A (Re)Introduction to Film Photography
My experience with film photography is a bit unconventional.
Not only was I caught between the generational gap of film being phased out by digital photography while in high school and college, and the recent renaissance of film photography, but my overall experience with the medium is really quite low despite the amount of exposure I’ve had to it.
In high school, it was a requirement to have and use an SLR (Single-Lens Reflex) Camera for shooting black & white film while learning the technical skills of photography. Yet I never had one. What I did have was a plastic piece of junk point-and-shoot acquired from a local drugstore.
Fast forward a couple of years, and I was FINALLY able to get my first SLR, a Canon AE-1, as I was on the verge of beginning an associate’s degree-level photography program. In college, we only had one film class offered. It was Photo 101, a black & white film course designed for absolute beginners, as my school didn't require a portfolio for acceptance into the program. I tried to use that time wisely and cram 4 years of misused time and undeveloped skills into a 3-month semester.
Unfortunately, there was an issue with my camera. There was a light leak in the camera body and I was financially unable to fix or replace it. I just used what I had as best I could. I felt it was at least better than where I came from with the point-and-shoot. I thought I could always come back and shoot more, right? Wrong. As it turns out, my film class was the last class to shoot film (at least at the time) as the school was now phasing out film chemistry from the budget in favor of digital.
That is a long-winded way of saying that I feel I never had a fair shot at film photography.
So here we are. It’s late 2023 and I feel it’s time to give it a REAL try. I have a dusty mason jar full of old C-41 film from a decade ago that is most definitely expired, and I recently purchased a Canon EOS Rebel G.
As of today, I dropped off my first roll of film, Kodak Portra 400, and it’s expected to be developed in a couple of weeks.
Let’s see how this goes.
Until Next Time.
