Fun with Film

It’s been awhile since I did a film post and I’ve been playing with a few film cameras lately so it seemed like it was as good a time as any to come back to it. I’ve posted previously about my Yashica Mat LM, which is a lovely medium format camera from the 50s. Sadly, it’s pretty fragile and the shutter is easily damaged, so I don’t use it much these days. I’ve replaced it with a couple of heartier cameras, a Minolta X700 from the early 80s and a Voightlander Vitomatic ii from 1959. Both cameras are really fun to play with and both were given to me by important people in my life, which always adds to the experience of using them. In both cases I shot on Kodak Porta 400 film. The Minolta film expired in 2004...oops. It still turned out pretty well considering.

The Minolta has a lot more options and is closer to a modern digital camera in a lot of ways. It also has a battery that has to be bought and replaced, which can be an inconvenience. It’s equipped with a Minolta 50mm 2.8 lens and it can be hard to tell if it’s in focus. There was a lot of experimentation with my first roll and some shots were MUCH better than others. You can check out a few of them below:

The Voightlander is my preference, simply because of how automatic it manages to be for 1959. There are no batteries with this camera and it boasts a built in light meter that still seems to work almost 60 years later. How can you not be impressed by that type of workmanship? Focusing is also challenging here, but it includes distance from your subject on the focus ring, which is a definite help in framing things up.

It’s fun and nerve-racking to drop off a roll of film and have no idea what’s on there, if anything. Yes, I’ve had that happen before and it’s one of life’s greatest disappointments. Overall, these cameras are perfect additions to my personal collection and a great option for my clients who love the look of film and want to add on a fun extra. How could you not fall in love with that grain! Here are a few from the Voightlander:

#Film #Minolta #Voightlander

Holiday Hostage

(Happy Thanksgiving!)

I recently had the pleasure of working on the set of Holiday Hostage, a short film starring Maggie Wheeler (who you may know as Janis from Friends, but also, Archer, Shameless, and many more), Bunny Levine (Gilmore Girls, Ugly Betty, Criminal Minds), Don Stark (who is hilarious as Donna's dad on That 70s Show, Cafe Society, Peggy Sue Got Married), Abby Walla (Switched at Birth, Veep, Dear White People) and David Storch (Silicon Valley, Young and Hungry), directed by D.W. Moffett (Traffic, Switched at Birth, Friday Night Lights). Phil Parmet was the director of Photography. Even if you don’t know Phil’s name, if you like horror, you definitely know his work: Grindhouse, Halloween and The Devil’s Rejects, to name a few.

I’ve known Abby for many years, so I was thrilled when she asked me to come on board to take some behind the scenes set photos and also to shoot the poster image. Abby wrote this hilarious short along with her co-star David and they were able to assemble an amazing cast and crew and raise over $45,000 on Kickstarter. In a time where everyone and their grandmother is trying to Kickstart something, this was an impressive feat and a testament to the quality of the work that they were producing.

Without giving too much away, Abby and David come home for thanksgiving with their mother (Wheeler) and grandmother (Levine) and things don’t quite go as planned. The film is currently gearing up for the festival circuit around the country.

You can check out the trailer here.

#set #BehindtheScenes #Film #Productionstill

Find the Girls on the Negatives

So, after being inspired by the ‪#‎findthegirlsonthenegatives article that someone shared with me a little while ago, I decided to try and do something similar.

For those that missed it, here is the link to the story and original photos: Find the Girls on the Negatives...

I fell in love with those photos and wanted to create something that captured some of the same spirit. I don't shoot on film a lot these days, but it seemed like a fun way to spend a free Saturday. I have a Yashica Mat LM (circa 1958 or so) that I got on ebay a few years ago. It's also medium format and these images looked like they might have been produced on a TLR camera as well. So, my model (dressed in her best last minute vintage finery) and I trekked to El Matador (a similar location to the images) and shot a few.

I forgot how hard it is to shoot and focus on a TLR. Regardless, it was lots of fun and I got some stuff that I was happy with, but, overall, I wish I’d done some different things with the film camera. I don’t have enough variety in my shots.

Photography is such a powerful medium in its ability to inspire. I hope we can learn more about the story of the original images!

I’ve included some photos that I took on my DSLR as well, just to give a an idea of the difference. Most of the DSLR shots have been played with in Lightroom a bit. The film shots are all untouched, straight from the camera. Everything here is shot with just natural light, which isn’t my typical. I usually like to blend flash (or at least a reflector) as well for location portraits, but it’s all personal preference. Here, I was going for a more vintage look, so working without flash was an important choice. I was also good exercise for me to be forced to work without it. I think that keeps us sharper. If you love working with flash, go without on a couple of shoots. If you hate working with flash, force yourself to do it on occasion.

Below are the images. The film ones are the square ones, or automatic Instagram size ;)

#findthegirlsonthenegatives #yashica #vintage #antique #magic #lost #film #mediumformat #120 #Nikon #40s #1940s #1950s #50s