I got bored today. Kenny is working. Emmi doesn't really request to go to do anything the way Jill does. By ten thirty I was looking for something to do today. I dug out my old 35mm Nikon and dusted it off. It was loaded with black & white film from the one time Kenny had been messing around with developing film, which was sometime before we moved into this house. All of his equipment is currently collecting dust in the garage. Whenever we get around to finishing out the office upstairs, it will have a darkroom for Kenny. He enjoys developing the photos. Watching them come to life. Having control over how they turn out. I like to take the pictures. Or, I used to back when I used my 35mm. I forgot what is was like. I got so used to digital. To pointing and clicking and immediately erasing anything that didn't please me. I stopped worrying about the background or the composition. If it wasn't a good shot, who cared? I would just erase it and take another. Even when I noticed that all of pictures seemed to be lacking, I couldn't figure out what it was. Until, I slipped that strap of that old Nikon around my neck, wrapping my right hand around the camera, stabilizing the lens in my left hand, feeling the weight of the camera settle in to my hands. Immediately I felt my body adjust to the old stance I took when shooting roll after roll of film, my elbows tucked in, my shoulders relaxed, the camera pressed to my face.
I took Emmi out to the front yard with four fresh rolls of film. I fired the first few shots off, hearing the familiar "swoosh, click" of the shutter. Then I noticed it. The background. The light. The composition of the shot. All of these minute details that I long since forgot to pay attention to. Before each shot I quickly scanned the background, changed camera angles, distances, watched the way the light filtered in, all before focusing on Emmi. By the second roll, I switched out of the autofocus mode. I couldn't tell you that I remember a thing about f-stops or aperture settings or shutter speeds, but my hands did. I adjusted. I shot. In five minutes, I plowed through four rolls of film, not necessarily coming up with my best shots I have ever taken. But not too bad for barely having touched a 35mm camera in the past ten years.
But you know, it sure is expensive to develop all those photos! Although, really, I just got a picture cd.
8 comments:
Isn't is amazing. I find myself being so much more creative with my pics now that I have to focus on all of those things. Wait until you make to jump to a digital SLR. Whoa mama!
Oh, and Ava will be thrilled to see Emmi's hippo. You know, that was Ava's first webkinz after she fell down the escalator at Crate and Barrel. :P
I love my Nikon, but it's a digital one. I still have so much to learn, but I can imagine how expensive the old way can be to develop all those extra shots you would otherwise erase.
Emmi is so cute. I miss using film too.
I don't know if I would like the digital as much. Remember, I have a really fancy digital that I never use. Although, not the SLR. There is something about that film. I took a few rolls with one speed, and then I switced to another. I had just run to Walgreen's to get film, so the lowest speed they had was 200. I am going to a camera store today, because I want to get some 50. I like being about to control all the little details.
And you know, I shot four rolls, and only one picture turned out not so good. Mostly cause I tripped right as I went to take the picture. The rest are the best shots I have of Emmi. She normally doesn't photograph all that well....she is a fake smiler!
But tell me guys, is there any delay from when you press the shutter release to when it actually takes the picture on the digital SLR? That is what shocked me the most about using my N60. The shots fired off so smoothly. I think that is why the pictures came out so great. No sit and pose for forty-five seconds. I am sure by the end of today I will be out getting the D60 or D80! I mean, if the lenses are interchangeable with the 35mm, then I already have a boatload of accessories. Architecture school was good for something!! They made us buy fancy cameras and learn photography!
GREAT pics! Emmi is so beautiful!
Those are great shots!
I have found that my shots fire off smoothly with the D40 for the most part. It does depend on what mode I am in and what I am trying to accomplish. The speed is slower when I am playing with the appeture, but that is how it should be kwim.
I will have to come over and let you play with my camera.
I love my 35mm, I found it again when we moved and I felt bad for hiding it away in a closet. I have all these beautiful photos I used to take but like you said, it's expensive to develop them. Digital was just easier and cheaper, I think I might take a few rolls here pretty soon and remember what it was like to not use auto-focus.
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