun to see how good my eye is at judging exposure by guessing and then checking with an exposure meter. It started out humbly enough with finding 5 old cameras while poking around in antique stores in Church Hill, TN and Kingsport, TN with my mom, and has since grown into a never-ending treasure hunt for "new" and interesting old cameras. When I find one that I fancy, I ask to see it so that I can check things such as shutter speed and aperture movement as well as if it folds (if it is a folding camera) do the bellows have holes in them, is the glass reasonably clear, does it have a spool with it (although this isn't as important now as it once was). I have also found some film that I really like, and while it may be a little more expensive since it is an import, the company also makes sizes that most other manufacturers have stopped making. All the film is black and white but it does an excellent job with the midtones.

Exposure

Being a member of two photo clubs in the area has granted me a little bit of insight on the photographic human condition. In one of the groups, other members are very set in what they want to shoot and god forbid, they venture out of their comfort zone and learn to shoot something that they may have no interest in or anything like that. They don't want to burst the bubble that they live in and won't venture out unless it is somewhere that they know. The only way to get better at photography is to get out...to get EXPOSURE to new types of photography that may or may not interest you. Maybe in that new type of photography you will learn a technique that you can use to improve your images in subjects that you do enjoy.

Exposure to new photography can improve your photographic creativity through Exposure settings. How very novel.

Another old poem I wrote

You, I love

“You, I love”
is difficult for me to say
seeming to draw its very strength
from my knees and out of my legs.

“Maite zaitut”
my guard always up to keep
from being hurt or feelings used
against me by others.

“Te quiero” is weak
compared to what I feel, which
starts with “Te amo” and keeps on going
like a boulder rolling down
a hill, bouncing and bounding
gaining speed and crushing all
in its path.

“T’estimo”
“Te iubesc” blurted out
in a whirlwind of emotion
sucking the life from me,
invigorating me at the same time
leaving me dazed.

“Ek is lief vir jou” I want to shout
for all the world to hear
yet when I do still nobody
knows because I only shouted
from the mountain of my mind
and it echoes throughout my body
leaving everyone else out.

“Quero-te,” “Je t’ aime,” “Ti amo”
“Ich liebe dich,” “Jeg elsker De”
“Ik hou van u” how I wish I could say
such a simple sentence and convey
all my feelings for you, to you
and have you know,

“I love you.”

Photography thoughts

As I was out photographing some hunter/jumper horse classes today I had the photographer that was contracted to shoot the whole show, ask me about how much I charge for an 8"x10" photograph. I told him that I didn't really sell my photos to anyone, and he seemed offended that anyone would travel across the state to take photographs, just to take photographs and not to make money from it. Has photography gone from being both a profession and a hobby to being purely a profession? I really don't make money from my photography and I have only sold 1 piece and that was to a friend. Every other piece that has been in a show has yet to sell and therefore has been put on my wall. I really do go out over half the state of South Carolina just to take photographs. I know it is a novel idea, to do something you enjoy and not care about how far you have to go to do what brings you pleasure. For me photography has a cathartic effect which is why I always seem to be doing it on the weekends. Then I went back this evening after feeding the dog and cat to photograph a mini-prix jumping competition and was told that I couldn't photograph it because the owner had hired a professional and that unless I wanted to pay a $500 vendor fee I couldn't photograph the event. As far as I could tell the photographer that was hired was fine with me shooting but if my shooting was to spook a horse he wanted my name on file as not being associated with him and I would be on my own if someone were to sue. Needless to say, I didn't have $500 to pay to be a vendor and I didn't plan on being anywhere near the ring to distract the horses or riders. Then at the singing of the national anthem the guy they had singing it managed to flub it so that pretty well ruined it for me and I left after the first competitor. Maybe I will just avoid shooting there since they seem to be so photographer unfriendly.

A poem I wrote a few years back

One Thousand Times

One thousand times a coward lives
and still I am not dead. How
I wish to be with you
but cannot bring myself to ask
you out, not even once. I
kick myself each time I miss
a chance to take a chance
to better know you. Your smile,
as white as snow
in the Andes mountains, has me trapped
like a puppy in a pen. Your movement
is poetry, strong, elegant, refined
as a ballerina in Swan Lake
as you pirouette side to side
forward and back, hitting the ball
not looking back. Your tan skin
soft as satin entrances my mind
thrills my eyes, temps my fingers,
sends neurons firing,
messages flying
like tennis balls
across the court
back and forth
head to heart
into the net,
into the net that is you
and I have yet to touch you, feel you.
I am alive but am I really
alive or just floating like a fly in honey
trapped by curiosity, marking time
until the end of life when the final bell tolls.
One thousand times a coward dies
but did I ever live?