Film Inspired Blog Circle: January 2013

Like I mentioned in my last post, a bunch of my photography friends from the Light Inspired forum are venturing into the world of FILM!  It's a very exciting world to be in!  We are doing a blog circle, to share our latest scans each month!

When I tell people that I am shooting film these days, almost all of them look at me like I'm absolutely crazy!  I get comments like "Don't you know they came out with digital so you don't have to deal with that stuff anymore?" or "Isn't that like moving backwards?"  But film is a beautiful thing.

Here are just a few reasons why I decided to shoot film:

1. Firstly, I am totally in love with the way film looks. The colors, the light, the tones, and the grain are all to die for!  I'm confident that you will see that as you follow our blog circle and see some of these amazing photos!  According to Jonathan Canlas, the "bokeh is so buttery you'd swear it belongs on your toast." :)
2. I also wanted to shoot film as an exercise to improve my skills.  There's no looking at the back of your camera or depending on your raw data with film. 
3. It's less work editing.  When you shoot film nowadays, you send it in to a lab to be developed and scanned.  Well, unless you are developing yourself, but I'm not going to try that yet!  But yes, you read that correctly - they scan the images and send you a digital copy, just like your digital photos.  So I have the best of both world in shooting film and still having digital files.  But the majority of the things I edit in post processing with digital has already been done for me at the lab.
4. It makes me shoot with purpose.  Since I have to pay for rolls of film and developing, each frame that I shoot costs me money.  That means that I am a lot less likely to waste shots by taking 15 frames of the same subject or by not checking my settings carefully.

Hopefully that helps you understand why a little bit better, but if it doesn't, don't worry about it - just know that I am completely in love with film, it makes me giddy with happiness, and these shots are a result of that :)

Don't forget to check out my friend Gretchen's post- I can't wait to see what she has to share!

P.S. I posted some more of my film images the other day in this post. :)

                  

Seeing the World in Black & White

Lately, pretty much all of the work that I've really liked has been in black & white.  I don't know why, but every photo I take just seems meant to be black and white.  Maybe it's the time of year?

Blog Circle : Be a Dreamer

Time for another Blog Circle with my friends from Light Inspired!  This months theme is "Be a Dreamer."

On the LI forum, a number of the ladies have been getting into film lately.  I would look at their photo posts and totally drool over them - the tones, the grain, the light, just the whole filmy, dreamy goodness.  I started looking for information about film cameras and one day I posted a question about camera models and next thing I know, my friend Jessica was telling me that she had a film camera that I could have if I just sent her my mailing address!  I was blown away by the kindness of someone who had never even met me in real life!
So she sent me her old camera, which works with my current lenses, so I just had to order some film and I was all set up!  For the past month, I've been experimenting with shooting film, and testing my patience waiting for my film scans to make their way back to me - and then saving them for this post!

So I am proud to present my first film share!

Just look at that light! So beautiful!

Oh yeah, I should also mention that these were taken on Christmas day!  That's right, we had snow on Christmas Day - probably the only time this year we'll get any at all!

Don't forget to follow the circle around - next up is the wonderful Dee Sisk!

P.S. Did you notice the new coat of paint on my blog? Yay for updated sites and fun color schemes!

Film Scans are Coming!

I have been waiting - not so patiently - for my very first film scans to be finished at the lab and today when I checked the status (and yes, I've checked it every day) it's finally changed from developing to scanning!  And the rest of it doesn't take very long, or at least that's what I've heard!  Sooo excited here!  I hope at least some of them turned out!

Project 52 : Week 1

As you've probably figured out by now, I'm not always very good at sticking with projects.  (Remember that 365 I started and am now months behind?? I think I've given up.)  But my friends from Light Inspired are doing a Project 52 (that's one photo per week - I've got to be able to handle that, right??) and I thought I'd play along, at least most weeks.
This week's theme is "negative space" - one of my favorite design elements! :)

Droopy