Happy last day of August!
I have been thinking a lot about the digital life we all are living and how technology has changed the things we do for enjoyment. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with technology these days. While it is impressive for all it helps us with, I can’t help to think we are missing out.
An example would be music, listening, buying and collecting music used to be quite the process. We would buy an album because of a recommendation, or maybe it was an artist or group we already liked, maybe it was because there was that one song we heard on the radio and had to have it.
Acquiring the album was its own adventure, going to a record store, hoping that it wasn’t sold out or that it wasn’t so obscure that it had to be a special order. Being at the store was a bit like a playground of music, browsing all the different albums, picking up an album, looking at the art work checking out the back cover. What about hearing the store playing something that grabs your attention that you have to ask, who is this?
Remember when we had to wait for things?
Today, we hear a song, Shazam it, and with a tap it is added to a playlist. It is no longer a tangible thing you hold in your hand, just an image on a screen. How often do we even listen to the rest of the music from the artist? How often do you even hear that song after it was added to the playlist? I used to love sitting down and listening to an album, studying the jacket and reading the liner notes and lyrics.
I would love to have CDs, cassettes or vinyl again, but space, money and time make that prohibitive. My solution is that on Friday’s, when new music is released on Apple Music, I add all of the albums from the genres I am interested in. And then I treat it like I would when I would buy an album, I listen to the whole thing, well I try to. There are certainly occasions where it just doesn’t appeal to me. This gives me a chance to find new music and experience an album in its entirety, to hear the whole vision of the artist. While this is only a partial solution is does get me to slow down and capture a small part of how it used to be.
What does this have to do with photography you may wonder? Some of you probably guessed what I am going to say, film.
One of the things I love about shooting with film is that is slows down the process. It requires me to take more time to select my composition and put the shot together. For instance my medium format camera doesn’t have a light meter built in so it takes just a bit longer to get things all set up. Because there is only so many shots per roll, I have to take extra care to get it right the first time. There is no instant review of the image to see if I made a mistake, the only solution is to take my time.
There is also the process of developing and exposing the film, the use of the chemicals, the enlarger, the papers, and the timing of it all. It is a process, and I am desiring that analog hands on process, not just more sitting at a computer.
So where does this leave me? I am starting a project that I am going to shoot all on film. It will be a mix of medium format and 35mm. In the beginning as I test things out I will be developing the film and scanning the negatives. Once I have things dialed in, I will stop scanning those negatives and move to making prints in the darkroom with an enlarger, I don’t intend to do digital prints for this project.
To start the process I am using my old Canon Elan 7 35mm, it has been fun going back to a simpler camera, there are next to no options compared to my current Canon R5 and R6 cameras. However, I didn’t have a medium format camera and I have always been interested in a TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) with a top down waist-level viewfinder. So I decided on the Mamiya C220 (pictured above).
I have a bunch of different film and have been enjoying the process of testing them out and using such a mechanical camera. The top down, waist-level viewfinder is wonderful to use for someone who is tall!
While I don’t have any images that I am ready to share from this camera yet, I do have some favorites from years back that were shot on the Elan 7 that I have scanned.
Is there anything analog that you are missing in this digital age?
I will see you next month when we dive into the beginning of fall!
Thanks for reading!
Karl