For all of my professional career, I’ve shot on digital cameras. Canon Digital SRL cameras, specifically:
Canon 20D
Canon 40D
Canon 5D mk ii
Canon 6D
And it’s been a really fantastic time using them, I’ve never had a single problem and I’ve always been very satisfied with my images. But after years and years of using the same system, it’s possible for things to get a little stagnant, and I felt that happening. I’ve heard a lot from other photographers about the importance of shooting film, especially if you didn’t start out with it.
Kenmore, Boston, MA. Just above Hunt’s Photo & Video. Notice the subtle reflection from shooting through the window?
It slows you down, limits the number of photos you can take, forces you to stop and consider each image more carefully.
The disparity is obvious - how many times have you pulled out your iPhone to take a photo, and you take 10 of the same shot just to make sure you got it? Even I do it, or I used to until I made a conscious effort not to. Maybe we all have a subconscious distrust of technology that pushes us to do it. But that’s an article for another time.
The point is, using an older manual camera with fewer futuristic features helps to focus the photographic process on what matters: composition. When you know you have a limited number of pictures you can take, you slow way down, and seriously consider each one.
I thought those little fairy lights on the top right were a reflection, but they’re in several of the images and might be damage in this lens.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s been wonderful to learn without that limitation, and I think that’s a good thing. Digital cameras allow us to take tens of thousands of images without a thought, and practice does help to hone ones skill - but there’s a bit in there that’s the problem. “without thought.”
And eventually, that’s what you need - something that forces you to change up the photographic process.
This is my favorite photo from the roll. I love the light that comes into the Cory Manufacturing factory though the skylights in the evening after the place shuts down. There’s something serene and peaceful about it.
I’d gone back and forth on picking up a film camera so I could see what it was all about, as I’ve found myself more and more interested in getting ‘the film look’ and for how I could evolve as a photographer by doing so.
Funny enough, when I mentioned all this to my friend Sergei Hasegawa, he felt it was a terrible crime that I’d never shot on film (besides using a few disposable cameras as a kid), he immediately went in his closet and dug out his old Canon AT-1 and placed it in my hands.
Sergei, excited to see his old camera in action again.
Oh boy, what a camera!
Unlike most of the photos in this post taken with this camera, this meta photo was made on the trusty ol’ iPhone.
And not only did he lend me the camera, but a whole slew of goodies laid out in this old camera back that he, ever the tinkerer, modified himself, with a little film bandolier and extra pockets.
I spent most of this first roll of film taking pictures of things around the factory. The world just looks different through old cameras like this, and I see pictures forming in my head that I might not create if I were shooting on my digital camera. I plan out my shots more, I look more actively for something worthy of spending the precious few frames on.
In the case of this image, I watched this window for a time and started to envision this shot. There was a moment when everyone left the room for one reason or another, so I turned the lights off, framed this up, set the exposure, and snapped of the single frame.
Then by the time they returned, the lights were back on and everything was back to normal.
Fun fact if you’ve read this far:
I started this post on Sept 10th. Today it’s Nov. 3 and I just hopped back on my blog and saw this unfinished draft. Shameful, no? But life is very busy and I don’t make much time for writing blog posts these days. That’s something I certainly need to remedy, though. So let’s get this thing done.
Here’s another image where I wondered how the florescent lights would mesh with the daylight coming through the window. It’s not as terrible and green as I feared it would be. Sure, the white balance is a little off, but I kind of like it.
Here I tried using my modern hotshot mounted flash with the retro, analog Canon AT-1. Flash from 2016 or so, Camera from 1970. It works! Sergei’s mind was blown.
We went to dinner later that night and I shoot one of my typical restaurant photos that I used to do so many of back in the Nooklyn Neighborhood Guide days. I feel like it handled the low light very well.
This was a fun shot, and the only one for which I got out the tripod. I used my digital camera to get the exposure right and get a test shot, then I set up the AT-1 and mimiced the setting to make this picture, which I really like.
Morning window at the hotel. I’ve been making a lot of images like they lately. Really love the relaxed, contemplative vibe.
Rainy mornings make for excellent imagery. This is the breakfast lounge area at the hotel near the factory.
This images is the one I think could most pass for digital - but when you get close you can see the really beautiful film grain, which is lovely.
There’s a lot of neat stuff to see in the factory, but I was most drawn to the these open doorways with all the greenery beyond.
Toni, CNC guy and attention lover, was happy to have my taking some photos of him at work in spite of him thinking the work he was doing wasn’t interesting. But to me, who’d never seen a point-to-point machine like this in action, it was all new and exciting.
Again, the white balance is a little off from reality, but I really like the look it has, so I didn’t change it.
This bulbous monitor is straight out of Akira.
This lens produces some really lovely out of focus areas at its maximum aperture.
More open doors and soft light coming in. If you saw this out of context, you might not know there was a busy factory in the other direction pumping out cabinets.
My first double exposure, and really it was an accident because I was just showing Sergei how it was done on the camera. I didn’t actually mean to take one.
On the extremely late drive home I was nearly passing out, so I stopped for some coffee. There was the beautiful mist covering the area and this photo was calling out to me, so in spite of me nearly falling asleep, I had to take a moment to get this. It’s one of my favorites from the roll.
Maybe I should print it for the house.
I took a short nap on that couch while I waited for my drink to be ready after taking this, haha.
Got home safely, but I resolved to never drive that tired again.
Back at home, and what better to do with a new camera than make some cat photos?
Regina and I drove up to Ghent, NY to pick up our CSA allotment from Woven Star Farm, and on the way we saw this antique gas station that seemed like the perfect subject for some film photography. So on the way back home, I made sure to stop here and take a few pictures.
I don’t remember where it is exactly. Somewhere between Ghent and Rhinebeck, probably on Highway 9.
We drove down to Rhinebeck afterward, I don’t remember why. Maybe to have dinner. I decided to take a photo of the Co. Working Space for the architect, Frank Mazarella. Didn’t know how it would turn out, given that it was my first architectural photo on film, but I’m pretty happy with it.
And that finished up my first roll of film in the Canon AT-1.
I’m not sure how, but the shutter curtain broke after that and I didn’t notice. I shot two rolls of film and they both came out blank. The first time I thought it was user error. The second time I knew something was up and had Ian at Artcraft Photoworks (the lab where I have my film developed here in Kingston) take a look at it, and we discovered that the shutter curtain wasn’t moving at all when the shutter tripped. Whoops.
Later, Sergei found a guy in Georgia, Joe Careta, who specifically repairs this camera, plus the Canon AE-1 and AE-1 Program. And that’s it. That’s all he works on. Can you say expert? He completely fixed and replaced nearly everything on the camera for $95. it’s basically brand new. Can’t recommend him highly enough.